Textbooks? So Last Century. Rent a Netbook Instead

For many students, heading to class without a laptop is a bit like leaving the house without wearing pants. And whether it's registering for classes, meeting with professors, or doing homework, chances are those aspects of college now involve a computer and the Internet.
Yet according to a 2010 survey by the Census Bureau, while Internet use is creeping up, 30 percent of Americans are not online­—not at home, not at work. And it's not always by choice.
Low-income students are not just on an uneven playing field, says Kristen Connely, manager of the bookstore at Bellevue College, the largest community college in Washington State. Without technology, they can't even get into the stadium.
In November, with help from a U.S. Department of Education grant, Bellevue bought 500 netbooks—inexpensive laptops used to download and read Internet material—to rent out for $35 per quarter. Negotiations are still continuing with publishers, but the cost of the e-textbooks used on the devices can be half that of traditional books. Students will also be able to download low-cost digital course materials being developed by the state's Open Course Library project.
Of course, without a high-speed Internet connection, a computer is little more than a fancy word processor. But publicly available Internet connections have proliferated to such a degree, Bellevue officials decided, that access is no longer the issue it once was. "Every Starbucks, every Safeway, as well as independent establishments have it," says Ms. Connely, adding that most public libraries, too, are wireless. "It's becoming a free service." And when students are on the campus, they have use of the Bellevue network.
The rental program is part of Bellevue's effort to keep current with changes the Internet has wrought, Ms. Connely says. Half of the books the bookstore sells are sold through its Web site. Beginning in the spring quarter, textbooks will be moved to the warehouse, and the store will no longer keep them on the shelves.
But isn't her bookstore's plan simply accelerating its own demise? "If students can't afford what we are selling," says Ms. Connely, "then we aren't providing what we are here for."
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