Textbook rental service adds more titles for fall

Mason student Capri Lofaro, right, and her brother looks at a textbook in the school's bookstore. (Daniel McEnrue)

Students feeling a squeeze on their wallets and pocketbooks may find a solution to their financial woes this semester.

The George Mason University official bookstore increased its collection of printed texts available for rental, bringing the total number of rental-eligible textbook titles to 600 for the fall 2010 semester, according to Jonathan Howard, textbook manager of the bookstore. In the spring, Connect2Mason reported that the bookstore offered 50 titles for rent.

Students pay 45 percent of the price of a new book upfront to rent an eligible title, and then keep the book for the entire semester. Book renters are allowed to take regular notes and highlight passages in the books without incurring damage fees. The bookstore requires that students return rentals within 10 days from the last day of final exams.

Students who fail to return a rented textbook by the given deadline must pay 75 percent of the new book price – to compensate for restocking the item – as well as a 7.5 percent processing fee, said Barbara Headley, the bookstore’s general manager. The same fees apply to students who return books in poor condition, which the bookstore cannot resell.

This information is highlighted clearly in the rental agreement students are required to sign upon renting a textbook, Headley said. In addition, the bookstore will send emails reminding students of the textbook due date.

Book rentals are a more price-friendly option than buying books and selling them back to the bookstore at the end of the semester. While students who rent books receive no cash back at the end of the semester, they pay cheaper upfront costs and ultimately end up saving more money. In addition, the bookstore offers varying prices for standard book buybacks at the end of the semester, offering a maximum of 50 percent for new books in excellent condition.

Students save more than that by renting.

Justina Jordan, a junior conflict analysis and resolution major, said she will save money this semester despite the limited range of textbook titles available for rental. Jordan, taking a full-time course load after consecutive part-time semesters, said this is her first semester noticing the rental option, and the service is already saving her money. Jordan estimates that she will save $80 between two book rentals this semester

“It’s very convenient and a stress reliever,” she said. “Some students go through two weeks of classes without textbooks because they can’t afford to pay for them. Now, if you can’t afford your books, you don’t have to worry.”

The bookstore advertises this service by having the rental option available for when students look up their book lists on PatriotWeb. A big banner on the bookstore website encourages students to rent their textbooks. The actual bookstore lists new, used and rental prices on rent-eligible items in the bookstore.

But the Mason bookstore isn’t the only bookseller playing the rental game.

Chegg.com claims to have saved students more than $249 million (as of Friday) on textbooks by offering them for rent. Textbooks.com and TextbooksRus.com offer many titles for rental. And BigWords.com, an online textbook search engine which humorously claims to have been “protecting the universe from high textbook prices since the dawn of time,” finds the best available pricing options – both purchase and rental – for textbooks on the Internet.