While planning for the upcoming semester, sophomore Joe Denk said he goes online when purchasing his books for his biology major and core classes.  Denk said the price tag of these academic texts, even with online deals, often costs him approximately $1,000 per semester- a pricey purchase for any college student.

Saint Louis University is attempting to relieve some of the financial burdens students face when purchasing textbooks. Beginning in the fall semester, the University bookstore will begin at textbook rental option as part of the annual Cash for Books program. According to the University bookstore, the rental option aims to offer students more flexibility when finding books for their courses.

“It irritates me that I have to buy these books that you maybe use only once,” Denk said. “The book renting system will be great for students, and it is nice to have more options when searching for my books.”

Last fall, Barnes & Noble, the owner of the University Bookstore, offered a trial run at the rental program to more than 300 universities across the country and found that nearly 90 percent of students were satisfied with the option to rent their textbooks.

“This is a very great program because it gives students options when searching for books on campus,” Textbook Manager for the University Bookstore Tricia Polley said. “Saving students money is always our goal.”

Polley said that the option of renting books can save students more than 50 percent of the cost of a newly printed textbook.

Freshman Terra Kreiner, who generally spends $400 on her textbooks each semester, said she usually goes online to sites like Chegg.com to purchase them because she feels the texts at the University bookstore are overpriced. However, Kreiner said she may try the new option to rent them.

“If the bookstore offers rental books at a decent price, I will definitely go there because its much less hassle,” Kreiner said. “I think that could be a good idea as long as they keep the prices reasonable.”

The rental period begins the day the textbook is ordered and continues until the last day of the finals each semester.

Students are encouraged to sell their used textbooks back to the University bookstore so that more lower-priced texts can be sold the following semester. Used books are 25 percent cheaper than new texts. When returning used textbooks, students must present a valid SLU ID card and Banner number. Regardless of where they were purchased, the University bookstore will accept used texts. Students can visit slu.bncollege.com or mybookvalue.com to see if their texts are being used in courses at the University for the next semester.