Rent-A-Text comes to Baruch

The beginning of the new school year at Baruch kicked off like any other, with long lines forming outside of the bookstore as students rushed to get used books before they ran out and crowds gathering around the notice boards filled with fliers advertising reduced-price books from fellow classmates. But this year students have another option. The college bookstore now offers another inexpensive alternative, which is less time consuming.

Rent-a-text, which started last year at several colleges, is the newest thing to hit the Baruch bookstore. It was implemented several weeks ago and is already creating a buzz, according to store personnel.

"It essentially generated a certain amount of excitement and interest from both the students and professors," stated Rick Bowen, text manager at the bookstore.

Students can now save 50 percent or more by renting their books instead of purchasing them.

"This is one of the least expensive ways [for students] to acquire their course materials," said Bowen.

Within rent-a-text, there is a national and local list. Textbooks on the national list are available to any store for rental. But Baruch is still working on a local list so that books specific and customized to Baruch can also be rented to students. This requires obtaining permission from efollett, the company that runs the bookstore.

Rent-a-text has certain requirements for both the professors and students.

For books on the local list, professors are required to commit to using the textbook in their courses for four successive semesters.

In order to rent, students must be at least 18 years old, because the rental agreements are legal contracts.

Students under 18 must have a parent or guardian complete the online registration at either efollett. com or rent-a-text.com. During this process, they will provide credit card or debit card information.

Payments can be done through cash or with a card. Regardless of payment option, Bowen explains, credit/debit card information must be entered as collateral "in case the book is damaged or not returned at the end of the semester."

Despite this, rent-a-text does offer its customers a sense of ease.

its customers a sense of ease. "You pick up your rental textbooks at the bookstore instead of having them shipped, so there's no waiting by the mailbox for them to show up. And no shipping costs either" according to the Rent-a-text website.

Another perk of the program, according to sophomore Diana Coats, is that "You save money. You use [the books for] three months and you just give them back."

Other students are hesitant about having to return books at the end of the semester and would be selective with those they would rent. "I'm an accounting major so I would buy the financial accounting textbooks and keep them for further references," said grad student Huan Meng.

Sophomore Karan Negi generally feels the same, "I keep accounting books because if I forget anything, I could go back into my old books."

"Renting is [...] like running into trouble," Negi said, "What if you like the book? You don't get that chance to keep the book."

Renting is certainly a matter of preference. However, for those who do prefer rentals, you do not have to fuss over where to fi nd those textbooks. "What can be easier than walking into your local (college) bookstore?" said Bowen.