At the beginning of each semester, the shock of dwindling bank accounts starts to set in as soon as students bring their shopping basket full of textbooks to local bookstore checkout counters.

It's not uncommon for students to spend between $300 and $500 on textbooks -- even used ones. And these books may not even be used more than a handful of times during the semester.

But this situation could be remedied if the university would just step up to the plate.

If Penn State took the first step and encouraged departments and professors to use the same books for at least two years, then local bookstores could adopt a textbook rental system.

Such systems, which students use to pay a per-book fee that is significantly lower than the cost of buying a textbook, have become popular at several other universities across the country. At the end of each semester, students also have the option to apply the rental fee to the cost of the textbook, if they decide to purchase it.

It's understandable that local bookstores have no incentive to adopt the system at the present time. But if Penn State enacted a policy stipulating that professors need to use the same books for at least two years, the stores would be ensured a profit.

Tom Fankhauster, assistant manager of the Penn State Bookstore in the HUB-Robeson Center, said in order for the rental system to work, departments or professors must commit to a book for more than two years. The stores do not earn back the price of the book until after the first year of a book's use, he said.

It goes without saying that such a rental system would definitely benefit students, who have to buy a new set of textbooks each semester. And most students don't even keep textbooks for more than one semester, and the amount they receive for selling back textbooks is absurd.

But it's up to the university to take the first step and encourage professors to use the same books for at least two years to make it feasible for local bookstores to adopt the rental system.