To rent or not to rent…textbooks

Kelly Seiver

The Signal

As the end of the semester nears, students start thinking about selling back their textbooks and purchasing new books for next semester, but before making that trip to the UHCL bookstore, students might want to explore other options.

While textbooks tend to be expensive, there is more to consider than just cost. They can be an educational investment, and an asset to a student’s professional library, which can be great for reference materials. The choice also depends on the student and his or her plan of study.

For example, a communication student may not use a Basic Texts book as a reference very often. If needed, he or she could check out a book from a library; however if a student is an anthropology or literature major, then keeping a book from that course could be beneficial later.

“My first few years as a chemist at Houston Lighting and Power, now Reliant Energy, I used my organic chemistry books and some of my math books as references,” Richard Clark, a University of Houston ’84 alumnus, said. “I figured they may come in handy, and they have. It is nice to be able to pull the books out to research yourself when you have questions.”

When deciding whether to buy used or new, students might also consider a new option- renting, which the UHCL bookstore now offers, as well as a host of other vendors such as, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Textbooks.com.

Renting is typically half the cost of purchasing a used book, which can be convenient if students want to save money for the short term if a student decides later in the semester that he or she may want to keep the book, the student could buy it at the end of the semester for the used book price as long as it is done before the book’s due date. This option is the best price for student’s on the fence about purchasing textbooks permanently.

Renting a book means many things. First, it means the book will be checked out for a set period of time since the renter is buying the book for a specific time period, the book costs a  fraction of the total price. At UHCL  students can keep their rentals until 10 days after the last day of final exams. If a renter does not bring the book back by the assigned date he/she is subject to being charged for the price of the new book minus their rental fee and a processing fee which is 7.5 percent of the book’s cost at the time of purchase.

The actual  process of renting a book from the UHCL bookstore is simple. When a student gets to the counter, he or she should inform the cashier that they want to rent a book. At that point, the renter fills out a rental agreement, which includes the student’s credit card information for liability purposes. However, the card is not charged unless the book is not returned on time or if it is deemed too damaged. If the card is charged, the book is the student’s to keep.

“We cannot sell or rent out the book to another student if the damage is too severe,” said Vanessa Brown UHCL bookstore manager. “If it is in too poor of condition to give to another student, then we will make you purchase the book.”

The same rules for what is not acceptable when selling back a book to the bookstore apply to returning a rental, including spine not in tact, water damage, no excessive damage to cover or contents and no pages missing.

Students should be aware that not all books are available as rentals, so students should not count on rentals always being an option for all of their books.

“Not all textbooks are available to rent; newer editions are, but older ones are not,” Brown said. “Whether or not the book is available depends on the title. If we know it will be the last semester that we will be selling a book, renting will not be an option. No books with CDs or online access codes will be available to rent as well.”