Buying vs. Renting Textbooks-Part II

On yesterday’s post, I discussed the pros and cons of buying new and used textbooks at your college bookstore. I also listed a number of websites to check out for alternative sources of buying your textbooks at the bookstore.

Today, I’ll discuss a new option for students: renting textbooks. I graduated in 2004, and cannot recall the textbook rental option being available for students at all. After checking into it a little bit more, I think that it could be a very good option for budget-conscious students. But, as with anything else, there are a few potential drawbacks to renting.

• There are no guarantees that the book you want is available at any specific site.
• The books are rented for a specific number of days correlating to semesters, quarters and summer sessions, and the rental period begins the day the book requested is shipped, not when the student receives the book.
• Student has to wait for delivery of the book by mail.
• Some rental sites require the student to pay for all shipping costs, which can be substantial with the weight of books.
• The rental site may run out of the title you request before the book is shipped.

The advantages of renting textbooks are as follows:

• No need to find a reseller to take your books back at the end of the semester.
• Environmentally friendly-no new trees will be cut down for these books.
• Less expensive option than purchasing new or used books (one site claims savings up to 75% off buying textbooks.)

A few of sites to check out for renting textbooks are:

1) Chegg.com

2)Bookrenter.com

3)CampusBookRentals.com

There is also a new player in the game,  the e-textbook delivery option, and this may very well be the wave of the future. Recently, California Gov. Arnold  Schwarzenegger announced that California schools would immediately cease buying traditional textbooks for math and science classes, and would move to the e-textbook delivery option starting in August 2009. With the available e-book technology, it makes sense to slash costs in the math and science textbook area since these are usually by far the most expensive textbooks to buy. I’m sure we’ll see more states follow, and hopefully colleges and universities will as well. Of course, being the cynic that I am, I’m sure that colleges will be resistant to the idea as they would lose a good chunk of revenue if bookstores close.

If you are interested in the e-textbook option, you can check out this site:

1) CourseSmart.com

I had hoped to find more distributors of e-textbooks, but this is the only commercial source I have found thus far. I’ll be sure to update when I find others.

The best option of all could be  Textbook Revolution, providing they have your text available. Textbook Revolution is a “student-run site dedicated to increasing the use of free educational materials by teachers and professors.”

Have you had experience with renting textbooks and/or subscribing to e-textbooks? Do you know of other e-textbook sources? Please post below to let others know about your experiences in this area.

Update: Visit Debtfreescholar.com for an excellent article about renting textbooks that answers more questions about the subject.

Another update: I came across this article, “Toss the Traditional Textbook,” by Grace Rubenstein that discusses open-source e-textbooks in greater detail.