Monday, May 10, 2010

Schools nationwide address textbook cost

A major financial burden to students continuing their education is the massive amount of money they must pay each semester for textbooks. Colleges across the country are taking into consideration the rising cost of tuition, higher living expenses and are finding new ways to deliver curriculum without the student having to shell out hundreds of dollars each semester for textbooks they will only use once.

Some states have appointed special task forces to investigate newer and cheaper alternatives for students. In addition to addressing cost, many universities are also focusing on making textbook information accessible to the student earlier. States like Mississippi have appointed a representative from each major university to head-up their task force.

Bill Broyles, assistant vice president for Student Affairs at Mississippi State University, who co-chairs the task force, stated that the main objective was to make information more affordable to the student. Mississippi State officials first examined the problem in 2007, where a detailed report was written with a lot of recommendations but few requirements

With the country’s current economic crisis and an upsurge in enrollment, there is a new sense of urgency for school officials to act. Some of the textbook alternatives include electronic textbooks. Students can simply download the material for a fraction of what it would cost them in hardback form. High Schools across the nation have already begun using laptops with curriculum already loaded into the machine instead of the traditional hard-cover textbook. This practice, along with online degree training has made it to the college level and has made getting an education easier and more affordable.

Textbook rental is also a newer and popular alternative. Large publishing companies, such as McGraw-Hill have are partnering with online sites that allow students to simply rent used textbooks at a much smaller cost. Also, university book stores are beginning to offer similar programs to their students, sparing them exuberant textbook prices.  Students simply turn it their textbooks at the end of each semester without having to purchase or resell any material.

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