Baylor University and McLennan Community College are starting book rental programs in the fall to help students save money.

Students can save about half of what they might otherwise pay if they rent books instead of buying them.

The cost of buying textbooks is skyrocketing, said Lori Southern, MCC director of administrative services.

Employee Alex Jones stocks textbooks at the Baylor Bookstore. The bookstore will offer texts for students to rent beginning this fall, a program designed to save students money in the face of soaring textbook costs.
Duane A. Laverty/Waco Tribune-Herald

“Anything we can do to help the students come to college and afford it, we’re going to try it,” she said. “Anything to help them be successful.”

Raul Pantoja, who manages MCC’s bookstore, said some students were forced to skip buying texts for courses because they could not afford them.

Both MCC’s and Baylor’s bookstores are run by Follett, the nation’s largest college bookstore operator with more than 800 locations.

“We were having experiences where students were having to make decisions whether to buy one book instead of another because of the cost and now they’re able to get them all because of the reduced cost,” he said.

Follett’s director of campus relations, Elio DiStaola, said the trend of fewer students being prepared with all their course materials factored into the company’s decision to offer book rentals.

But it’s a risky game for Follett, he said, as the company has invested $120 million in its book rental programs with no guarantee of a positive financial return.

DiStaola said the company is large enough that it can easily discern which titles are popular on a national level and it makes those books available for rental.

Beyond that, he said. titles are chosen on a campus-by-campus basis at professors’ requests.

DiStaola said the company asks professors who request specific titles to commit to using that text for about four terms, which can include summer sessions. The situation helps assure that Follett will be able to rent the volumes multiple times.

Billy Nors, who runs Baylor’s bookstore, said his staff has been training on the new rental system during the summer.

“We’re excited about it here,” Nors said. “Students seem to be excited about it, too, and are looking forward to seeing how it works.”

Pantoja said the rental process is simple. Students need an identification card proving they are at least age 18, and a credit or debit card deposit in case the books are destroyed or not returned at semester’s end.

Students under age 18 need a parent or guardian to rent books for them.

Southern said students are allowed to use highlighting pens in the books. Normal wear and tear will not result in any additional fees for the renters.

Texas State Technical College is still in the process of evaluating whether a book rental program would work for them, TSTC bookstore director Greg Guercio said.

“Our students aren’t quite the same as those at Baylor and MCC,” Guercio said. “That’s not a bad thing. I’m just saying that this is a two-year technical program and a lot of students that those two schools would be able to rent to would be getting academic books that have a longer shelf-life than some of the technical books that we carry.”

Guercio also expressed concern about inventory, given that TSTC’s bookstores are run by the school system and not a nationwide company with the massive inventory Follett carries.

Because they are not wholesalers, Guercio said the cost of a rental program could be prohibitive.

“There are some ‘what ifs,’ ” Guercio said. “What if I rent out 500 books and only get 300 back? Then there are 200 books out there that I basically have to write off. That’s not a good business model.”

Pantoja said students interested in the program can register at the website www.rent-a-text.com.

Registration further streamlines the process, he said, and students can check inventory to see if titles they need are available.

twoods@wacotrib.com

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