Rent-a-book concept arrives
- August 15, 2010
UC Berkeley students may have a tough time finding a room to rent before classes start Aug. 26, but they won't have any trouble renting another back-to-school staple: textbooks.
The Cal Student Store now allows students to rent select course texts for the semester, a less-expensive option that can save students nearly half the cost of new books and offers a significant savings over even used books. Most students spend about $1,000 a year on textbooks, according to campus figures.
"I'm renting this textbook because it's cheaper," said second-year student Natalie Fakhreddine, who plans to major in business. "It's easy to do."
For her and other economics students, the rental program means "Free to Choose" by the late Milton Friedman is $6.75 to rent, compared with $15 if purchased new or $11.25 used.
"Renting is much cheaper," said third-year student Kseniya Lapina. "And it's good to reuse the book."
A 600-page text on social psychology, for example, costs nearly $140 new and $104 used; it rents for $62. A 1,200-page introduction to astrophysics is $172 new, $129 used, and $77 to rent.
Students can treat the rented texts just as they would books they buy: they can write notes in the margins and use highlighter markers on them, said Jeff Deutsch, director of the Cal Student Store.
"Normal wear and tear is fine," he said, "which is a great feature for those using the books."
Students can also opt buy the book at
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the end of the term if they decide they want to keep it.
The bookstore has about 3,750 different books in stock, and more than 30 percent of these titles can be rented. "The percentage is going up as we add titles," Deutsch said.
Cal's Rent-a-Text program is being offered in cooperation with Follett Higher Education Group of Oak Brook, Ill., which manages more than 850 bookstores in the United States and Canada. Other Bay Area campuses that rent books include Saint Mary's College in Moraga, the University of San Francisco, Cal State East Bay and Stanford University.
In a test program at 27 schools, including one Sacramento, students saved close to $6 million over two terms, according to information from Follett. The company projects the program could help students at more than 700 schools save more than $130 million in the 2010-2011 school year, and it expects to rent more than 3 million books nationwide.
"In the pilot program, just less than half of students with the rental option do it," said Elio Distaola, director of campus relations for Follett. "That is more than 40 percent choosing to rent rather than buy."
This figure could go up to 50 percent, he adds, since the price of textbooks continues to rise.
"It's reached a point where it's become a barrier for some students to buy them," Distaola said.
Nationwide, about 15 percent of students do not buy books, according to the National Association of College Stores. This can be for financial and other reasons, experts say.
Deutsch credits Tu Tran, last year's vice president of the Associated Students of the University of California, with pushing for the option.
"We worked with him on lots of affordability issues," Deutsch said, "and he became a champion, because this was such an excellent option for students" who want to save money.
Some students say the decision to rent or buy depends on the subject matter.
"I'll rent a book if it's not in my major, like for an anthropology class," said Aerial Chen, an architecture student who just started working at the bookstore.
"It really depends on the course," said Serena Quiroga, a fourth-year student from Colombia. "I'll probably rent a book, if it isn't for my major but is for a required class."
Other foreign students, though, say they prefer to buy certain textbooks at lower prices overseas and have their family members ship the texts to them. This way, they can keep the textbooks and pay less than they would in the United States.
Not all students looking to save money have such an option. Many, though, can order digital books online. Digital or electronic books are generally cheaper than new and used textbooks.
"I hope that e-books are a fad," said Anthony Rodriguez, a third-year student majoring in intellectual history. "I like to read books and to keep them."
Would he ever consider renting one?
"It's an interesting concept, sort of like being back in high school," he said. "You get the book at the beginning of the term and then have to return it. But I probably wouldn't rent one except for math or a class I didn't like. (The rental) option doesn't let you build up your library, and that's what I want to do while I'm in school."
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