As SIUC considers plans to rent textbooks to students, universities officials  across the country said their own rental programs have been a huge success.

Larry Dietz, vice chancellor for student affairs at SIUC, said in an interview with the Daily Egyptian Feb. 17, the school is looking into beginning a textbook rental program this fall when it negotiates a contract with the Follett Higher Education Group, the university’s current textbook provider.

Elio DiStaola, director of public and campus relations with Follett, said the company began a pilot of a textbook rental last fall with seven different schools.

“We launched this pilot last fall to test the feasibility of textbook rental,” he said. “What we’ve learned is students are ready to begin saving money by renting.”

The seven schools were California State University, Northridge; California State University, Sacramento; Grand Rapids Community College; the University of North Florida; the University of North Texas; the University at Buffalo; and the University of Texas at Arlington.

Jim Reinhart, executive director of the university enterprises at California State University, Sacramento, said the response at his university has exceeded expectations since the rental program was implemented in fall 2009.

“We’ve listened to our students and we’ve heard nothing but praise since we started it,” he said. “Our students have been saving money and reaping the benefits of the program.”

Reinhart said he expected students save between 45 and 55 percent by renting textbooks over purchasing them.

If implemented at SIUC, the program would cover the University Bookstore.

One of the main concerns Dietz said he had about renting textbooks was renting books at a research university, which he said calls for books to be consistently updated with new information. He said students could get stuck in long rental terms, leaving them with out-of-date books for classes.

DiStaola said his group sets the price the books, while the university controls the terms of rental period as tied to the group’s academic calender.

“(Rental period) is custom based on the campus,” he said. “If the faculty member adopts it for the course, the rental term will encompass what they want it to.”

DiStaola said the group covers around 25 percent of all textbooks, with a main focus on core curriculum courses.

SIUC would not be the lone school in the state to implement a textbook rental program.

Eastern Illinois University and the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana each have its own textbook rental program, while SIUC sister school, SIU-Edwardsville, has been renting textbooks since 1965.

DiStaola said the response he has heard from all the universities has been outstanding.

“We surveyed more than 1,500 students at the seven universities,” he said. “Upwards of 98 percent of people said they would want to rent with us again.”

Randy Johnson, manager of 710 Bookstore, said 710 is also looking into some form of textbook rental, but it would not be the answer for everything.

“It’s not as cut and dry as it appears, but we do understand the appeal of it,” he said. “In most cases, if students did the math, they would figure they are not financially better off renting, but it’s hard to overcome. They don’t normally do the math.”

DiStaola said not only would the program help students, but the university as well.

“Our survey showed that students are more likely to go and get books at the university bookstores if the rent-a-textbook option is available,” he said. “Now universities can have an advantage over Internet purchasing. Students don’t have to worry about shipping and handling charges or selling books back.”

Ryan Voyles can be reached at rvoyles@dailyegyptian.com or 536-3311 ext. 259.

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