Fight back with Textbook Revolt
In her history class, a friend of mine got scolded by her teacher for not doing an assignment, which consisted of buying an expensive book, reading a chapter, and highlighting certain parts with a marker. When the teacher demanded for a reason, she told the truth. “I didn’t have enough money to buy the book.” After that, the teacher fell silent.
With the cost of tuition soaring, it leaves little room for much else on our budgets, including those all-important textbooks. According to CrunchBase, “The cost of college textbooks has doubled the rate of inflation over the past 20 years. Students spend over $4.9 billion on college textbooks each year with few alternatives to help them save money. The average yearly cost of textbooks has increased from $898 in 2005 to over $1,000 in 2006. Every year television reports and newspaper columns have stories about the rising prices of textbooks and the lack of options available for the students, but there still has been very little progress in this industry.”
Fortunately, there are efforts to bridge the gap on a grassroots level, like the one initiated by TextbookRevolt.com. With their site, any student with a .edu email account can sign up and list whatever old textbooks they have lying around that they’re willing to share. In turn, they can browse and get used books from site members. The site automates parts of the matchup so you don’t waste much time looking for what you need. If you don’t have a .edu email, you can still become a member by contacting the site’s administrators and giving your info.
So far, overall feedback has been positive, though there are still some kinks to be ironed out. I’m glad there’s such an initiative like this. I imagine it would’ve helped me immensely for science and math courses with their big bulky textbooks and even heftier price tags. If you like the concept, support the site by telling all your friends about it. Better yet, donate some books after your spring cleaning.
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