Chegg.com – Renting Your College Textbooks
Chegg’s slogan? “Don’t buy it.”
As I mentioned yesterday, I have seven books to buy for fall semester – which would total $515 to purchase new from the bookstore, or $419 used. Instead, I only bought one book from the school, because it wasn’t available used anywhere.
The other six were rented from Chegg.com, a textbook rental service. The premise is simple – you find the books you need for class and choose a rental period (I chose the full semester, so I don’t have to return them until December 21st) and then select a shipping method. All your books come to you, you use them all semester and send them back. The advantage is that a rental costs less than buying used. In some cases it is only $10 less, but for two I saved over $30 each on the used price.
There are disadvantages:
- You can’t write in the books
- Although highlighting is okay if you highlight like most college students (ie: every other line) you can’t return the book. However, I learn better by re-writing, so I never write or highlight in my books.
- There is a shipping fee, but for the six books I got the total shipping was $12.74 (to arrive within 4-7 days)
In the end, the total for the six books rented from Chegg and one book purchased from ASU, as well as shipping for both orders, I paid $320.
Total savings compared to buying all used from ASU: $99
Total savings compared to buying all new from ASU: $195
What if your school lsits books and your prof never uses them, then you just rented stuff you dont have to have
It looks like they have a 30-day return policy, so you can avoid that problem. Alternatively, just wait until first week of class and only rent the ones you need.