<p>I was wondering what some of the top online choices to "rent" textbooks would be? Is this what your child did and do you recommend this? Thanks so much:)</p>
<p>Renting versus owning- if it is a book you want to keep you want to own it. Some schools have private (not school affiliated) bookstores that do a huge business in buying back and reselling used books. You probably should find out what is commonly done at your child’s school. She can find out how students do it there (notice- s/he, not you will be doing the work).</p>
<p>More and more bookstores are renting textbooks to students, however the rental rate is quite close to the amount you would pay to purchase a book and then sell it back as used. </p>
<p>You can also ‘rent’ online textbooks, i.e. you only have access for a period of time. This seems quite sensible, unless you want to keep a downloaded version for future reference. My experience is that the digital rights management (DRM) for limited-use online resources can get quite cumbersome and inconvenient. If you do rent an online text, make sure that it is reasonably easy to access and read.</p>
<p>One warning - try to see if there is a second semester of the class that your child will take that uses the same book. For example Bio 101 & Bio 102. If you rented the same book for both semesters, it would cost less to purchase a used book.</p>
<p>And save the box if you’ll have to ship the book back.</p>
<p>We have rented twice from the online site Cheggs. They make it pretty easy to do, and we saved money on the two books we rented - even cheaper than the used sale price. But I wouldn’t recommend it for any course that you might want the book for later - we used it for 2 of S’s core courses that he never wanted to even think of again!</p>
<p>Check on-line for the following:</p>
<p>Booksellers selling the books for lower prices than the campus bookstore. (e.g. Amazon and the sellers on Amazon marketplace)</p>
<p>Books which are free to read or download on-line (legally), such as [Structure</a> and Interpretation of Computer Programs](<a href=“http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html][i]Structure”>http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html).</p>
<p>Also check used bookstores not adjacent to university campuses, since they may have used academic books that may not be hot sellers to the general public.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how many textbooks are available on Kindle or Nook?</p>
<p>From my experience, buying a used book online (Amazon, half.com, etc…) and sell it at the end of the semester is the least expensive, and you can elect to keep the book if you want.</p>
<p>We give Chegg a thumbs up.</p>
<p>Thanks so much everyone:)</p>
<p>Anyone rented from Barnes and Noble?</p>