Campus Book Rentals - [sponsored post]

In 8 days, my brother-in-law will graduate from high school.

I will sit in the stands and watch the class of 2013 cross the graduation line.

Almost exactly 9 years ago, it was me and my classmates, the class of 2004, walking across that line. About to embark on the next phase of our journey - headed out into the future.

For many of us, that next phase was college. And the same will be true for my brother-in-law as he heads to college in the Twin Cities. Big adventures are ahead!

I remember my first year in college like it was yesterday. I was excited, nervous, and open to adventure.

I was also in awe of how expensive college costs.

After my first trip to the bookstore, before classes began in the fall of freshman year, I walked out in a stunned stupor after paying many hundreds of dollars on new and used textbooks.

Then 3 months later, I tried to sell them back at the end of the semester, and made less than 1/10th of what I paid, or in some cases, having the books obsolete and not available to be resold.

Ugh.

Every student shared my frustration.

Now, there is another option. A much better option. Renting your books!

I was contacted by CampusBookRentals.com - a textbook rental company that helps college students save tons of money by renting their textbooks instead of buying them. They wanted me to write a post about them, and because I've had personal experience with the steep cost of book purchases, I believe in their mission and I agreed.

CampusBookRentals isn't like the rest of the book-rental companies out there though. They offer something new. They offer their RentBack program.

Many students have bought books already, or they end up with books they own, and can't sell back. You can try to sell them to other students through many different companies, but if you're like me, when I tried to sell my college text books, I had a stack that wouldn't/didn't sell, and I ended up donating them to the Goodwill. They probably ended up in the recycle bin somewhere.

CampusBookRentals' RentBack program is a new, revolutionary way to get money back from books you have bought. And you don't have to do any work in the process.

This info graphic tells how it works. [Click to view larger.]
Basically, you send your books to CampusBookRentals and let them rent them out to other students. As they are rented, you get paid. It's that simple! Because the books can be rented multiple times, you can make more money than you would if you sold them outright back to the bookstore or to another buyer.

I find the concept of RentBack amazing, and I wish I hadn't given my books to Goodwill so I could try it out!

CampusBookRentals helps students save money on their books, which change each semester. I bought college textbooks EIGHT different times. The amount of money I spent in that bookstore still stings.

Take a look at CampusBookRentals if you are in school, or know someone going to college, and help them save some money. Plus, CampusBookRentals offers incentives for spreading the word. If you refer people to them, you get cash. Bonuses for saving money?! Win-win!

The cost of college is higher than it has ever been. If money can be saved anywhere, it helps lessen the blow a little bit.

[CampusBookRentals reached out to ask me to write about them, but the opinions I have expressed here are my own.]