Buy the Book
A New Trend in Education Delivers Books without Bulk
Here’s what we know: The national average for college tuition is just over $7,000 a year—a 50% increase from five years ago. Textbooks account for one-fourth of tuition and fees at a four-year institution. The national employment rate among teens is down to 34%--the lowest it’s been in a half-century. More than 90% of teens have regular online access. And, teens love things that are free.
This perfect storm of economic downturn and internet insatiability has forged a new business model that could conceivably do for college education what MP3s did for the music industry. So-called “open textbooks” are licensed college textbooks available to students for download—sometimes for the low, low, low price of zilch. Other books are sold bound for less than $20. Furthermore, professors have the added ability to edit said textbooks, and even encourage students to correct the author’s mistakes.
It’s the latest incarnation of TRU’s “Big Easy” theme: a downloaded textbook saves cash, time (hello, search function), and backaches born of lugging books around campus.
The open textbook crusade has been gathering steam for years, but only recently have faculty begun embracing the more affordable alternative. At maketextbooksaffordable.org, a petition advocating open textbooks has the blessing of more than 1,200 faculty members in all 50 states, and now professors have begun authoring books expressly for downloading on the web.
One internet poster had this to say: “I was looking at my mom’s math book from the 1950’s. Amazingly enough, math hasn’t changed. We don’t need a 33rd revision of Pre-Algebra.”
Realizing the need to embrace the digital-media revolution fomenting on college campuses, the National Association of College Stores this month announced the formation of its own subsidiary to facilitate the aggregation, sale, and distribution of digital content for member stores.