Chicken-egg conundrum=savings for students
Ashley Smith
Natalie Epperley
The Signal
Chegg Inc., one of several online textbook rental sites, has recently expanded its services to include CourseRank and Cramster, personalization features that will allow students to schedule courses and get homework help.
CourseRank, acquired by Chegg in 2010, is a planning tool for students that gives them access to student feedback of classes and teachers at their specific university. The site also offers students a chance to build their course schedule and see what classes their friends are taking.
Once the student’s schedule is decided, Chegg advises the student which books are necessary for their chosen courses.
Chegg also obtained Cramster, a homework helping service available to college as well as high school students. Help is offered in a wide range of subjects from math and science to humanities and business classes.
Besides these new services offered, Chegg also partners with American Forestry and plants a tree for every book that is rented.
“This way you are giving back to the enviroment as well as saving money,” said Mike J., customer service representative for Chegg.
The trees are planted once a month.
Osman Rashid, and Co-Founder Aayush Humbhra founded Chegg in 2005. Their original plan was to make money through advertising with a Craigslist-type website for college students.
The students could sell anything from clothes to textbooks. The site evolved into what it is today after discovering that textbooks were the most popular items.
Chegg offers textbooks for a rental rate that is around 60 percent less than the original price. For example, if a book cost $180, through Chegg students would pay around $60.
Books are usually shipped in seven business days.
When a student is ready to return a book, he or she accesses a mailing label through his or her online account and prints it for the books that he or she wants to return.
Renting through Chegg allows students to avoid the high prices of purchasing books at college bookstores. There are no monthly fees and Chegg makes it easy to receive and return college books.
“The website is a great idea for students because it makes it so convient to students to rent a book and be able to return it back when they want,” said Vanessa Brown, textbook manager at UHCL.
The name Chegg actually came from the idea of the words chicken and egg, based on the creators experience after graduating from college. How can a student pay for college books without having started their career – i.e., which came first, the chicken or the egg?
“The company came to specialize in renting books because the founders felt that it would be more of a value for students if they could have the option to rent a book rather than purchase it,” Mike J. said.
Bridgette Cummings, a recent legal studies graduate, said that she really likes the website because it makes it really easy to pick out the books she needs for class.
“Students don’t have to worry about the high cost of purchasing their books,” Cummings said.
Chegg also gives the option of keeping a book if a student wishes. Books can then be purchased at low prices. A student also has the option to request an extension on any rental for up to 30 days, if needed.
