A Report on the Feasibility of Textbook Rental - IBHE

• Faculty members, administrators, and students must reach a consensus that a textbookrental program is an effective method for reducing textbook costs without adverselyaffecting quality.• Start-up costs of implementing a textbook rental program, particularly the cost ofinventory acquisition, must be addressed.• Sufficient storage space must be found or acquired to house the additional textbookinventory that comes with a rental program.• Textbook adoption policies and procedures must be established.Based on data supplied by public colleges and universities in response to an IBHE/ICCBsurvey, the average estimated annual mandatory textbook rental fee at a community college,excluding debt service to repay money borrowed for start-up costs, would be $337. If textbookrental programs were implemented at public universities, the average estimated annual mandatorytextbook rental fee, excluding debt service to repay money borrowed for start-up costs, would be$305.TEXTBOOK RENTAL PROGRAMCommunity Colleges Public Universities TotalEstimated Start-Up Cost $ 112,891,355 $ 98,273,087 $ 211,164,442Estimated Annual Cost $ 64,061,142 $ 37,623,598 $ 101,684,740Estimated Total $ 176,952,497 $ 135,896,685 $ 312,849,182Estimated Average Annual Fee Per FTE, $ 337.00 $ 305.00-Excluding Debt ServiceEstimated Average Annual Fee Per FTE, $ 581.92 $ 589.33-Including Debt Service (Three-Year Schedule)Estimated Average Annual Fee Per FTE, $ 482.52 $ 473.93-Including Debt Service (Five-Year Schedule)Estimated Average Annual Fee Per FTE, $ 430.76 $ 413.84-Including Debt Service (Seven-Year Schedule)Options for Alternative Cost-Saving MeasuresThe IBHE study also examined cost saving alternatives other than textbook rental.Options available to the state, institutional administration and faculty, and publishers include:State• Require faculty and staff members to consider the most cost-effective practices intextbook decision making.-9-