David LinckIf you’re currently a college or university student, or if you’re about to enter college and you’ve talked to people who are students, there’s a very good chance that you’ve heard how expensive college textbooks can be. Sometimes at the end of each semester the college bookstores will buy the books back, but it’s not uncommon to get $10 for a book that originally cost you $100. And it’s even worse if it’s a book that the teacher told you to buy but then never even used.
Recently, renting textbooks has been gaining popularity as a way for college students to get the books they need without having to pay full price from bookstores. Textbook rental companies can be found online.
When compared with buying, renting books has some significant advantages. First, you don’t have to bother standing around in the crowded campus bookstores with all the other students during the first week of classes. Instead, you can shop at home from your computer. Second, you will obviously save money when instead of buying a book for $80, $100, or more, you can rent it for a certain amount of time for a fraction of that cost. Some rental companies will allow you to keep the book at the end of the semester if you like it and decide you want to keep it (after all, every once in a while you do have that one class that you really like with the great book that you know you’ll want to save for reference in the future).
Before deciding to rent, however, you should first search for the best price. It’s also important to verify whether or not a book comes with any electronic materials that may have originally come with the book, such as CDs or DVD-ROMs.
Renting textbooks can be a great way to save money for someone in college or university, especially if you get free shipping!
