Renting Books?

Any student will tell you that the price of textbooks is ridiculous--especially when new versions are published seemingly-annually, making it nearly possible to resell the books. However, according to an article in today's Chronicle of Higher Education, a new company has built itself around the concept of renting textbooks. I have copied the article in its entirety below as it is rather short:

To Avoid High Price of Textbooks, Students Turn to Renting

With a college textbook often costing more than $100, it’s no wonder that students are protesting, and Congress has discussed legislation to lower the price of textbooks.

But what if students rented books instead of buying them? That’s the business model behind a company called Chegg, which was started a year ago and bills itself as “the Netflix for college textbooks.” Students identify the books they want to rent and place their order online. Then, Chegg ships the books to students’ residences. After using the books for a semester, students mail the books back to Chegg with prepaid shipping labels that they download from the Chegg Web site.

Chegg literature says its rental model can save students 60 percent to 80 percent off the price of a book. —Andrea L. Foster