Every semester, students take out loans, use grants, and work hard to pay for their education. Not only do students need to figure in cost of tuition, students also need to set aside hundreds of dollars for books.
The problem always arises when I get to the checkout of the bookstore: I become angry. I am outraged because I am forced to pay hundreds of dollars for books that I will only use once.
I needed a way to not be angry; I wanted to feel good about investing in my education.
After semesters of trying to sell back books to the campus bookstore for less than a third of what I originally paid for the book, I heard of a far-away place where you could rent books for a small fraction of what you would purchase it for.
Remembering a conversation I had with a fellow student about renting textbooks, I Googled “textbook rentals” and was amazed to see a number of websites offering the service. I chose the first option, Chegg.com, and shopped for my books.
Most books can be rented for $10-$35. With shipping included in your rental fee, taxes and handling brought my grand total, for three books, to $93.
At the bookstore my total wold have been $225 for these three books used.
Not only was I excited that shipping was included, I was also excited to see they stood behind their service. You are able to immediately receive another book if you are unsatisfied with it, they also provide a full refund if you decide to drop the class.
In some cases, it may be beneficial to buy the book rather than rent it. Although you have the option to buy the book you are renting from the website, you may want to purchase the book if you plan to use it in the future.
The SCC bookstore now offers a guarantee on some of their books. Books that the bookstore knows will be used next semester are labeled with a large sticker stating that the book will be bought back for at least half of what you bought it for. But half still isn’t enough for me.
Many students have also discovered that buying their books online works well. I can agree that this will also cost less than the bookstore, but if you decide to drop the class there is no offer to buy back the book.
I started thinking about all of the items that I rent: DVDs, cars, outdoor equipment, most items that I would only use for a short period of time. It makes sense to rent a textbook instead of buy it.
The concept of textbook rentals has been around for a few years, but it has been a subject that professors hesitate to discuss with their students.
Some believe that because there is a bookstore on campus that solely carries books that the teachers request, they should only suggest to their students to buy their books from there. I can agree that students should use the bookstore-after all it offers employment opportunities and is a service solely for the SCC campus-but I also think that the bookstore should begin offering a version of textbook rentals.
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