The changes to the rental program came into effect at the beginning of the semester.
According to store manager Mando Quatel, last semester the store had been offering about 20 to 25 percent of textbooks for rent.
“Our goal was that we wanted to be a lot higher than that.We wanted to be able to offer affordable textbooks to the students, and it was definitely an item we were working on with President Lacy, as well as some of the leadership on the campus,” Quatel explained.
Currently the bookstore offers around 43 percent of its books for rent and hopes to increase the number.
With this new “Rent All” program, Cerritos College and Follett (the company that owns the Cerritos College Bookstore) are aiming to cut down on the high prices textbooks generate and leave more currency in the pockets of the student body.
“It’s not the full price,” Briana Sandoval (criminal justice major) said. “You can use it and then actually just give it back when you’re done”
Briana also stated that the program has “saved me money.”
Abraham Luna (architect major) believes that Rent All “is cheaper and you pretty much get your money’s worth.
It’s a big money saver and that’s a big benefit,” he added.
Auto mechanic technician Marco Estrada said, “It gives you time to use what you need, then you can give it back. It’s a lot cheaper than buying the book.”
Still, students like Sandoval like to buy the book instead of renting only if the text corresponds with the course and major they’re involved with.
Rent All opens up more opportunities for the college student when it comes to acquiring textbooks needed for the semester’s classes
Cerritos College’s campus is one of 15 other campuses that were chosen out of 950 campuses across the nation.
According to store manager Mando Quatel, the Cerritos College Bookstore was picked for a variety of reasons.
“The number one reason was the fact that we had a lot of adoptions into our system already,” Quatel said. “With that, they also looked into the fact that they would like to expand the program a bit at Cerritos because we had a very nice selection.”
Students can save up to 50 percent off new textbooks with the new Rent All program.
While the students will be able to rent out textbooks, they will not be able to rent out certain books that require students to remove pages such as workbooks.
Online pass codes and one-time use materials are also not available for rent.
Just last year, projected savings for the students were $300,000, and the company and school estimate the number will be higher this year with the new Rent All program.
Quatel also said that the rules for the program are remaining the same and that students should not be afraid to use rented textbooks however they need.
“We want students to know you can highlight (and) you can write in the book. We’re not going to penalize you for that.”
“We want you to be reasonable with it and understand that you’re not going to be the only student to use the book.”
“Don’t highlight all 150 pages (and) don’t write on every single page, but use the book like you would (use) your own.”