One excellent money saving method for college students is that of textbook rental. Rather than buying your textbooks and trying to resell them when you are done with them, you can rent your textbooks. This eliminates the financial guesswork. No longer do you have to worry about trying to resell your used books. No longer do you have to spend precious time finding a buyer for your used college books. No longer do you risk not being able to resell your books. Instead, you simply mail them back to the rental company after your class is over.
Because textbook renting is such a new and revolutionary idea, college students naturally have many questions. Today, I will answer seven of the most common questions.
How Much Does It Save?
Many students are skeptical. “Does renting really save much money?” Surprisingly, renting your college books instead of buying can actually save you hundreds of dollars. According to companies such as Chegg.com, BookRenter.com, and Campus Book Rentals (DFS Sponsor), rental books are often 50% to 85% off the list price. You have to remember, however, this is the savings when compared to a brand new book. The price drop when comparing a rental book with a used book, though still substantial, is not as large. For additional savings, check our June textbook rental coupon.
What Is The Quality Of Rental Books?
When I first heard about the concept of renting college books, I wondered what condition the books were in. After all, a book can only be rented so many times before it stops being usable. Looking around on the rental company websites, I found that books are only rented when they are in new or like-new condition. Specifically, rental textbooks do not have…
- Missing pages
- Worn text
- Handwriting
- Excessive highlighting
- Missing Covers
If you do get a book that is in bad condition, most companies will gladly exchange it for you.
May I Highlight Or Write In A Rental Book?
Yes and no. Limited highlighting is normally allowed, but writing in a textbook is never allowed. Remember, they hope to rent this book again after you return it, so it should be in usable condition.
Are The Books The Same As My College Bookstore?
Because book rental sites allow you to search for textbooks by ISBN number, you will be able to insure that the textbook you rent is identical in content to the book in your college bookstore. However, supplemental CD’s, access codes, or study guides may not be included. If you get the wrong version by mistake, most of the rental companies will exchange it for free.
How Do I Return My Book When I Am Done?
Most rental companies have a very easy return policy. Simply place the book in the postage-paid box provided by the rental company and drop the package in the nearest mail drop box. It really is that simple!
Are There Any Late Fees?
Unfortunately, yes. Most rental companies charge a substantial fee for books which are postmarked past the due date. For instance, BookRenter.com says, “If your book is not postmarked by the end of your rental period, you will be charged 20% of the book’s list price and your rental will be extended by 14 days.” If you still do not return the book during the 14 days, they charge you even more, and the book becomes your property.
What If I Need To Keep My Book Longer Than The Rental Period?
Occasionally, you will find that the rental period is not long enough. Perhaps the class took longer than you expected or the book turned out to be a great reference volume. Most book rental companies offer many differerent types of rental extentions. For instance, Chegg.com offers these different extentions: fifteen days, thirty days, a quarter, and a semester. In addition, they also have a way to easily convert a rental into a purchase!
Image via Flickr (@supervillain)
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Nate-
Great article! Very good outline on the process. Just wanted to give you another site to add to your readers’ list, http://www.collegebookrenter.com. Thanks for spreading the word on rentals!
I never knew about renting text books, could have been a great option for me, thanks for the info!
Great information! This is a relatively new trend and is catching on quickly.
Good advice to compare the rental price to available used copies. It’s possible that once in a while a used book could be found that would be cheaper than renting, but that would probably be the exception. Students should also think about whether the book might be something that they might want to keep. Sometimes books in their major may prove useful later on.
@ Vicki
Great points! I agree with you that sometimes used books could be cheaper than rental books, and some books are better owned for reference. Thanks for contributing such useful information!
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If you do your research, you would know that both Chegg and Bookrenter have poor reviews. They are essentially a scam.
Heather,
You said that Chegg.com and Bookrenter.com are both essentially scams. I have done research on both companies and the vast majority of reviews are highly favorable.
For instance, CampusGrotto wrote a favorable review at http://www.campusgrotto.com/review-chegg.com-textbook-rental-service.html.
Where did you get your information?
Thanks,
Nate
Neither company is a scam, but rarely do I think renting is truly the least expensive way for students to get textbooks. People get too caught up in the upfront cost instead of looking at the whole picture. Even if you can’t find a used book as cheap as a rental, the used book can still be sold back at the end of the semester, whereas you just have to give up the rental. The savings are significant enough if I can sell it back that I’m willing to risk new editions coming out and not being able to sell one or two books back in a semester.
Not only have I researched extensively but I have actually used Chegg.com for both my sons for the past semester, they have been both effecient and professional. I saved at least $75 per book over USED prices and 60% over new, and the transactions went perfectly.
http://www.chegg.com
Don’t buy books, rent them!
Use chegg coupon code CC105203 to get 5 % off your entire order PLUS free shipping !!!
Use the same code and get an extra $5.00 cash back when selling your old used textbooks to chegg !!!!!!!!!!
i have been all over your site and have not yet found anything about opting for ebooks instead of the traditional bound book copies….do you have any opinions or posts on this?
LOVE your blog!
Thanks!
@ Sarah
Thanks for your input! I have not written anything about ebooks vs. traditional books… yet.
Actually, I have not really given much thought to e-textbooks, but that might be a good thing to investigate.
Have you used e-textbooks? What is your experience?
Wow this is a very nice post. You really highlighted every aspect of renting text books. One thing that people do not take into account is when you buy text books from the school store you can sell them back at the end of the term. So the total expense is equal to the original price – the sellback price, and from this perspective the actual savings for renting would be less. The only problem with this calculation is, the book store doesn’t always buy every one of your books back. Usually its a sure thing with big text books and if it isn’t the last term of the school year, but you can never be sure.
Acadreamia is pioneering a similar cheap textbook rental service in the UK. This service needs to develop in the UK, as its clearly successful in the USA at saving their students money on university textbooks. The only problem is some people don’t understand as its so new in the UK!