Have you ever wanted to rent your textbook instead of buying it?  Well look no further. Cengage Learning, one of the nation’s largest textbook publishers, plans to start renting books to students this year, according to the Associated Press.

The books would be forty to seventy percent of the sale price and hundreds should be available by the end of the year, and the AP reports that more titles planned to be made available by next July.

Students are able to rent books secondhand through sites like bookrenter.com, but publishers are usually cut out of such markets, . Here’s an interesting stat: Did you ever wonder why publishers sell books for hundreds of dollars?  Apparently it’s the initial sale that allows them to collect revenue.

The article reports that, by renting directly to students, Cengage now can get revenue a bunch of times on each printed copy. Let’s say you choose to rent one of these books come December when they’ll be released.

You would get immediate access to an electronic version of chapter one then you’re shipped the book to your apartment or dorm. At the end of the rental term, you return the book back to the center or purchase them.

Of course, digital retailer Amazon is getting their two cents in. Their new version of their Kindle electronic reading device is aimed at college students. Six universities will run Kindle pilots in the fall, according to the Associated Press.

Cengage also plans to launch a gateway site called cengagebrain.com where students also can rent books. This is in addition to ichapters.com, one of Cengage’s sites that allows students buy printed textbooks as well as electronic ones, the article reported.

Our Take:

Gosh, I already feel old.  I only graduated a few years ago from school and already there’s this “newfangled” renting books online deal.  In all seriousness, I think this is a great way for students to save money and not be left with countless books every semester.  I know I was stuck with lots of textbooks from general education classes I had absolutely no interest in (like math…ugh).  Anyway, I do feel a little bad for publishers who are cut out of making money but I do think this could end up being a great success for college students everywhere.