A new report, Rip-off 101: How The Current Practices Of The Textbook Industry Drive Up The Cost Of College Textbooks, by the US consumer body CALPRIG has been causing quite a stir. Some highlights from the report (which is available as a free pdf download):
* Textbooks are expensive and have been steadily getting more expensive
* “Bundled” materials such as CD-ROMs significantly increase textbook prices, but are rarely used by students or lecturers.
* Publishers create new editions with very few content changes – making cheaper used textbooks obsolete.
(photo credit: Paul Keleher)
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One bad undergrad
// Apr 9, 2006 at 6:55 am
I stumbled across Bookfaced on Wikipedia. It’s a new service that attempts to localize and facilitate resale on individual college campuses. Resale is put in the hands of the students, but made efficient and secure with features on their site. No more bookstore, and no more shipping. Check it out, it’s worth a read. http://www.bookfaced.com