Last year, Becca Donaldson decided the Norris Bookstore had taken advantage of her pocketbook for the last time.

“Students shouldn’t have to pay those high prices,” said Donaldson, a Communication sophomore and co-founder of NUOnlinebooks.com, a Web site where students can buy books at lower prices. “Our objective was to give students an alternative to bookstores that unfairly raise prices just because they can.”

Donaldson and two of her friends founded the site during Fall Quarter 2006. The group has an arrangement with Amazon.com in which a portion of proceeds from books sold through the Web site is donated to charity. This year, NUOnlinebooks.com donated about $5,000 to Family Focus Evanston, including $2,400 from spring sales.

“This way students can buy books and still give back to the community,” Donaldson said.

The site’s creators chose Family Focus Evanston, a center focusing on family education, because of its ties to Northwestern Community Development Corps, Donaldson said. She said it was a good choice because many NU students have volunteered there, creating strong ties to and friendly relations with the NU community.

Donaldson said the creators are working on improving the Web site, making it “snazzier.” She said she also hopes to have a marketplace up and running soon for students to buy and sell used textbooks to one another directly.

“It’s a small step forward,” Donaldson said. “We still have a long way to go toward our goal of affecting the bigger picture.”

At Family Focus Evanston, Director Sandra Hill said she considers her donors “Family Focus angels.”

Hill said the after-school program is the biggest program at Family Focus, with more than 100 students between the ages of 7 and 14 attending every day after school.

She said the money donated by NUOnlinebooks has been used to buy healthier snacks for the students who come to Family Focus. Fruits and vegetables are more expensive than junk food, but the money was not in the budget – until this year.

“I have been trying to buy healthier snacks for a while, because for a lot of kids I know this is the only meal they get,” Hill said. “Every little bit helps, and this has been a windfall for me.”

Hill said NU has a good collaborative relationship with Family Focus. NU hosts an annual sports day with Family Focus student participants, and many NU students are tutors or volunteers.

“NU has been the leader in terms of stepping forward and providing volunteers,” she said. “(The kids) need to see college students, because that’s what they aspire to. It’s very valuable to have that alliance.”

Mark Witte, an economics professor, said NUOnlinebooks is a great initiative because of its ties to the community and what it offers to students. He said he made the books for his classes available on the site because he thinks students should have an alternative to bookstore prices.

“Norris does not communicate with students as well as they could,” Witte said. “They should be as open as possible with students, and with faculty too. We get frustrated, as well.”

Witte said another great aspect of the Web site is that students will be able to buy their books earlier, instead of just the day before classes start.

He said he was glad to be able to contribute to students wanting to improve choices for their peers.

“This is all student initiative,” Witte said. “There has been a great response.”

Reach Aliza Appelbaum at [email protected].