A full-time college student spends an average of $500 on textbooks at the start of each semester but if the textbook rental market catches on, that price could fall by at least $100.

Bookstores at San Diego State University, University of San Diego and UC San Diego have expanded their inventory to include books students rent and return instead of buy and sell at the end of the semester.

Todd Summer, director of the campus stores division at SDSU, said the store expanded its rental inventory from 49 titles this spring to more than 2,000 for the upcoming semester.

“Competition within the rental space changed over the last year or so,” Summer said of programs like the one SDSU launched four years ago.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/aug/28/universities-offer-rental-book-option/