Textbook rental programs grow in popularity
UBC, Maryland Book Exchange offer rentals this semester
Published: Friday, January 29, 2010
Updated: Friday, January 29, 2010
 "Photo: Charlie DeBoyace/The Diamondback")
Charlie DeBoyace/The Diamondback
Freshman journalism major Emma Kantrowitz peruses for textbooks in the University Book Center.
In the wake of the recession, many students are turning to companies that rent out textbooks, sometimes at well under 50 percent of their retail price, when searching for the best textbook bargain. But some students were deterred from renting, either because of limited selection or restrictions on how they can use the books.
The university’s two oldest bookstores — the Book Exchange and UBC — have both begun rental programs this semester and are competing with popular online options, like Chegg, in the rental market.
The UBC’s pilot rental program has more than 150 books available for rent, and store officials aren’t sure if it will help or hurt them in the long run.
“We’ve always been committed to finding an affordable way to get textbooks to students,” said Karen DiScala, a spokeswoman for Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, which runs the UBC. DiScala said it was tough to say if the rental program will hurt profits or decrease the number of textbooks sold at regular prices.
It’s not entirely clear how much the textbook rental market has grown, but Chegg said it has saved students more than $130 million off the list price of new books since its national launch in 2007. Students at more than 6,400 schools have rented more than 2 million books from the website.
“I’m a really big fan of renting textbooks,” said Vanessa Kong, a junior English and linguistics major. “Not only is it cheaper, but they’re easier to get rid of at the end of the semester. I still have a big government book I had to buy a few years ago and can’t get rid of. When you rent them, it’s guaranteed. You just send them back.”
Senior Spanish major Caitlin Osborne agreed: “I rent from Chegg.com, and it’s so easy. You just save the box and print the label and drop it off at the UPS store. It’s so much cheaper.”
Osborne also like Chegg’s environmentally-friendly focus — the company plants a tree for every book rented.
But not everyone is jumping on the textbook rental bandwagon. Even with their two largest local competitors embracing the market, BookHolders has no plans to start renting and hasn’t seen it impact their sales.
“We’re not worried at all,” store manager Sam White said. “Numbers are still up this year, and we haven’t noticed any change with students renting.”
But rentals can come with problems for students. Kong said the selection of textbooks available for rent was limited.
“Renting isn’t always an option,” she said. “I’ve had to buy some books, but I still save so much.”
For junior neurobiology and physiology major Dillon McConnell, the inability to highlight and write in rented textbooks is a deal breaker.
“I was considering switching to renting books, but with science I like the option of highlighting,” McConnell said. “I also usually save a lot of my books in case I need them as reference for further classes or MCATS or grad schools.”
Still, he wasn’t enamored with purchasing textbooks either.
“Buying them is so expensive,” McConnell said. “It’s, like, an extra $500 each semester just for books.”
farrell@umdbk.com
Posts
Hi I am Judy and I am a sophomore Jewish Studies and History major. This summer I am going to be an orientation adviser!
ReplyDeleteI rented text books for the first time this semester and so far I have been pleasantly surprised. One of my text books I got from the Maryland Book Exchange. It is brand new and waaay cheaper.
I rented another text book online with the help from a website called www.directtextbooks.com. the text book was shipped to me and when my rental time is up they will send me a reminder to send it back and then I am done!
The only con to renting is you must take care of your book and not lose it.
I like renting better though because sometimes it is very hard to get good rates in selling back text books.
Hey! My name is Haneen and I am a sophomore Elementary Education major here at UMD, and this summer I will also be an Orientation Adviser!
ReplyDeletePersonally I would have to disagree with the whole renting of textbooks. I rented one this summer for one of my summer classes and unfortunately did not have the same positive experience as Judy. My book was not in good condition and when the end of the semester came, I felt as if I had lost money since I was unable to sell it back.
It might be about $10 -$50 cheaper to rent your textbooks but at the end of the semester you cannot sell them back so you can't make money or try to regain the money you paid for the book when you sell them back. So basically I think you lose money instead of save money.
On average when I sold my books back I would lose about $10-$20 for each book. In some cases if I had bought the book online and sold it back to the University I would make a profit. So I guess overall it just depends on if you want to save money at the beginning of the semester or try to get some easy cash selling your books back after finals.
In the end no matter what you decide renting or buying, I recommend that you always shop around. Never buy or rent your books from the first place you see them. Always shop around, and buy them used if you can. I have found that Book Holders and half.com are great places to find the cheapest books, but then again it also depends on the textbooks you need for that semester.
I wish you the best of luck when it comes time to buying or renting your books! And I hope that Judy and my words of wisdom have helped in some way. :)