Every semester, Sacramento State students receive a list of “required texts” and they begin to research online vendors, bookstores and rental services to find the best deal.

The Hornet Bookstore offers more than 500 rentable titles. Any rentable book at the original price of $100 dollars would be $75 used and thus $50 dollars to rent.

Pam Parsons, Hornet Bookstore director, said although the Rent-A-Text program may to cut triple-digit prices in half, renting is not always the best option.

“If you know the first day, at the register, you want to keep the book forever, you should just purchase it; but for everyone else, renting is a great option,” Parsons said.

Therefore, Parsons said the rental program only benefits those students willing to return their books.

Also, Parsons said, students renting texts will get money back with their returns.

“Rent-A-Text is essentially an upfront buyback no matter what,” Parsons said. “Normally you can get up to a 50 percent buyback, but only if a book is being reused by professors.”

With the Rent-A-Text program, it does not matter if the teacher is reusing the text.

Parsons said Rent-A-Text guarantees that each student who rents will receive at least 50 percent back on any rented title.

Shelly Olson, Hornet textbook manager, said there was a 2 percent disappointment rate with the program last semester.

The only reason students were upset, Olson said, is because they failed to return their books on time and thus did not receive their money back.

Tracey Trenz, sophomore business major, normally searches for cheap textbooks online at sites like Chegg.com or Half.com before renting or buying from the bookstore.

“I usually have really good experiences with Chegg so I don’t have to come to the bookstore.

I can’t normally make the Hornet bookstore hours; I can order them online at midnight,” Trenz said. “And they mail it to me for only a few bucks and that includes shipping it back. It saves the time and the gas and my sore feet.”

Unlike online stores, Parsons said the Hornet Bookstore offers immediacy to students as well as every required text.

“We’re the only place that can rent you a title and guarantee that whatever you are picking up is the exact edition that your professor requires,” Parsons said.

Parsons admits, though, that Rent-A-Text’s limited inventory of each rental is a drawback in the system.

Gina Woodsfield, junior humanities and religious studies major, said she felt lucky to discover at least one rentable text on her booklist.

“Last semester everyone was bragging about (Rent-A-Text). I said wait a minute, I paid a fortune for my books,” Woodfield said.

Olson said many students are unaware that rental policies are lenient and the rental process only consists of a single-page application.

“We allow the normal wear and tear and for people to use highlighters or Post-It notes. That’s acceptable,” Parsons said. “You just can’t take the cover off the entire book. You can’t destroy the object. Normal usage is allowed – you just need to return it.”

Parsons said whether students are buying or renting books, the Hornet Bookstore is the “one-stop shop” for Sac State students.

“No one ever said textbooks were cheap. They are coming out of the gate expensive; that has not been argued,” Parsons said. “Which is why we offer some of the best ways to deal with that; we offer used books at lower prices and we offer a rental program that cuts expenses in half.”

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