With the Hornet Bookstore’s new textbook rental program, students looking for bargains on textbooks won’t have to rely solely on Internet retailers this year.

Since the start of the fall semester, Sacramento State students have been able to rent textbooks at less than half of the book’s retail price. Bookstore director Pam Parsons said the program has received nothing but positive feedback so far from students, and the bookstore would like to continue the program into next year if possible.

“There isn’t a catch,” Parsons said. “There’s something almost everywhere you look.”

There are 527 titles available, with a range of subjects to choose from including history, chemistry and English. Students pay the rental fee upfront and may keep their books until Dec. 21 after finals are through.

As long the book is in the same condition as required for buybacks, it is eligible for rental return. Books with water damage, torn-out pages or broken spines will not be accepted for return, and students will be charged 75 percent of the new book price, plus an additional 7.5 percent processing fee, according to the rental agreement.

“It’s been a great investment on Follett’s part,” Parsons said

Prior to learning that Follett already had a pilot textbook rental program in progress, Parsons said the bookstore had been working to develop its own with University Enterprises, Inc. UEI’s original proposal only had two titles available and would have required a two-year commitment.

The bookstore welcomed the news when it heard that Follett chose Sac State as one of several college campuses for the pilot program, Parsons said.

Parsons said the second floor, where textbooks are located, devotes 15 percent of its space to the program. The large space makes the area ideal for the program because of the volume of titles accounted for in the program. In the three weeks since the start of the semester, Parsons said so far nearly 8,500 textbooks have been rented out to students.

Not all students are renting their textbooks, however. Matt Yamamoto, freshman business administration major, said that he had planned to rent some of his textbooks but did not have to after he learned that his brother had half of the copies required for his classes. He said none of his friends have rented any textbooks this semester either, but he still likes the program’s concept: “I think it’s a great idea because books are super expensive.”

Leonie Toche, senior health science major, is renting her textbooks this fall. She paid $20 to rent one required for her health and science class; buying it outright would have cost her $40.

Toche heard about the program originally from her friends and is glad to have a bit of a price break on textbooks since tuitions fees have gone up this year. While the savings for her this semester are not much greater than last year, Toche said she is able to get more books for the money.

“For my psych class, originally (my book) was $200, and you can rent it for $70-something,” Toche said.

Erica Butler, junior child development major estimates that last year she spent $450 on textbooks, and the semester prior almost $600. She would like to use the program but none of the titles she needs are included in it, like those for her economics, ethics, psychology or math courses.

“They just don’t have them,” Butler said, “If they had them here I would definitely rent them.”

Toche said that she likes the program, but thinks even with the vast array of titles available for rent in the bookstore, there still needs to be more.

“That’s not even enough because only two of my books were available for rent,” Toche said.

Ariel Solomon, an undeclared sophomore, said that she might use the program sometime but she did not know of its existence until the semester began.

“I don’t think a lot of people know that they can rent,” Solomon said.

Julia Baum can be reached at [email protected].