With web searching and price comparison, students may find large savings on textbooks. Various places, including the OU bookstore, are now offering money-saving alternatives for students, such as rental options and e-textbooks.

The rental option offers up to a 50 percent savings from buying books; when the rental period is over, however, there is no reimbursement from selling books back.

“Some students are used to purchasing the book, turning it in and getting some cash back, they kind of depend on that cash especially in December at holiday time. No matter what you choose, we’re here to give that option,” said Debbie Ogg, OU’s bookstore manager.

Rented books can be purchased to keep within the first two weeks of the rental period and have the same policy when it comes to dropped classes. Books can be rented in new or used condition and normal use of highlighting and writing in the books is accepted. The books are due back from rental ten days after finals end.

Another option available this semester to save money is e-textbooks, digital replicas of the stand textbook with the exact same look and layout. E-textbooks come in a download pack, which allows the book to be downloaded on two different computers. The books may also be accessed online if neither computer is available. E-textbooks offer features such as highlights and annotations, as well as a search box for key terms and automatic organization for notes.

“This option is good for people who don’t want to haul around big books every day, and you might not need your book every day,” Ogg said.

E-textbooks are available for 13,000 titles and can be purchased online at oakland.bncollege.com or in the store.

Although OU is taking steps to offer alternative options to lower book prices, physical books are still available for new and used purchase, many of which can be found for low prices. In a price comparison for the book “Building a Speech,” a required book for COM 201, Amazon.com came through with the lowest prices on both new, $39.80, and used, $29.76, conditions, and also gives the buy-back rate before the purchase is made. OU’s Barnes and Noble was a bit higher, a new copy priced at $43.65 and used at $32.75.

If price comparing becomes overwhelming, websites such as bigwords.com and campusbooks.com make saving money simple by compiling a list of the best prices.