The Clarion

Issue date: 8/24/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Greg Timm The MATC Bookstore has embarked on a textbook rental program.

One of the things most students worry about isn't the cost of tuition, but the cost of their textbooks. One can easily spend close to $1000 with a large class load and filled with expensive science, math, social science and medical courses.

For years, students have complained about the cost of buying textbooks and wondered about a book rental program. In 2007, the Student Senate did a survey of services that students would like to see, and a book rental program was one of the top items.

This year, Madison Area Technical College students get their wish. Starting for the fall semester the bookstore is piloting a textbook rental program.

"We are calling it a pilot because there are only select titles involved and the details of how the program works may have to be tweaked after we pilot the program," said Scott Heiman, Bookstore Manager.

Ideally, Heiman would like to see the rental program piloted for a year but if the program works well, they may add additional rental titles for the spring semester.

Excited? Don't look for a special rental section in the bookstore. The rental textbooks are shelved together with the regular books and are indicated by a rental book tag and a sticker on the book. The only things students will have to remember is to bring their One Card in order to rent a book.

The price for a rented book, new or used, is about 50 percent of what a new book costs with no deposit. Paying 50 percent of a new book price may seem high but for a book to qualify for the pilot rental program must meet a set of criteria, including being used for a minimum of four semesters and have over 75 students that will use the book.

The concept is that over the four semesters, as the retail price for the textbook increases each semester, the rental program will keep the rental price at the initial 50 percent book cost.

"We are really counting on the students to follow the guidelines of the program and get those books back to us because every book that doesn't come back costs us money to replace and it skews the rental equation if you have to replace a book several times throughout," said Heiman.

Students have until the end of the semester, Dec. 18, to return their rented books to the bookstore they were originally rented from. If students have a rented title for an eight-week class, the book is due by the last day of class.

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