For once NIU administrators should pursue a program that saves students money instead of taking it out of their pockets.

At a recent Illinois Board of Higher Education meeting NIU officials presented the start-up and maintenance costs for a proposed textbook rental system.

Similar rental systems at Eastern Illinois University and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville are saving students as much as $500 per semester, according to published reports.

Eastern students pay $7.95 per credit hour for rented books. A student enrolled in 15 credit hours pays just $119.25 per semester.

SIU-E students pay an even smaller amount per credit hour, $6.80. SIU-E offers fewer majors and therefore textbook rental is cheaper.

Both of these Illinois state schools face the same budget cuts as NIU. Vice Provost Earl Seaver says a textbook rental system is “not cheap.”

Funny, these schools have managed to swing it.

Too many NIU students are confronted with shoulder-shrugging bookstore employees who refuse to buy back a textbook. Often, the book has been outdated by the introduction of a newer edition or altogether shelved in favor of a different publisher’s book.

If a student is lucky enough to be in possession of an edition worthy of buyback, he or she is thankful to recoup even half the original purchase cost.

Just as the NIU Board of Trustees is about to vote on a 3-percent student fee increase, and in the wake of the Residence Hall Association voting in support of a 3-percent increase in computing fees for hall residents, students deserve a break from the assaults on their wallets.

Administrators have in their hands a plan for saving students money. They should quit wasting time sitting on it and start implementing it.