How to Save Money with Textbook Rentals
If there is one thing that college students hate more than midterms, it’s paying outrageous prices on textbooks. If you are tired of paying for your textbooks, you may consider renting your books instead. There are tons of websites and stores that have textbook rental programs nowadays, and any one of them could help you save money on your education. You just have to know how to use their services to your advantage.
How Textbook Rentals Work
Every textbook rental program follows the same basic process. You pay for a small portion of the textbook you need and have it delivered right to your door (unless you pick it up in a store). You can use the textbook throughout the semester just like you want to. Write on it, bookmark it, sleep on it, or do whatever else you need to do with the book. Then when classes are over, you simply send the book back to the place you got it from and order another set of books for next semester. This is the same as any other rental program, but this could actually help you land a career in the future.
The Cost of Renting Textbooks
The price you pay for a textbook rental will depend on the book you need. Some books are in higher demand, or they are more abundantly available. If you need an expensive, rare book that is in high demand, you’re going to pay a pretty hefty price to get the book. This will be less than what you would pay for it outright, but it will still be more than you would pay for a cheap book that the store has a million copies of.
You will pay more for new textbook rentals than you will for used textbook rentals. Most rental companies make all of their money for the books within the first two or three rentals, and then the remaining rental periods are just profit for them. That is why you can get a cheaper book after the company has had it for a bit. If you want the lowest price possible on your textbooks, you need to find a used rental for every single class you take. This may not always be an option, but it is something to consider.
Where to Rent Textbooks from
There are several venues you can go to when you want to rent a textbook. Most people first turn to the internet because it usually has the lowest prices and the widest selection. The most popular textbook rental site online is Chegg because it has a huge selection to choose from, and it usually has the best prices around. If it doesn’t have the best prices, it has a coupon code somewhere online to reduce the cost lower than anyone else. Chegg is also unique because it has a tree planting program, where you can basically use the trees you saved by renting rather than buying to grow a new forest somewhere in the world. Chegg plants a tree or several in your honor, which can lead to an odd sense of accomplishment that you may not get with another rental program.
Aside from Chegg and other sites like it, you can also contact local book stores to see if they have any rental programs for you. Most college bookstores have started doing this for books that come in demand year after year. You may still have to buy one or two of your books outright, but that beats the heck out of buying all of them. No matter where you choose to go, you will save a ton of money through the textbook rental process.
