<p>This idea of providing textbook rentals versus paying hundreds of dollars for sometimes little-used books seems like a good idea. It’s not offered at UCLA or UCSD to my knowledge but I assume it is at some other colleges. if so, what do you think of it?</p>
<p><a href=“North County”>North County;
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<p>Appalachian State University in NC has a book rental program. It is a great moneysaver. The last info. I saw on their website said the rental fee was $76 per semester which is way cheaper than some single textbooks. I wish more schools offered book rentals.</p>
<p>20% per semester? Considering what used books sell for, their depreciation isn’t that steep- and if you’re renting, isn’t that realy what you should be paying for?</p>
<p>A textbook rental program wouldn’t be practical because the textbook companies make new editions of their books every other year. It’s just best to buy the books used online and sell it to someone from your school at the end of the semester.</p>
<p>Maybe if they rented books they wouldn’t have to change editions every couple of years since they’d have enough on-hand and even more money could be saved. For many subjects, there’s really no need for the books to be updated that frequently anyway. It’s all just a money-making scheme.</p>
<p>When I studied in India (eons ago), I always rented my books.</p>
<p>Part of the problem with old editions that requires the change is that the publisher cannot guarantee the school enough copies for every student. They will only guarantee the new edition. If the school up front buys enough books to cover the student count for the next few years, there really wouldn’t be a reason to switch editions until the current books are too abused.</p>
<p>I personally hate using used textbooks, so this wouldn’t work for me. Something weirds me out about someone else using my book and tossing it around since I’m so careful with my things. This always bothered me in high school. Now I buy my new books off half.com and pay less than the used bookstore price, so the money works out the same and I get new books that sell back for more.</p>
<p>Still, for community colleges and courses where there isn’t highly specific content (for example there’s only ten people in my instrumental chemical analysis class) it wouldn’t make a ton of sense to rent the books.</p>
<p>My D at UCSD will frequently buy used books but she checks them out first. The majority of the ones she’s purchased basically look unused. Still, the colleges have a ‘buy low, sell high’ process for used books so it’s not nearly the deal it ought to be.</p>