Being a college student, one must pay for rising tuition, monthly rent and books. Now with the economy in its current state, it is crucial to save a penny wherever possible.

Saving money being on everyone’s mind, the Hornet Bookstore has presented a beneficial opportunity. For the first time, students will be permitted to rent textbooks.

Starting this semester, students will find they can save over 50 percent on textbooks by renting them either new or used.

Pam Parsons, the bookstore director, said the economy has affected the schooling systems. She believes the idea of textbook rentals and its overall direction is a changing industry.

“I think it is good that conversations are causing change,” Parsons said. “We really want this to be successful and we’re proud we’re doing it in a really big way.”

There is a short process to be able to rent a textbook. Forms can be found at the front desk where purchases are made. Contact information is filled out on the form and an agreement to terms and conditions is read and signed.

After paying the price up front, students must promise to return the rented textbooks by Dec. 21. The bookstore will also send students three reminder e-mails. If the books are not returned by the due date, 75 percent of the book price is to be paid along with a processing fee. If students decide to drop the class they rented a textbook for, the book can be returned during the normal return period.

Since this is such a great way to save money, why hasn’t renting textbooks always been an option? Parsons said this is the first year the Sacramento State campus has had the help of Follett Higher Education Group, Inc. aiding Sac State’s textbook inventory. With Follett giving the bookstore more titles to match up to, Parson said it’s much easier to rent a book now. But there are only certain titles that are being offered as a rental, determined by which textbooks the bookstore thinks will be rented most and which ones are bought most. Specifically, Parsons said, the bookstore makes its decisions based on what may be used most.

“Titles are chosen based on what we think will be used four times, or four terms. It depends on the probability of it being readopted for two years,” Parsons said.

Parsons said with the hopeful success of the program, more books will continue to be circulated, which will support further textbook renting. Without having to purchase more books for students to buy, the bookstore will save money. With a constant circulation, it might seem as if the bookstore might lose money, however, Parsons said with the huge database at the Hornet Bookstore, more rents are bound to happen.

“It may seem like a gamble at first,” Parsons said. “We want students to have the right option for them.”

Sac State students seemed to have little or no knowledge of the rental option. Maria Jocovo, senior business and ethnic studies major, believes the rental process will help the economy as far as school goes and thinks it’s a good idea, especially for students.

Maribel Dominquez, freshman psychology major, said she wasn’t familiar with renting textbooks, but thought it sounded like a good idea and added that it would probably help the economy.

Bookstore employee Rick Bose, junior engineering major, thinks that the cheaper prices of books through renting will ultimately save money.

“Renting is cheaper because buy backs at the end of the semester isn’t a guarantee,” Bose said.

Parsons really wants the textbook rentals to be successful and believes word of mouth will help. She also described Sac State as being “ground zero,” meaning our campus is the jumping-off point for this new trend.

Kayla Maciel can be reached at [email protected]