Blue Ridge Community College recently announced it will begin offering textbook rental services at the BRCC Bookstore this fall. Rent-A-Text will offer students a rental option on textbooks and savings that represent 50 percent or more off the price of new textbooks.

“We are eager to support the launch of Rent-A-Text because we are committed to providing students with affordable textbook choices,” says BRCC President John Downey. “Since textbooks are such an integral part of the learning experience, we value giving students a variety of textbook purchase options.

BRCC’s textbook rental program will:

- Be available to students in store and online with in store pick up.

- Allow students to chose a preferred form of payment, including financial aid and campus cards.

- Allow students the freedom to highlight and take notes all within the normal wear and tear associated with coursework.

- Give students the choice to buy their textbook at the end of the term if they want to keep the book.

Rent-A-Text will be offered through BRCC’s ongoing partnership with Follett Higher Education Group. The program is based on Follett’s comprehensive pilot program that saved students nearly $2 million on their course materials in just one semester at seven schools.

More than 90 percent of students surveyed who rented textbooks expressed satisfaction with the pilot program.

“We have been at the forefront of cost-savings programs for more than a century,” says Thomas A. Christopher, President of Follett Higher Education Group. “Helping to reduce the costs of higher education is part of our mission and we look forward to working with Blue Ridge to deliver substantial textbook savings to students.

Follett’s Rent-A-Text is expected to reach more than 400 campuses nationwide for the 2010 academic year.