News Articles
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> (8/15/2006) Ads Coming to Textbooks (Washington Post)
-- Textbook prices are soaring into the hundreds of dollars, but in some courses this fall, students won't pay a dime. The catch: Their textbooks will have ads for companies including FedEx Kinko's and Pura Vida coffee.
> (8/4/2006) Students Getting Sticker Shock From Textbook Prices (Accounting Web)
> (8/14/2006) More than a penny saved (Inside Higher Education)
Cost of a brand new introductory chemistry book at New Jersey’s Camden County College: $270....
> (8/12/2006) Give us ISBNs (Diamond Back Online)
It's a big blame game, but there is one entity remaining relatively, if not completely, silent on this issue. And it's a travesty that this group hasn't come to our rescue. And who is this group that has turned its back on us, the students? The sad answer is that it's the University of Maryland.
> (8/11/2006) Students Purchase Textbooks Online To Save Money (WashingtonPost.com)
> (7/19/2006) Textbook Prices Continue to Rise (Collegiatetimes.com)
> (7/16/2006) Textbook Prices Rise at Unbelievably High Rates (Kitsapsun.com)
> (7/14/2006) Soaring cost...riping off college students, families (clarionledger.com)
> (7/13/2006) A Textbook Case (washingtonpost.com)
> (7/13/2006) Lawmakers begin tackling textbook costs (dailypennsylvanian.com)
> (7/13/2006) Books: Colleges' Budget Buster (washingtonpost.com)
> (7/7/2006) New Laws on the Books (Chronicle of Higher Learning)
> (6/24/2006) The Death of the Textbook in Australia? (The Sydney Morning Herald)
> (6/19/2006) Senate Passes Textbook Access Act (Long Island Press)
> (6/15/2006) Publishers,colleges binding students to high book prices (Dallas Morning News)
> (6/15/2006) New programs help students save at Bookstore (BYU NewsNet)
> (6/13/2006) Roots of textbook cost hike frustrate educators (Online Hope Star)
> (6/11/2006) Students find textbooks they want on swap site (Kansas.com)
> (6/10/2006) DotReader to Slash Cost of College Textbooks (PR Newswire)
“The secret is to embed ads inside textbooks via dotReader,” Tom Doran, Founder/CEO of Freeload Press says, “and dotReader is the perfect solution for publishers using our Textbook Media Services. FedEx|Kinkos, Starbucks, or even local pizza shops could target ads to specific geographic markets. With ad money factored in, a $100 science book might sell instead for $39.”
> (6/5/2006) Fewer Textbook Sales, but Rising Revenue (NYTimes.com)
Last year, the number of new college textbooks sold by American publishers dropped for the second year in a row. But the revenue brought in by such books rose for at least the fifth consecutive year, sustained by continuing price increases.
> (6/3/2006)Quick Takes: U.S. Panel to Study Textbook Prices (Inside Higher Ed.)
Members of the House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce have asked the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance to conduct a study the rising cost of textbooks and recommend ways to bring those costs under control, the advisory committee said in a news release Monday. The advisory panel said the House committee’s chairman, Rep. Howard P. (Buck) McKeon (R-Calif.) and Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.) had requested the yearlong study.
> (5/29/2006) ‘dotReader to slash costs and students may save billions if... (Teleread.org)
Tacoma, WA (May 26, 2006) – dotReader will help Freeload Press slash the costs of textbooks—typically by 60 percent. And publishers couldn’t be happier. “The secret is to embed ads inside textbooks via dotReader,” Tom Doran, Founder/CEO of Freeload Press says, “and dotReader is the perfect solution for publishers using our Textbook Media Services. FedEx|Kinkos, Starbucks or even local pizza shops could target ads to specific geographic markets. With ad money factored in, a $100 science book might sell instead for $39.”
"It is important that businesses are able to make a fair profit, but students should not be forced to buy expensive books and items that are not even required course material," said Rep. Naomi Jakobsson (D-103) in a February press release.
> (4/27/2006) Next-Generation Textbooks: Book Smarts (Campus-technology.com)
At the University of Virginia, for instance, technologists have created an entire library of e-texts designed to eliminate the process of taking out books. Elsewhere, at schools such as Central Florida Community College, Valencia Community College (FL), West Chester University (PA), and Indiana University, technology leaders have embraced a variety of vendor tools that combine traditional textbooks with eLearning, for an entirely new experience. These tools differ in scope and approach from more traditional learning materials, but it appears that across the board, they work.
> (4/26/2006) The price of college textbooks (Arkansas Democrat Gazette)
> (4/24/2006) State House passes bill to make college textbooks more affordable (WTNH -- Conn.)
> (4/24/2006) Deals on used textbooks (mlive.com)
> (4/24/2006) Lawmakers Eye Regulations On College Textbooks (SWTimes.com)
> (4/23/2006) The Bottom Line on E-Textbooks (NYTimes.com)
> (4/20/2006) Deals on used textbooks (mlive.com)
> (4/5/2006) Students pay less for same textbooks in India (The Exponent -- Purdue Univ.)
In his native India, Vikas Rajkumar pays about 90 percent less for his Purdue textbooks than other students.
> (4/3/2006) Students Purchasing More Textbooks Online (Business Wire)
This is a good thing (!) :
Students are purchasing 23% of textbooks over the Internet, either through the college store's web site or another retailer according to the latest installment in the Student Watch(TM) Campus Market Research series. This is up from 16% in 2004.
> (4/2/2006) Bill targets textbooks' rising costs (Danbury Times, CT)
> (3/29/2006) Getting Textbooks Cheaper From India (NY Times)
Vikas Rajkumar, an engineering student at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., has found a way to save up to $1,000 a year on textbooks. He buys them in India when he visits his home there, or has relatives ship them to him.
> (3/29/2006) Online textbooks just a click away (TMCNET.com)
> (3/26/2006) Legislators, students bemoan costly college textbooks (Boston Globe)
> (3/26/2006) SGA senate working toward reducing the price of textbooks (TEC Online)
> (3/21/2006) Professors asked to examine cost of textbooks (The Daily Evergreen)
> (3/21/2006) Tuesday Edition: Renting Textbooks (Poynter Online -- Blog Entry)
[T]his summer, [Washington's Bellevue Community College] will become one of a few colleges in the state -- and in the country -- to offer a formal textbook rental program. The rental books will probably be expensive tomes from the math, science or philosophy programs, [the school's bookstore manager, Kristen] Connely, said. A math textbook can cost $150, for example, but books in the program will rent for about $35 a term.
> (3/17/2006) Community college to rent some textbooks (The Seattle Times)
> (3/15/2006) Lawmakers learn about rising costs of textbooks (Hartford -- WTNH)
> (3/13/2006) Taking Textbooks to the House: New Legislation for Textbook Pricing (The Book Standard)
> (3/13/2006) Digital textbooks may reduce costs (The Digital Collegian)
> (3/10/2006) New project to loan textbooks to students (Pioneer Online)
> (3/10/2006) Bill lowering textbook prices poised to pass final version (Virginia21)
"They bundle $85 books into $135 packages, and the students never use those other materials and don't find them helpful, but they're forced to buy them because that's what professors order," Oder said.
> (3/8/2006) Bill lowering textbook prices poised to pass final version (Roanoke.com)
> (3/8/2006) Legislation proposed to provide textbook aid to college students (Mid Hudson News)
> (3/8/2006) Publisher Licenses Textbooks Like Software, Saves Schools Money
> (3/3/2006) Bill to Rein in Textbook Costs Breezes to Va. Senate Vote
"One student said that instead of a single textbook for one class, she was forced to purchase such a bundle that sold for $275"
> (3/1/2006) Opinion: Textbook prices must be negotiated and reduced (The Ithacan Online)
> (2/21/2006) Universities Asked to Examine Cost of Textbooks
Consortium discusses viability of textbook rental and improved buy back system. Excerpt:
The report also calls for the possible implementation of a “UNC Buyback Consortium” in which students would be able to sell back their books for the largest possible amount and also have greater access to used books... [And] to examine the idea of a textbook rental system...
See forum for more on this...(York Dispatch)
> (2/20/2006) Tech-savvy students still pass on electronic textbooks
> (2/20/2006) Rapidly rising cost of college textbooks spurs legislator's call for study of issue
> (2/19/2006) "Two State Officials Are Considering A Resolution"
Excerpt:
STATE REPRESENTATIVE RICK NELSON OF MIDDLESBORO, AND SENATOR KEN WINTERS OF MURRAY WERE PROMPTED INTO LOOKING INTO THE MATTER AFTER NELSON'S DAUGHTER'S COLLEGE BOOK BILLS COST MORE THAN 500-DOLLARS.
> (2/19/2006) Imagine textbooks in a new form -- WIKIBOOKS?
Will WIKI work? See forum
> (2/16/2006) E-textbooks not making grade Students
> (2/16/2006) Editorial: Textbook alternatives How USG may help...
> (2/16/2006) Technology Slows Demand For Textbooks
> (2/14/2006) District uses online textbooks to save money
> (2/10/2006) Yale Daily News: Textbook Prices Are on the Rise
> (2/9/2006) Textbooks For Virginia College Students Could Become Cheaper
Excerpt:
42 percent of students said there had been at least one semester where they couldn't afford to buy their books. Twenty-four percent reported spending more than 500 on textbooks last fall, up from 16 percent in the spring.
> (2/9/2006) State bill could help students find cheaper textbooks sooner (Maryland)
> (2/1/2006) Textbook costs inch close to tuition fees
> (11/16/2005) "Textbook renting may cut costs" (Campus, TheLantern.com)
A really interesting blog entry about the Textbook Manufacturer Oligopoly
> (9/16/2005) Just What the Professor Ordered (The New York Times)
> (9/4/2005) Sometimes, It's Not the Tuition. It's the Textbooks (The New York Times)
Unfortunately you need a Times Select membership to view this.
> (8/21/2005) "Colleges fighting higher textbook prices" (nctimes.com)
> (8/16/2005) "Taking Both Sides on Textbook Prices" (insidehighered.com)
> (4/28/2005) "Bargain book buying" (ThePlainsman.com)
Promoting the new site Switchtextbooks.com as a cross between Netflix, Kazaa and Ebay for college textbooks…it’s a interesting idea
> (4/22/2005) As textbook prices soar, students look (dailyfreepress.com)
> (9/18/2004) Textbook Prices On the Rise (washingtonpost.com)
> (10/7/2003) NEW $1,000 Tax Deduction to Help Cover Costs (schumer.senate.gov)
> "College Textbooks Online" (abc7.com)
> “A campaign of the State PIRGs” (maketextbooksaffordable.com)
An interesting site with more reference information, links, and ways you can contact publishers and campaign for lower prices.
