We all know that going to college can put a major strain on your finances. On top of tuition, housing, and meal plans, the cost for textbooks can be high. A new trend for students with textbooks is to rent instead of buy. Most likely you will not use your textbooks after the course is over, so there is no need to buy the textbook, at least not at its original price.
Websites like www.chegg.com offer textbooks to rent for up to 75% off the original price. The only condition is that you return the textbook once the class is over. Overall, it is a very simple process. You log onto the website then search for the textbook you need via ISBN number or title and author. Upon checkout, you chose to rent for the semester or a year. When your renting period ends, Chegg will send you boxes and labels to print to mail it back for free via UPS.
Amazon is another awesome source to look for textbooks. Like Chegg, they provide labels to send your rentals for free via UPS. They also offer a rental feature through their Kindle online store which is an even cheaper way of renting textbooks because they aren’t in print! Don’t have a kindle? No worries, you can easily sign up for a Kindle account and read your textbooks online through the Kindle Cloud Reader. Another added bonus is that you can customize your rental time in case you won’t need your textbook after midterms which will decrease fees even more.
Another quick tip for saving money through renting is to search for a promo code before checking out. They will always ask for one, and you can usually find one through sites like www.retailmenot.com. These little promo codes could offer you 5% off your rental or shipping fees.
Some other sites that offer textbooks for rent include www.rent-a-text.com, www.bookrenter.com, and www.knetbooks.com.
So with fall semester just around the corner, visit these sites before purchasing textbooks at full price. This is an easy and simple way to help you save some college money!
Do you have any experience with renting textbooks? Please comment below. We’d love to hear from you!
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Check into Barnes and Noble textbook rental. This can save you tons of money especially if you will never use this textbook as a reference point in the future. I rented a textbook this fall that cost me $58.00. It was even shipped to me, I didn’t even have to go the store. I rented it until the end of finals week which is Dec. 7. If I was to purchase this book, it was $210.00 at the campus bookstore. It’s pretty obvious what to do!!
Renting textbooks is a great idea. I have always bought in the past but decided to rent this year. The main reason that I decided to rent was because 2 of my text books would unable to be bought back due t new additions coming out. I rented my textbooks through a local company and just have to return them to the store after finals. It was easy and painless. I rented them for more than half the price of buying them! Defiantly the way to go on a college budget!
– I have never rented a textbook before but I have never bought a book brand new. I always just buy used books from the a bookstore in the area. This way can always save me money and I still have the textbook I need for class. I do believe that I will start to rent textbooks from any of these websites for my last year in college
I have rented eBooks for a few courses and they were about $50 for the semester. It was cool because, they allow you to download to more than one device. So no matter where I am, if I have my computer or iPad, I can study genetics and statistics. I did wonder how renting would have compared to buying and reselling, especially since book are available thru the internet for way less than what I would pay at the bookstore.