Textbooks for Rent ... Everywhere
A college education may be a lifetime investment, but college textbooks may only see use for a semester or less. And with many students pinching pennies because of tuition and tightening family budgets, some don’t see buying textbooks as worth the cost, which is typically between $700 and $1,000 per year. Textbook rental programs have been sprouting up and growing for some time, but this week there are signs of a market shift with large, traditional bookstore companies going further than they have in the past in embracing the rental concept. Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Education, Jan. 12, 2010