Rent Textbooks, Save Money
Posted by Jim | July 20, 2009 | Comments Off
- Image via Wikipedia
Ask any college student, and they will likely agree that one of their biggest expenses each semester is the cost of buying textbooks. Professors notoriously like to teach the most cutting-edge theories, and publishers are more than happy to produce new editions of the same books almost annually. The result? Rising textbook costs, breaking budgets all over the country. The internet has helped offset some of these costs, with sites like amazon.com and half.com giving students access to cheaper new and used books. Still, buying books means a huge outlay of cash every semester for something you’ll need for a few months and then, likely, never use again.
“Annual per student expenditures on textbooks can easily approach $700 to $1,000 today.”
- Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, 2007
Much like netflix changed the dvd industry, a slew of online textbook rental companies are changing the way students can get books. Most offer a large selection of competitively-priced textbooks, for terms ranging from one month to a full semester. Many also let you extend the rental period or purchase the book outright, if necessary. Once the semester is over, most offer a prepaid shipping label to send your books back to the company.
I researched the rental prices for a sample of five textbooks that a typical MBA student might need to read, using some of the more popular web sites. For comparison, I also found the purchase prices to own both new and used copies of the same books. The table below shows the average price per book for a semester rental, not including any shipping costs (prices accurate as of 7/18/09):
| Site | Term | Average Price |
|---|---|---|
| skoobit.com | $10.99 per month, per book | $44 |
| campusbookrentals.com | semester | $58 |
| chegg.com | semester | $59 |
| bookrenter.com | 125 days | $62 |
| collegebookrenter.com | 130 days | $77 |
| amazon.com (used) | own | $95 |
| half.com (new) | own | $100 |
| amazon.com (new) | own | $146 |
I’ve used some of these sites and have never had any issues receiving or returning books. Keep in mind that each is slightly different, so make sure to read through all of the details for every site. For example, some sites will charge you extra for returning books with writing or highlighting in them. If you doodle or need to highlight to study, those sites might not be for you. Also, the sites with the lowest average price did not necessarily have the least expensive copies of all books, so it pays to check multiple sites before you order.
Before you head back to campus this fall, you may want to spend some time checking textbook rental prices online. The savings can be substantial.
Are there any other sites that you’ve used to rent textbooks?
Comments
Subscribe Today:
FRIENDS OF THE SITE
