Survey Shows Students Opting Out of Buying High-Cost Textbooks

abernard102@gmail.com 2014-01-29

Summary:

"Today, a survey released by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund shows that 65% of student consumers have opted out of buying a college textbook due to its high price, and of those students, 94% they suffer academically.  Over the past decade, college textbook prices have increased by 82%, or at three times the rate of inflation. Textbooks are one of the largest out-of-pocket expenses for students and families trying to afford college every year.  Recently, alternatives to brand-new, print edition textbooks have become widely available through rental programs, used book markets, and e-textbooks. While these markets offer students upfront savings, their prices are still dictated by the prices of the new print editions ... Open textbooks are faculty-written and peer-reviewed like traditional textbooks, but they are published under an open license, meaning they are free online, free to download, and affordable in print. 82% of survey respondents said they would do significantly better in a course if the textbook were free online and a hard copy was optional, which is exactly how open textbooks work.  Open textbooks save students $100 per student, per course on average ..."

Link:

http://enewspf.com/opinion/analysis/49652-survey-shows-students-opting-out-of-buying-high-cost-textbooks.html

From feeds:

Open Access Tracking Project (OATP) » abernard102@gmail.com

Tags:

oa.new oa.comment oa.surveys oa.reports oa.student_pirgs oa.advocacy oa.students oa.textbooks oa.prices oa.colleges oa.universities oa.books oa.hei

Date tagged:

01/29/2014, 09:11

Date published:

01/29/2014, 04:11