the Informer

Spencer Allan Brooks

In a pleasing attempt to stretch the Hartford student’s dollar, the campus bookstore has introduced textbook rental this semester.

Following in the footsteps of last year’s biggest bargain book trend, Chegg.com, the bookstore now offers select textbooks to rent for the semester for only a fraction of the price they would cost if purchased new.

Logically, as students are becoming more enthusiastic in the search for the cheapest books, textbook rental from the on-campus bookstore was the next step to keep up with websites like Chegg.com and amazon.com.

“This was the best way to stay competitive while still making books affordable to students,” said Mike Riggins, manager of the campus bookstore.

Judging by the unbearably long lines in the bookstore the first few days of school, students are happily taking advantage of the new opportunity.

To those experienced textbook buyers this surely comes as a relief after having spent countless semesters (and dollars) leaving the bookstore feeling cheated after handing over hard earned money for generally undesired books.

In senior Calum Rennie’s opinion, renting his book from the bookstore was the best deal he could find. “I rented from Chegg.com last year but with this you don’t have to deal with the hassle of shipping,” he said.

Riggins also pointed out the benefits of renting directly from the bookstore as opposed to the rising business of online textbook rental. “This way you can actually see the titles instead of taking a risk and buying the wrong one online,” he said.

With the new system students are also allowed to return any rented books just as if they were purchasing them normally, something that can ultimately become aggravating when having to deal with shipping from all ends of the country.

But is bookstore rental really the best buy out there?

According to Riggins, “our prices are pretty similar to other sources.” Junior Nick Schubert was able to rent his English book for just $30 while buying it new would have set him back around $100. “You can buy a book new and sell it back, but then you end up selling it back for a loss,” he said.

If there is one thing students tend to agree on, it’s that the amount received after selling a book back is never as satisfying as you’d like.

Rennie agreed that when comparing how much books sell back for at the end of the semester, its no surprise that renting seems to be the better deal.

“I’m not going to use the book after anyway, and the money you make back is never a lot so it seems like this is a lot better,” he said.

The one unfortunate flaw in this new system is that not all books are available for rental.

Some students, such as freshman Demi Nunes, are forced to part with the extra cash as there is no option to rent their desired books from the bookstore.

From the bookstore’s side of the operation, it would be economically impossible to put up all books for rental.

For this reason factors such as overall availability, age of the book, and usage all are used to determine what can logically be rented out and what can’t.

“Books with passcodes and workbooks usually won’t be available to rent because they can only be used once, same with books that will soon be out of date,” said Riggins.

So in the search for the cheapest read, be sure to keep your options open and check out the money-saving conveniences the bookstore now offers, and maybe next semester that familiar post-bookstore blow of poverty won’t hit you like a sack of, well, books.