The price of college textbooks continues to rise. That's why students should seriously consider renting, says Gregory Karp, author of "The 1-2-3 Money Plan: The Three Most Important Steps to Saving and Spending Smart."
"If you're only going to use something once or for a short period of time, renting almost always works out better," he says.
Shane Willard, co-owner of CampusBookRentals.com based in Ogden, Utah, says his prices are usually half or less than half of retail.
"If you rent, you won't ever get stuck with a book," Willard says.
Renting also saves you the hassle of trying to sell the book on eBay or Craigslist, Willard says.
CampusBookRentals.com allows some highlighting in rented books. However, renters are charged for books with excessive highlighting, water damage, or with ripped pages or covers.
CampusBookRentals.com doesn't guarantee books will include supplemental materials.
Other options for renting textbooks include Chegg.com, BookRenter.com and CollegeBookRenter.com.
While renting is cheaper than buying from the campus bookstore, it may not always be the best deal, says Nicole Allen, the Boston-based director of the Make Textbooks Affordable campaign.
She says shopping around is your best bet.