Buy textbooks or rent them?
Factors to consider before choosing
Book Rental Pro
Put simply, the biggest “pro” is price up front. Barnes &
Noble at UNC Charlotte’s new rental program offers texts at
45% of the price of a new book. For a $100 book, that would be
$45. Saving $55 is a good deal.
Book Rental Con
Honestly consider the likelihood that at the end of the
semester you will return your rented books by the date you
specified in your rental agreement. Are you one of those people
who tends to rack up overdue fines on library books? Don’t get
videos back to the Redbox on time? Then maybe renting isn’t
your best choice. When a rented book is not returned within the
required time frame, you’ll be charged the full price of the book,
plus a penalty fee (standard practice in any book rental program). You’ll lose what you’ve saved and that $100 book could
end up costing you about $125. Ouch.
Book Purchase Pros
If that $100 textbook is bought used, it will cost $75; a 25%
savings. If that book is adopted for use for the next semester,
you can sell it back at the end of the semester and likely get
50% back what you paid.
In the above example (which is common) you would have
used the text for a semester at a net cost of $37.50. That’s less
than renting.
Barnes & Noble at UNC Charlotte makes cashing in books
easier with remote buy-back stations all around campus during the end-of-semester buy-back period. Right here – cash for
books, done.
Should you accidently ruin your textbook no worries; it’s
yours. Should you decide to keep it and not sell it back, that’s
your prerogative.
Book Purchase Con
If the professor doesn’t adopt the book for use the next
semester, then the book may not be worth much and buy-back
will yield less.
Other Considerations
Book prices and the frequency at which new editions are
released is determined by publishers and not every book is
suitable for rental. For example, books packaged with software,
access codes, or those containing loose or perforated pages are
not eligible for the program.
Need more information?
Write Greg McCambridge, UNC Charlotte Business
Services’ licensing and bookstore contract manager: [email protected].
Barnes & Noble at UNC Charlotte’s textbook rental program
or an Internet book rental company?
What edition?
With Internet rental programs,
securing the right edition is
incumbant on you the consumer,
not the textbook rental supplier.
Will you receive the most current
edition?
You can be assured that textbooks on the campus bookstore’s
rental roster are exactly what
your instructor specified.
The return process
Toward the end of the
semester, Barnes & Noble
at UNC Charlotte will
send you a courtesy
email, reminding you
of the return deadline.
Then, when you’re finished with exams, just
drop your rented books off at the bookstore in the Student
Union.
An online text provider will require you to pack rented
textbooks into a box and schlep them to the Post Office or
UPS.
What’s easier for you?
No other store supports UNC Charlotte more
Patronizing the campus bookstore helps support other
students and a lot of the events and activities you enjoy. In
fact, proceeds from the bookstore:
• fund scholarships
• provide on-campus employment to 100+ students each
year
• help build and maintain new facilities like the Student
Union and football stadium
• support programs like SOAR, Homecoming, Athletics
and more
Sure, it’s possible to save two or three percent if renting
books from an online company, but what do they do for your
school?