MM Question: Textbooks--rental vs. purchase?

bmo88 · January 2016

Ok, question for the MM's out there. I am returning to grad school this month and the time has come to order books. I have done my research and determined checking out most from the library should be an option and I can renew up to two times, which would get me through the semester. So that is plan A. However, the library is closed and I will have to wait another week to try that. If for some reason another student has the same idea and gets there first, I need a back up plan.

I have looked up each book to compare rental prices and outright buying via the school bookstore, Amazon and Half.com. When I was in undergrad, renting text books was a very common option, so I am a little leery, but to my surprise, it's is significantly cheaper.

If I were to purchase every book from Amazon/Half.com, it would be approximately $235. I would own the books and could potentially sell them again on Half.com/Amazon or to the bookstore. This is what I did in undergrad with varying success as it depends on the text books publishing year and if other classes are using them. You often have to sit on inventory for a little while as well.

If I were to rent all the books, it would only cost $132 for the entire semester. That's $103 cheaper and I wouldn't have to deal with trying to re-sell them. I wouldn't own the books, but honestly, with the content (Public Administration), I do not anticipate referring back to them much. If I really needed to, I could go back to the library to check it out. I couldn't highlight or write in the books, but I usually keep a separate notebook anyway.

So, from a MM standpoint, it seems like the best decision would be to rent the books. However, I have no experience renting books. Has anyone done this? Can you please provide your experieces and thoughts? Thanks!

mgarza1231 · January 2016

I don't post a lot on this board but I thought I'd weigh in since I know a bit about the subject.

I always rent, and not always from the same rental company. I check prices with Chegg, Amazon, and a few other sources. I have bought many in the past and when it comes time to sell them back I lose more money than it would have cost to rent them. Chegg and Amazon are usually where I rent from.

Keep in mind that some textbooks you may want to keep for future reference and it's best to buy if that is the scenario.

An Example:

Textbook A

Rental Price: $35

New Textbook Purchase: $200

Used Textbook Purchase: $180

Buyback Price: $45

These numbers are based on past experiences. You can also check Amazon's buyback prices for the textbooks you would purchase. The buyback price will fluctuate a bit but it will give you an idea.

Hope that helps!

bmo88 · January 2016

mgarza1231: Thanks for posting and for the analysis. By that logic, it would make sense to rent. I will check out Chegg. I noticed Half.com now does text book rentals as well. I do not think many will be needed for future reference and if so, they are all at the library. So while that is less convenient, it would be an option.

hoffse · January 2016

I'm the opposite, I always buy. And I always buy new. I don't want notes from other people in the books that I'm using. I cheaped out once in college and ended up with a used textbook that had really sh*tty notes all over it - a lot of them were just wrong. I ended up re-selling it and buying new. Lesson learned.

Books are a significant expense, but it's a drop in the bucket in the context of the overall degree, so I've never been willing to penny pinch here. I don't really understand trying to save $100 on books, when you are spending many thousands of dollars on a class. If the book could help you in that class or a future class, then I would buy it. Set yourself up to make the best grade possible.

If you know you will only take notes in a separate notebook, then I guess I would just rent them from the library since it's free. If you want to be able to write in them (personally, I would, and I do write in mine to varying degrees), then I would just buy new so that you also have them for future reference if you need them. I have found that I rarely need my tax books, but on those rare occasions that I do need them they save me a ton of time. I would not have time to go to a library somewhere to check them out again - they stay on my bookshelf.

Even if it's not the most MM approach, that's my perspective. I will even purchase multiple copies of the same book if it's re-assigned for a difference class, and it's in a different edition or it's a book I seriously marked up in the previous class. Actually, that just happened for a class of mine that starts next week. I used this same textbook in law school, I still have it, but they are now in a different edition. I bought it again, even though I am pretty confident that nothing significant has happened in this area since the last book was published (because it happens to be an area that is about 50% of my tax practice). I didn't like spending another $150 on exactly the same book, but this way I know I'm reading the correct assignments, and if there were any small updates I have them. I'm not going to quibble over $150 if it increases my chances of getting a good grade.

bmo88 · January 2016

@hoffse: Hmm...interesting perspective. I could see buying books that might be needed later, but I don't think that will be the case. These are "elective" courses and so topic specific, I don't think it would be necessary to buy, but not 100% positive.

I have always cheaped out on books and almost never purchased them during undergrad (except for ones in my major, which most I resold later). I worked at the library throughout college, so I would check them out from there or from other libraries around the state. I probably saved about $4,000 in books over the course of my degree and feel I still got great grades throughout (3.81 GPA). I also paid very little for my undergrad compared to the actual cost, so I guess I didn't see it as the "spent a ton on my course" even though it was about $4,000 a class.

I have always been terrible about effectively highlighting in books. I need to write things down to commit it to memory and that usually isn't possible in the margin of a book. So I rarely write in them due to the impractical nature of it.

I guess I will take a look at the books again and see if there are some I might want to keep. Something tells me I probably won't want to reopen, "Democracy and Public Policy" or "Classics of Public Administration" after I finish the courses...but who knows!

Xstatic3333 · January 2016

I have never rented, but I will share my approach from grad school. My first semester, I was very annoyed that many of the books we were required to buy for each course were never actually assigned so much as "recommended." Very frustrating when I spent about $600 total. I was on a really tight budget in grad school, so for my second semester I emailed each professor ahead of time to ask if buying older editions would be ok. 95% of the time they said yes, and I was able to get the books very cheap on EBay and keep them for reference if needed. Previous notes and highlighting just don't bother me, but I know everyone is different that way.

hoffse · January 2016

If you don't write in them then you might as well just use books from the library. I tend to mark mine up a lot, and I find stray notes from previous users really distracting. Some people (Xstatic!) can read around them. I'm not one of them, especially when the notes are bad.

My tuition for my LLM is getting reimbursed, but the books are not. The tuition for this degree is really cheap - around $2850 per class. The books are averaging about $200-$250 per class. That's still less than 10% of the cost of tuition, and I'm happy to pay it in order to study in the way I need to study to do well.

You need to do what works best for you. If free books from the library work just as well as books you can write in, then I would do the ones from the library. All I'm saying is I wouldn't do something that might not work as well just to save $100 or even $300. It's just not that much money.

bmo88 · January 2016

@hoffse: Oh I agree, if it weren't a good method for studying, I wouldn't sacrifice academics to save some money. In high school, I had teachers require we take notes and highlight books, there were even "tests" to see that we did it. I absolutely hated it because it didn't do anything for me. I will literally recopy my own notes to study because for me its the actual act of writing that solidifies my memory. I have even re-written entire pages of books (not the most efficient time practice) in order to study something.

vlagrl29 · January 2016

I had never heard of renting books when I went to school 1999-2004 - that could have saved me tons. Although most of mine were weird music books so it may not have worked as well.

JoanE2012 · January 2016

vlagrl29 said:

I had never heard of renting books when I went to school 1999-2004 - that could have saved me tons. Although most of mine were weird music books so it may not have worked as well.

Renting wasn't around when I was in school either!

I did always buy new - and tried to sell back whenever possible. I couldn't do used - I couldn't focus with other people's notes.

lbonga1 · January 2016

For my AA, I did not know I had the option to rent or buy elsewhere. I was just given all my books on the first day of class...maybe that's just how that school worked. I thought I'd try selling them when I was done, but I think I only managed to sell two of them. For my BA, I rented all of them online. I was able to highlight, make notes, etc. I found it to be very convenient, and cheap!

Here's another resource for you too to compare: http://www.slugbooks.com

vlagrl29 · January 2016

JoanE2012 said:

vlagrl29 said:

I had never heard of renting books when I went to school 1999-2004 - that could have saved me tons. Although most of mine were weird music books so it may not have worked as well.

Renting wasn't around when I was in school either! I did always buy new - and tried to sell back whenever possible. I couldn't do used - I couldn't focus with other people's notes.

I always bought new as well - some of ours had to be written in like music theory, ear training, and keyboarding class so it wouldn't have applied to those

dragonstarjk · January 2016

I don't have experience in renting, but I do currently purchase all of my textbooks from Amazon and then trade them back in to Amazon after the semester. I almost always get more back than I could get from a bookstore. Also, there are a ton of used books on Amazon. If the book is one you don't plan to keep, look for used--I bought a used copy of a $200 Statistics book I needed, for $6. I didn't care that the cover was falling apart and there was writing in it. The most important thing to be aware of is if the class requires an access code/card; most used books will not come with those (although I'm sure you already know this).

short+sassy · January 2016

JoanE2012 said:

vlagrl29 said:

I had never heard of renting books when I went to school 1999-2004 - that could have saved me tons. Although most of mine were weird music books so it may not have worked as well.

Renting wasn't around when I was in school either! I did always buy new - and tried to sell back whenever possible. I couldn't do used - I couldn't focus with other people's notes.

Thank you!!! I was like, "Renting? What?" I'm glad I'm not the only one. I feel less like a dinosaur now, lol.

Of course, when I was in college, Amazon did not exist and Ebay was in its infancy.

MM Question: Textbooks--rental vs. purchase?

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