According to its 2013-2014 annual report, the bookstore’s textbook sales have been going down while rentals have been rising high. There has been competition from bigger textbook retailers, with some students seeking other resources to purchase textbooks for their classes.

“It’s so expensive in the bookstore, when I can just buy them on Amazon or rent them on Chegg,” student Kimberly Aleman said.

Sales going down may not only have to do with the fact that rentals are cheaper.

“When textbook sales go down, I also think that students choose not to buy the book and try and get through the class without it,” Tom Bauer, vice chancellor auxiliary services and enterprise operations, said.

The fact that some students are choosing not to rent or even buy a textbook could also be responsible for a drop in sales. Some try to share a textbook with a classmate who already has it, or just don’t even use one at all and rely on their notes, which can negatively impact their grade and success in the class.

Although some students may use Amazon and other renting sites to buy their books, many students do prefer to go to the bookstore, since it offers a rental program. Some find it more convenient to use the bookstore’s rental program over other sites because it’s located on campus, giving them faster access to books, rather than waiting for the book to be shipped.

The campus bookstore’s rental program has been doing favorably compared to actual textbook sales.

“Are we losing sales to places like Amazon? Absolutely,” Bauer said. “Everybody is. Are we losing a significant amount? No, because our rental program is saving us.”

Many students have been using the bookstore’s rental program for their textbooks, mostly to save money.

“As we rent more books we sell fewer books,” Bauer said.

“It’s a great benefit for the students because of pricing and a lot of the students are low income so that benefits them to afford the books which leads to being able to attend school,” Marta Cuellar, who has been working at the Skyline Bookstore for almost 20 years, said.

One reason that students drop out frequently is being unable to afford textbooks, according to Cuellar.

“So being with the rental program they really can enjoy coming to school knowing they can afford the textbooks,” Cuellar said.