Buy me or rent me
UD Bookstore to offer textbook rental program
8:12 a.m., May 16, 2011--University of Delaware students could save more than $1.2 million on textbooks during the next academic year, thanks to a new rental program being launched at the UD Bookstore.
“It’s another choice for our students,” says bookstore manager Jennifer Galt. “They now have four really good options—buy new, buy used, rent, or buy digital.”
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Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, which runs the UD Bookstore, began to offer rentals at schools across the U.S. beginning in 2010.
The numbers behind the options demonstrate the savings for students. A book that retails for $100 new is offered for $75 used and $40 in digital format. It can be rented for $49.
In the current book buyback program, a student would get back $50 on the new book purchased at the beginning of the semester but with one significant limitation—the professor must have an order in for the same edition of the same book for the next semester.
“Book rental removes this risk for the student,” Galt says. “The rental fee is virtually the same as the net cost after buyback, but students don’t have to wait to get their money back, and they don’t have to worry about whether that book will be used again next year.”
Nearly 900 titles will be offered beginning in the fall 2011 semester. While this represents about a third of UD’s total textbook titles, it’s close to half of the books actually sold. According to Galt, the selections offered for rental are typically common titles used nationwide. “They’re generally for core classes,” she says. “More specialized, custom books are typically not offered as rentals. The program works because we partner with so many B&N college stores.”
Why rent from Barnes & Noble rather than an online vendor?
Galt ticks off several advantages. “First,” she says, “you know you’re getting the exact book required for the class. Also, there is no shipping fee, and returns are easy, again with no shipping fee. Finally, we have a rent-to-own option, which allows students to change their minds after the semester begins. They can purchase a book they intended to rent or rent one they intended to buy.”
According to the College Board, the average student at a four-year public college spent over $1100 on books and other course materials in 2010-11.
“We’re especially pleased about the potential cost savings the rental program represents for students and their families,” says David Brond, UD vice president for communications and marketing. “The $1.2 million per year we’re citing is the amount that will be realized if just 30 percent of students take advantage of the rental option. The amount will increase as more students opt in.”
Galt also emphasizes the advantages to students of having a variety of choices. “In some cases, a student may want to keep a key textbook that’s integral to their major and career path,” she says. “In that case, buying is the best option. But for other students, especially freshmen who may not even be sure they’ve chosen the right major, renting is a better choice.”
Beginning this summer, UD students can reserve textbooks for rental using the same system as the one used for sales. Books can be reserved online or in the store, and they can be shipped to the student’s house or picked up at the store.
Rented books must be returned within a specified time period after the end of the semester, or students will be charged for the full price of the text. But even that process is made easy—students who don’t return books right away will receive reminder emails with free shipping labels attached. “All they have to do is box it up, affix the label, and send it back to us,” Galt says.
But she doesn’t expect that to happen. The national average for compliance with the return of books is 98 percent.
“Technology is changing the face of instructional materials,” Brond says, “but it’s not eliminating the need for bricks-and-mortar bookstores. Rentals and digital offerings are simply giving students more choices, and a campus bookstore is still the best place to exercise those options.”
UD’s new Barnes & Noble store on Main Street in Newark will open on Aug. 1, with a grand opening scheduled for Sept. 1.
Article by Diane Kukich
Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson