Colleges offer textbooks for rent in Hampton Roads

There's one bit of good news for students and parents hit by the escalating cost of a college education.

At several local campuses this fall, students will have the option of renting textbooks instead of buying them. The typical rental fee is less than half the purchase price of a new book.

"It's beautiful," said Kristen Hardison of Chesapeake after renting books Friday for her son Blake, who will finish his studies at Tidewater Community College in December. "Where was this the last couple of years when I needed it?"

She paid $68 for two books that would have cost $140 to buy new.

The idea for the new option at TCC germinated when President Deborah DiCroce visited the University of Virginia bookstore last year and discovered that it had a rental program.

"It's rooted in the rising cost of higher education in general and textbooks in particular," DiCroce said. "We're all looking for ways to contain costs."

Rentals are available at both stores operated by bookselling giant Barnes & Noble, in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, serving TCC's four campuses in South Hampton Roads. Fall classes at TCC begin Aug. 19.

A similar program is being introduced this fall at Old Dominion University's bookstore in Norfolk, which is run by Oak Brook, Ill.-based Follett Higher Education Group.

A smaller, pilot program is being implemented at Regent University in Virginia Beach.

Spokesmen for the schools say they're scrambling to offer students more options at a time when burdensome book prices, piled on top of steadily rising tuition and fees, are making college less affordable than ever.

Textbook prices have increased at four times the rate of inflation since 1994, according to the Federation of State Public Interest Research Groups, which has lobbied to make books more affordable. The organization estimates that students spend an average of $900 a year on books.

Textbook rental programs have become a blossoming national trend as publishers and college bookstores react to competitive pressures from online booksellers and the emerging specter of electronic books.

"The publishing industry is in an interesting position right now and, I suspect, trying to find their way in an age that has increasingly gone electronic," DiCroce said.

So far, a minority of books needed for current course offerings at local campuses are available for rental: 30 percent at ODU, 28 percent at TCC and 15 percent at Regent. Those numbers should increase as the programs become established, school spokesmen say.

At ODU and TCC, rental transactions can be done online as well as in the store. Financial aid and campus debit cards can be used to pay the fees, and reasonable highlighting and writing in rental books is permitted.

If a rented book is lost, damaged or not returned on time, the student will be charged for a replacement copy along with a processing fee.

Students have other money-saving options, too. Some books are available in electronic form and some can be bought used - both less costly than buying new.

In addition, many books can be sold back to the bookstore at the end of the semester for more savings.

One advantage of renting - rather than buying a book and then selling it back - is that "you're realizing the savings up front," said Darryl Atkinson, manager of the ODU bookstore.

Which option is most cost-effective? It depends on the book, said Doug Bunk, manager of TCC's MacArthur Center store on Norfolk.

"Our students are very savvy," he said. "You can watch them think through what's the best deal for them."

Bill Sizemore, (757) 446-2276, bill.sizemore@pilotonline.com