After a long summer, we’re finally back to school, which for many of us means a significant withdrawal from our checking accounts. We have to buy dorm decorations, gym memberships, parking passes, snacks and last but not least, books.
Books, books, books and more books. When classes are requiring new editions and a dozen novels, the bills can pile up — especially when you don’t know where to find the best deals. If you are really strapped for cash or are a science major with three classes all calling for $130 textbooks, there may be a way to escape your book costs without declaring bankruptcy: Chegg.com.
Chegg.com is an online textbook-rental company. Their motto, as stated in the Cheggifesto, is “Don’t buy it.” When your professor puts an outrageously expensive book on the syllabus, don’t buy it, says Chegg. Rent it.
Gabrielle Roberts, a junior linguistics major, definitely plans on using Chegg.com this semester.
“I am going to use Chegg because my French book is really expensive and I don’t plan on ever looking at it again,” Roberts said. “Also, I am really lazy and I don’t like the hassle of selling back through Amazon or eBay. It’s nice to just get it off my hands.”
The site got its start in 2007 when two students in the Midwest decided it was time students stopped paying exorbitant amounts for textbooks that they were never going to use again. Their philosophy stems from the idea that since we consider it perfectly normal to rent DVDs and tuxedos, we should apply that same idea to books. As the Cheggifesto says, “We rent tons of stuff that’s not efficient to own or that we need to use only once.” Why not books?
Chegg can save you anywhere from 65 to 85 percent on your textbooks for the year. You also get the added bonus of avoiding lines at the bookstore at the beginning of the semester.
In addition to avoiding the stress that is the bookstore at the beginning of the year, Chegg has free return shipping on all the books you rent from them. You don’t have to hassle with selling your books online or getting only $3 for an $80 textbook at the University bookstore or Mando’s. Instead, you just print out a shipping label and stick the books in the mail. It’s as easy as that.
However, Chegg may not be for everyone. Brittany Detlef, a junior industrial and systems engineering major, thinks that while Chegg may be good for some books, students should use discretion before renting.
“I think it’s a good way to try to save money, but it’s not the best for everybody,” Detlef said. “It would be perfect if you are renting a textbook that would be $190 to buy that you are only going to use once for that class. But it doesn’t work for the classes that are prerequisites for upper-level classes where you will need to reference the old text.”