Students struggling to pay upwards of $1,000 for a semester’s textbooks may find some relief with Penn Bookstore’s textbook rental, which will be offered next fall.
The service will apply to approximately 15 percent of the bookstore’s book title list, according to Assistant Textbook Manager Shannon Sherrod. The price of rental will depend on the title, but the service will mostly apply to “expensive, hard core” subjects, such as chemistry.
Many students have complained about exorbitant prices for textbooks and not being able to sell back textbooks if the professor switches to a new edition the next semester. With the textbook rental, student could see an immediate 25- to 50-percent discount on their textbooks.
“Profit [for the bookstore] is not an issue,” Sherrod explained. “It’s a matter of giving students another option.”
Penn professors may submit course textbook titles for fall semester to the rental list until July 1.
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