If you thought that tuition and housing were the main things to worry about when paying for college, it’s the school supplies that really leave a nasty bite. Spending on college textbooks alone can burn a hole through your wallet from anywhere between $500 to $1000.  Textbook publishers have taken note of this and have started rental services that would allow students to get discounts up to 70% off.

Cengage offers a rental plan that will automatically make the textbook’s first chapter available online. They have a number of shipping options that will let you keep the items for 30, 60 or 130 days. After that, you can choose to either buy it or return it. Other textbook rental services worth a look are Chegg and BookRenter.

Deciding whether or not you need a textbook to survive a class is up to you. One way to get a hold of a texbook for free besides borrowing one from a friend is to go to the school library for it. The only downside to this is having to wait awhile if it’s checked out. And if that book is a reserve copy, you only have a limited time to use it.

The Higher Education Opportunity Act, which was passed by the Department of Education in 2008, allocated $10 million in grant aid to support textbook rental programs.  Since then, over 20 college bookstores have applied for assistance.