Starting this fall, the GW Bookstore will offer students the option of renting textbooks instead of purchasing them, a Follett company official said Thursday.

Rent-A-Text, a new program put forward by Follett Higher Education Group, the company that runs the bookstore, will allow students to rent textbooks for a semester, Follett representative Brian Rehme said. Follett Higher Education Group manages the GW Bookstore.

In the past, some students have turned to other sellers like Chegg.com to rent textbooks or avoided the bookstore all together because of what they feel are high prices. Rent-A-Text will let students highlight and write in the course materials they use, and also give the option of purchasing the textbook at the end of the semester.

Rehme said students at the seven test schools in the fall saved half or more of the cost of new books. More than 600 bookstores will participate in the rental program.