Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Friday, August 18, 2006
The cost of free textbooks
Great news! At some colleges, students can now get free textbooks, downloadable to their computers!
There’s just one catch. Shakespeare now comes with coffee and American history with 5-cent copies.
That’s right. The Associated Press reports new textbooks may come with advertisements:
“Now, a small Minnesota startup is trying to shake up the status quo in the $6 billion college textbook industry. Freeload Press will offer more than 100 titles this fall — mostly for business courses — completely free. Students, or anyone else who fills out a five-minute survey, can download a PDF file of the book, which they can store on their hard drive and print.”
Some may consider textbook ads “undignified,” as the story says, but on the other hand saving as much as $900 a semester for books would be a Godsend for many students.
What do you think of this idea? Student salvation or corporate insanity?
(Image credit: www.easterfilms.com)
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Colleges and Universities
