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Students Get A Break By Renting Textbooks
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Published: March 2, 2008
Updated: 02/29/2008 08:33 pm
With the cost of college textbooks soaring, Teri Tobin's job is to offer students some relief.
Not only does she deliver significant savings, it's practically a slam-dunk guarantee.
As the textbook services manager at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Tobin oversees a system that is rare on college campuses. The 6,500 students at this school rent rather than buy most of their books.
"Most of the students, and I know the parents especially, really appreciate the service," Tobin said. "It's a huge recruiting tool."
The typical student spends about $900 a year on books, according to federal statistics, and price increases have been outstripping inflation. But fees typically are half that much or lower at Northwest Missouri and a few dozen other schools that rent books.
The price of college textbooks has become a hot-button issue. The House of Representatives in early February passed an extension of the Higher Education Act, which includes measures aimed at pressuring publishers to make textbooks more affordable.
Among other things, the legislation would require publishers to tell professors whether a textbook's new edition is substantially different from the previous version. The bill also requires schools to notify students in advance, if possible, which textbooks are to be used in each course, giving them time to search for the cheapest alternative. The House bill must be weighed in committee hearings with Senate legislation, which does not address textbooks.
Given the current textbook system on campuses today, renting is "the best short-term" alternative to lowering costs for students, said Nicole Allen, campaign director for Make Textbooks Affordable.
The advocacy group (make textbooksaffordable.org) supports the House legislative reform as well as other creative approaches to holding down textbook costs, such as campus book swaps and buying online.
Allen said one of the biggest drawbacks to rental programs is the huge upfront cost schools face to build a book inventory. Rental programs also require faculty buy-in.
Campuses, however, aren't the only rental outlet. Several Internet retailers also specialize in this service, providing flexible terms, no monthly fees, the latest editions, quick shipping and free returns.
At the end of the course, students simply drop the book in the mail using a prepaid postage label. It's also acceptable to write in the books just a bit, but compulsive highlighters could be charged a damage fee.
One of the largest online rental services is Chegg.com. Students can rent books for either the quarter or semester for about 40 percent of the list price of a new book. Chegg maintains an inventory of 2 million textbooks.
BookRenter.com offers more than 1 million books and pledges savings of 50 percent to 75 percent. Rental periods range from 30 to 125 days.
Alicia Givens, a student at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, rented four new textbooks from BookRenter for the current semester for $128.
"If I had bought them from the school, those books would have been exactly $433.25," she said.
"Maybe one day sites like this will make such an impact that schools will be forced to lower prices in their bookstores. We're only trying to get an education."
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