The ability to rent textbooks is spreading, and students are saving money as a result.
In the fall 2010 semester, the University Bookstore implemented Rent-A-Text, an online book-rental program.
Follet Corp., the nationwide educational materials company, whose eFollet website manages OU’s textbook purchases and rentals, said 97 percent of 15,000 customers surveyed reported they would use the rental service again, said Elio Distaola, Follet campus relations director.
“If you only really need a textbook for one semester, you don’t want to have to pay full price and then be stuck with it,” said Matt Mueller, University College freshman.
The company rented about 1.6 million units nationwide during its first term, Distaola said.
Distaola said the idea of a more accessible and widespread book rental program came to fruition in light of the economic downturn and advancements in technology.
“It was really a very risky endeavor for us,” Distaola said. “When you’re renting out textbooks for less than we pay for them, we become very dependent on students turning them back in on time. If we don’t get that book back on time to rent it out again, it’s literally an economic model that we can’t sustain.”
After this pilot program, the company then invested $130 million in bringing the program to more than 780 stores during the fall. This spring semester it has expanded to 815 stores. The company pays commissions to the universities that outsource with them.
Local bookstores also are expanding to keep pace with larger outlets such as the University Bookstore.
Boomer Book Company and Sooner Textbooks, two locations of the same company, are expanding their rental program to include more than textbooks, Devon Toland, Boomer Book Co. general manager said.
This semester will be the first time that they will rent a wide variety of school supplies. Everything from custom books and clickers to graphing calculators will be rentable for a full semester, Toland said.
“We’ve continued to evolve our program as each year goes through,” Toland said. “It’s been a way that we can offer the students lower prices and still keep going ourselves.”
LOCAL BOOKSTORES:
Boomer Book Company
1337 W. Lindsey St.
405-447-2665
Sooner Textbooks
745 Asp Ave.
405-360-8910
University Bookstore
1185 Asp Ave.
405-325-3511
Beat The Bookstore
1217 W. Lindsey St.
405-329-7900
Ratcliffe’s Textbooks
1105 Elm Ave.
405-321-7777
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afab 11 months ago
If you really want to save money on textbooks, the best way is to compare prices of books amongst the major online retailers. You can get prices for purchase or rental. Sites like http://www.affordabook.com (buy) and http://www.rent-a-textbook.com (rent) are very helpful.
jaysingh 1 year, 4 months ago
Yea seems like everyone is ready to rent textbooks now. I noticed on our campus also adapted the textbook rental program, but there prices seems to be a bit higher still compared to online sites such as http://www.Cheapbookrenter.com and CampusBookRentals.com. I think students are still doing there research and trying to save an extra buck where ever they can.
bjones_y 1 year, 2 months ago
With over a dozen textbook rental sites and another 20+ sites selling used textbook my recommendation is to use a price comparison tool to show the cheapest used, rental, ebook & international version price like the free service from www.Cheap-Textbooks.com. Makes it much easier to compare all the sources and make a decision.