With the cost of college rising, students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln could soon be seeing a variety of cheaper options in buying textbooks.
"Absolutely any service or opportunity the university and any area bookstores can provide to students is something we're interested in pursuing," said Kelly Bartling, manger of news for University Communications.
One of these options includes textbook rental. The Follett Higher Education Group, which manages campus bookstores across the country, including the University Bookstore at UNL, is currently experimenting with rentals.
The company started the pilot program because of a combination of factors, said Elio Distaola, director of public and campus relations at Follett.
"First and foremost, we've seen customers change their behavior," he said.
These customers search multiple channels and, with the rising cost of college, Distaola said they are better off reviewing new choices. This pilot program would give those customers more options, including delivery of textbooks on readers such as the Kindle or the iPhone, as well as online downloads.
"A lot of these options are more viable," Bartling said.
One of the benefits of the pilot program offered by Follett is that it offers students up-front savings, Distaola said. This lets the students use traditionally new and used versions of their textbooks along with digital copies to see if rental is the option best for them.
"The interesting part of rental is it can prove to be more cost effective than (buying) used books," he said.
About 15 bookstores managed by Follett Higher Education Group are participating in the program, including the University at Buffalo Bookstore, the University of Kentucky Bookstore and the Florida State University Bookstore.
The colleges in the program are halfway through the rush, and Distaola said those colleges are reporting that the students who are renting their textbooks are happy with the program.
The company will vote on expanding the program after the full term finishes.
"We have to see what books come back," Distaola said.
However, students who needed to buy textbooks for medicine or technology were out of luck as Distaola said the program mostly carried books used in humanities classes.
This is because those subjects have textbooks that are constantly updated, and Distaola said the company didn't want those students renting a textbook without relevant current information.
"Hopefully as we go along we can expand both schools and titles," he said.
While UNL's University Bookstore is interested in pursuing textbook rentals, it is not yet part of the program.
kimbuckley@dailynebraskan.com
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