To Buy or Rent My Textbooks This Semester

Textbooks, while such an inconvenience, they’ve become a staple to your college career. You have probably realized that your college Bookstore and many Textbook companies are getting nifty with your options of obtaining a book for class. Not only can you buy your textbooks, but now you can also rent textbooks!

Buying your textbooks can be expensive but you hae a potential incentive of selling it back after the semester is over. However, you do take the risk of getting $0.00 back for it. Throughout college I have always purchased my books because I was just too lazy to look into the option of renting, not realizing I could have saved a fortune.

If I knew what I know now, I would have made the school bookstore my last resort. While they are extremely convenient, sometimes they can be a total rip-off. Believe me; they are well aware that they are.

Think ahead and make a game plan. Saving as much as you can on textbooks will benefit you in the long run.

Here is an example of what your college bookstore can charge you for a Media Programming textbook:

My school, Penn State, gives you the option to rent or buy. Neat.

You can rent the book for $85.10 or purchase a used book for $130.25.

You can have the same options and go to BookRenter and save a couple of bucks. If you rented the textbook for 125 days, you could pay $70.97. You can also rent up to 30 days and pay $50.35.

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Both the bookstore and BookRenter have the option to buy a brand new textbook, however, BookRenter is still cheaper by a couple of dollars.

When making the decision to either rent or buy, it comes down to every book on its own. Every class and required text is different. Majority of students find themselves renting and buying textbooks. Just depends on what is more beneficial.

Whatever your option is, I would compare what your bookstore has to offer to a site like BookRenter. If you purchase your books via Studentrate, you can save up to 80% on books PLUS get 5% cash back on your entire order. Sweet deal.