Engineering Degree Online | The college textbook ripoff - one student’s campaign

Posted by bposton on November 10th, 2006 — Posted in engineering degree online

OK so here’s a little good news. Looks like we’re starting to win some of the battles in the textbook wars.

And online degree programs are in the front lines…

With the advent of computers in the classroom, the greedy textbook publishers started to add digital tools-video clips, interactive lessons, databases, DVDs etc packaged with the books. Of course, that drove the costs up.
So students (and even some professors) turned to the Internet to look for the best bargains.

And with online education technology, we’re finding out that with these new cyberteaching tools on the Web that maybe, just maybe, they don’t need that old-fashioned textbook at all.

HA - take that you greed publishers! :-)

In fact, one Northwestern student took matters into his own hands. After hearing other students echo his frustration, he started a website called textbookrevolution.org, which links visitors to a variety of free college-level, digital textbooks on the Web.

Little by little, we’re winning the war on high textbook costs…

Ben

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Engineering Degree Online | The college textbook ripoff - continued

Posted by bposton on November 10th, 2006 — Posted in engineering degree online

OK, I’m rested now and ready to finish my expose on the college textbook scam…

Again, to recap - it’s a 6.5 billion dollar business. The costs have risen 186% since 1986. The average student book bill is 900 per year…

ahrgggg….

Here’s another thing. Publishers are saying they have to include more and more material to serve as many people as possible, and that’s why they costs keep going up.

Of course, that also means that the darn books get stuffed with so much “stuff” that it’s impossible to go thru it all during the course!!!

double ahrgggg!!!

Here’s another thing. since these publishers are bundling disks, workbooks, and website access into a textbook, they’re not playing fair with the textbook resellers. That’s because once these type of bundles are opened, like courses with DVDs inside, they can’t be resold. So these publishers are doing everything they can to end the used book market

Yeah, I know. theres alot of reselling options on the Internet. For example there’s the every popular ebay, half.com and even independent outfits like varsitybooks.com and ecampus.com. But you know what? their slice of the business is a small fraction of the total textbook market. A 2006 report by the NACS found that 23 percent of students buy their books online and of those online sales, a third are from the websites of existing campus bookstores.

So what’s a student to do?

Write your congressman…

Seventeen states have recently proposed legislation to help curb the rising costs of books, including the requirement that schools post the international barcode number of each of the required texts so that students can shop for them online. The new Connecticut law also even require publishers to tell professors what the books cost before the professors assign their students to buy them. I guess that might make a different.

In my next post, I’ll tell you about a student who took matters into his own hands…

Ben

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engineering degree online : Is the “non-traditional” student becoming the norm?

Posted by bposton on October 29th, 2006 — Posted in engineering degree online

I was up last in the dorm room last night, and found a report by
WorldWideLearn.com, the world’s premier directory of education.

After reading it, I’m beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, the tide
is turning - that online education is finally becoming mainstream.

Here’s why…

In this report, it states that working adults are looking for
college degrees in greater and greater numbers, and they are changing the way
universities and colleges are doing business.

According to the report, 58 percent of those students taking courses today are
financially independent adults over the age of 22.
 
That’s in stark contrast to the typical freshman right out of high school.

In fact, they report that only 16 percent of college students
fit the typical profile of a 18-22 year old studying full-time on campus.

Interesting, huh?

So what is causing this stampede to the online colleges?

One reason may be that those without degrees are seeing the “writing on the wall”.

For example, the Federal government estimates more than half (63%) of the 19 million new jobs that will be created in the next 10 years will require at least a B.A.

In my next post I’ll go over a more of what I learned in this report

Stay tuned…

Ben

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