With the economy and job market in a deep hole as a back drop, students (and their parents) are going back to school with a keen eye on costs. They can no longer get by with a pad of paper and a handful of pencils. Each year the list of supplies grows longer and the items increase in cost. Among the supplies that students would rate as budget busting is the graphing calculator, now required by many schools or math and science classes and almost a certain necessity for college bound high school kids planning on taking the SAT and other standardized tests.
As a solution, a number of companies have popped out of the ground to provide a solution. Their solution is to allow students to rent a calculator. With this service, a student can now go to a math or physics class with a top quality graphing calculator for only a few dollars a month. With graphing calculators retailing at more than $100 per unit and some going for as high as $200 or more, this is certainly a great deal. Or is it?
A Single Semester
For some students it is. At one rental company a student can rent a TI-84 Plus for only $12.00* a month or a TI-89 Titanium for only $16.00 a month. For one semester (four months in length) that comes out to only $48.00 for the TI-84 Plus and $64.00 for the TI-89 Titanium versus total** costs of $115.77 and $111.84 for a brand new unit. If you only need the calculator for a single semester then it's probably better to rent than buy.
A Full Academic Year
If you'll need the calculator for the entire academic year does it also make sense to rent? Doing some more math we find that for an academic year of nine months, the rental costs for the TI-84 Plus and the TI-89 Titanium will run you $108.00 and $144.00 respectively. When compared to what you can spend for a brand new calculator the numbers seem to be mixed in the case against renting.
Other Costs
When renting it is also necessary to take into account more than just the upfront per month costs. You also need to consider the following:
If you rent a calculator then you'll eventually need to return it. Therefore, make sure to account for the cost of return shipping.
If you rent a calculator there is always a possibility that you will lose it. If this happens then you will be responsible for reimbursing the rental company. Make sure you know how much this would be before you rent, especially if you are the kind of student who is prone to losing things.
If you buy a calculator then you can always sell it. Of course you don't know what price you can sell it for in the future but a quick look at Craig's List or other classified site should give you a rough idea. The money you can earn back should be taken into account when summing up the total cost of ownership.
From the above example comparing the costs for a full academic year, it is safe to say that crunching the numbers for an even longer period of time will support the proposition that buying is better than renting.
* The prices were obtained from a calculator rental company that was listed on the first page of Google when using the search term "rental calculator". Of course there are numerous companies (and even schools) that rent calculators. The main point, however, is that you do need to do some number crunching in order to assess which method makes more financial sense for you.
** The total costs were obtained by taking an average of the retail prices of these models obtained from a simple Google search.
Bruce Bernzweig is the owner of Calculator Town, an online provider of calculators and related information. He also writes about calculators at his blog CalculatorTown.Blogspot.com.
Interesting article Bruce! I had not heard of the rental companies. i can say when I was in high school, I was required to buy a graphing calculator. I never used it after that year. I should of resold it. I can see how this kind of rentals will appeal to college kids because they seem to lack a lot of cash at once. Monthly payments can be more reasonable, but you are right in that it isn't a reasonable cost for an entire year! Thanks for sharing this helpful information!
Renting is okay for a short time, if they are only taking one math or science class to fulfill a requirement. And even then it may not make sense. It always depends on the individual model and the actual costs of renting and buying at that time.
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