Fifty years ago, college students had to return their beer bottles to the local brewery so that they could be cleaned, refilled with more suds, and distributed to the next thirsty customer. Similarly, it was also the norm to return one’s rented textbooks at the end of the term so the next crop of students could delve in. Just when you thought the resourcefulness of a bygone era had been completely usurped by hyper-capitalist profit motives, the UVA Bookstore is turning back the clock. Yes, ‘Hoos can now live it up like its 1957 and rent a portion of the textbooks they’ll need to be made in the shade.
UVA has joined a small alliance of higher ed institutions (only 2 percent of all U.S. colleges) that offer alternative avenues for students to obtain their required reading. At the start of this semester, students could either buy new or used textbooks like every other penny-pinching college kid, or opt to rent at a price point 65 percent less expensive than actual retail cost. Jon Kates, executive director of UVA Bookstores, and his staff are prepared to work closely with faculty to determine which books will be ideal for renting—those with the longest shelf life that can be reused the most.
 Jon Kates, executive director of UVA Bookstores, is working to cut back textbook costs for students by offering rentals at 65 percent less than the retail cost. |
But what do the textbook publishers think of this profit-squashing paradigm? According to Stacy Skelly, assistant director of higher education at the Association of American Publishers, they’re not shaking in their loafers. Skelly, who represents some of the biggest publishers of college textbooks, says that rental programs are growing at such a “small uptick” that they’re not a significant worry for the likes of Thompson, Houghton-Mifflin or Pearson.
Two published professors at UVA have different ideas about how a textbook rental program will impact the learning potential of the average UVA student. Dr. Ann B. Hamric, associate professor at the School of Nursing (and co-author of the textbook Advance Practice Nursing) is concerned that “students who rent books are assuming that they will not need to keep the book for any reason, and this may spread into their view that the book’s content is not important.” Conversely, Dr. Marcia Invernizzi, a professor of reading at the Curry School of Education, believes that “renting a text allows students to keep the text all semester [as opposed to using a reserve copy at the library], thus increasing the likelihood that they’ll actually read it and learn something. Plus, think of all the trees we can save!”
C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.
