Some students are saving up to 85 percent per semester on textbooks by renting them instead of purchasing them through a Web site called Chegg.com.
Chegg allows students to rent their textbooks for a semester and send them back in a pre-paid package.
“The business model of Chegg is similar to Netflix,” said Vice President of Public Relations at Chegg, Tina Couch. “At Chegg, we ship the books out in a bright orange box. When you get your books, you hang onto that box, put the books back into the box when you’re done and ship it out to our address. The box is made out of recycled material.”
When students pay for shipping and handling, they are paying for the cost to ship the textbook back to Chegg, as well.
Since launching in 2007, Chegg has had hundreds of thousands of students use its service and saves students, on average, anywhere from 65 to 85 percent off the list price per book, Couch said.
According to Couch, Chegg is able to provide students with a cheaper alternative by working with publishing companies to get textbooks at wholesale prices.
“We recently announced a partnership with McGraw Hill, so in our inventory we have a mixture of both used and new books,” she said.
Students have three different options concerning how long they need to keep the rented textbook.
“They can rent for a semester, which would be 125 days, a quarter which is three months, or 60 days, which is more for like a summer term or something like that,” Couch said.
“If the student does not return the book when it is due, they have to pay the list price of the book, minus what they paid when they rented it. We’re pretty flexible with that fee though, because we realize things happen.”
When a student rents a book from Chegg, they pay the same low price whether they decide to rent a used or brand new textbook, Couch said.
In addition to providing a more cost efficient method of obtaining textbooks for students, Chegg also buys books from students that have been purchased through their university’s bookstore.
“If students buy their books from the bookstore, they can sell their books back to Chegg. We find that we give them more money than through the school. If you purchased a used book, you’re not gonna get any money back from your bookstore, and if you get a new book you only get a very small fraction,” Couch said.
Ryne Sundvold, a junior majoring in environmental science, said he has been using Chegg to obtain his textbooks for a year and it has saved him a considerable amount of money.
“Last year in the fall, I rented an environmental science book for $68. At the bookstore, the book was $140 used and like $200 new. I had a couple friends in the class who sold it back and they only got like $55 for the new book,” he said.
Sundvold said if he would have gotten his textbooks directly from UT this semester, he would have paid $500 while renting them from Chegg only cost a total of $100.
“Each time I’ve used it, I’ve been able to get a ridiculous amount of discounts compared to what I would have paid at the bookstore and I’ve been able to find every book I’ve needed for classes,” Sundvold said.
Deborah Thomas, a sophomore majoring in nursing, said she saved $200 this semester through Chegg’s textbook rental service.
“I was glad I found Chegg because it was way cheaper than buying books that I’m never going to use again,” she said. “When I sell my books back to UT, I only get like $15. I think it’s definitely better to rent them than to buy a book for $100 and then sell it back for $15 or $20.”
The most important thing about Chegg is it’s eco-friendly orientation, Couch said.
“For every book that is rented or sold, we plant a tree in the student’s name and to date we have planted almost over 900 acres of trees,” she said. “Students end up purchasing one tree a year based on their textbooks. It helps the students to know they are using a service that cares about them and the environment.”
According to Couch, more than 20 million trees are destroyed each year to make textbooks.
Chegg partners with American Forests to plant the trees in various areas in California.
1 comments
The library.Ohiolink is an amazing thing. If Toledo doesn't have the text book, OSU or Cincinnati probably does.
You can renew up to 4 times, which lasts most of the semester. (Trick I learned was to return them at Fall break and get a new copy, voila. Free book all semester)