At Rutgers, as well as at many other institutions, increasingly rising textbook costs are the newest financial setback for students.
"I spent around $340 this semester on textbooks," said Melissa Russell, a Douglass College first-year student. "I just hope it will all be worth it in the end."
There are many groups that are fighting to lower the rising costs of textbooks, including the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group. NJPIRG is part of a coalition of student PIRGs and student governments at 30 schools in 14 states working to make textbooks affordable.
"The fact of the matter is that textbook publishers are cashing in on college students by deliberately and unnecessarily making books unaffordable," said Tami O'Neill, a Rutgers College sophomore and an NJPIRG intern. "To trick students, companies often release new editions every year, with no new material."
Steve Miller, senior media services coordinator and University journalism professor, said constantly upgradeable textbooks available online would benefit students as well as publishers.
"I have been trying to convince textbook companies to convert to online distribution," Miller said. "This would eliminate the costs to publishers and students, as well as make textbooks more accurate, affordable and accessible."
BookRenter.com, an online company started by recent college graduates, is looking to reduce the cost of textbooks by renting them to students rather than buying.
The Web site uses a system in which students can rent the books they need for one-third of the price.
"Making textbooks cheaper would surely enhance my overall college experience," said Lauren Mastrangelo, a Livingston College sophomore. "It would be one less thing I'd have to worry about."
The company has a built in response to the procrastination of college students, by offering a speedy delivery.
"Even though students save a lot of money with renting, we don't want them to feel like they are sacrificing anything in the process," said Colin Barceloux, president of BookRenter.com. "When we talk about renting with all the advantages of buying, we mean fast delivery, flexible rental periods, like-new books and free return shipping at any [United States Postal Service] Drop Location or Post Office."
BookRenter adds its name to the growing list of ways to thwart the costs of new textbooks. The University and NJ Books bookstores sell used textbooks for a discount. RUBookswap is a second option, as a collective list of available used books.
In contrast, BookRenter's products are all new or nearly new. A student might be intimidated by the process of having to return and get new books in time at the campus bookstore during book-rush week, but BookRenter offers free return shipping with prepaid return mailers, similar video rental service Netflix.
The Web site allows the user to search for a certain book by category, ISBN code, title or author. Other functions that will soon be operation are the trade and sell options and customer feedback.
"We really want input and feedback from our customers because we were students once too, and know how problematic the issue of getting textbooks is," Barceloux said. "That's why we are here to help students not only save money but also assist them in general with the entire textbook process."
In the coming months, students will not only have the option to purchase their rented textbook but also the ability to extend their rental.
