[nabs-l] Fwd: [New-hampshire-students] Fw: How to Save On Textbooks.

Sat Aug 27 19:04:27 UTC 2011

I spent $250 on books.  I am on SSI and got $300 in grant money 
in the bank, so it was actually good that I did that.  The most 
expensive book was my social work one, which was a new book.  It 
was $113.  I think that was the price.  By the time I finished 
buying books, I couldn't have bought any more.  Plus I wasn't 
sure I could get a book on order from Amazon without the 
inaccessible Kindle.
That's just my two cents, or my $200 worth. lol
Beth

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Darian Smith <dsmithnfb at gmail.com
To: cabs-talk <cabs-talk at nfbnet.org>, National Association of 
Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Sat, 27 Aug 2011 09:08:41 -0700
Subject: [nabs-l] Fwd: [New-hampshire-students] Fw: How to Save 
On Textbooks.

for your information

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ed Meskys <edmeskys at roadrunner.com
Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2011 11:47:31 -0400
Subject: [New-hampshire-students] Fw: How to Save On Textbooks.
To: nfbnh-students <new-hampshire-students at nfbnet.org>, sandy 
meskys
<smeskys at roadrunner.com

I thought this was interesting, and should be shared with the 
national
student organization. Ed Meskys

Subject: How to Save On Textbooks.

Business/Financial Desk
How to Save On Textbooks.
NY Times Saturday, 2011_08_27
By TARA SIEGEL BERNARD. Exorbitant college textbook prices have 
given rise
to a
'textbook
rebellion,' which may be coming to a campus near you.
A coalition of students, parents, professors and organizations 
including the
Student
Public Interest Research Groups, have banded together to promote 
more
affordable
alternatives to the $200 textbook - an amount that is not 
uncommon for
science,
economics,
accounting and math students, among other pricey majors.
So if you see a big van pull up on your college campus, don't be 
surprised
if a
giant
yellow textbook - called Textbook Rebel - jumps out to do battle 
with Mr.
$200
Textbook,
as part of the cross-country tour organized by the Student PIRGs.
Our goal is to collect student signatures on a petition, which we 
we'll use
to
get
the word out to faculty and call on decision makers to take 
action,' said
Nicole
Allen, textbook advocate at the Student PIRGs.
The coalition also hopes to raise awareness about cheaper 
alternatives like
'open
textbooks,' which are offered under a license that allows you to 
read free
online,
or to obtain a print copy for a fraction of the cost of 
traditional
hard-copy
competitors.
Indeed, textbook prices increased 22 percent over the last four 
years,
according
to the Student PIRGs, or more than four times the rate of 
inflation. On
average,
students at four-year public colleges were estimated to spend 
$1,137 on
books
and
supplies during the 2010-2011 academic year, according to the 
College Board.
To
ease
the burden, a survey conducted by the Student PIRGs found that 
many students
simply
aren't buying at least one of the required texts.
But there are ways to save while the textbook rebels fight the 
good fight.
Last
August,
I wrote a post that surveyed the various ways to save money on 
textbooks,
from
finding
free texts online to renting books on campus. And in January, we 
took a
closer
look
at the many comparison sites that do a lot of the legwork for 
you.
Over the course of the last year, several new options emerged, 
some of which
were
created by recent graduates who were exasperated by the 
book-buying process
themselves.
Those are highlighted below:
Amazon.com. You can now rent eligible Kindle textbooks and read 
them on your
computer,
no Kindle required, or on your smartphone. You can also customize 
the rental
periods
to any length between 30 and 360 days and pay for the specific 
chunk of time
you
need the book (and can add time if you need to). The books aren't 
printable,
but
you do have access to margin notes and highlighted text, even 
after the
rental
has
expired.
Just keep in mind that digital textbooks aren't always the best 
deal. Be
sure to
compare prices with other hard-copy rental options, as well as 
buying a used
copy
of the book, which you can typically sell again.
SwoopThat.com. Similar to Getchabooks.com (featured in this Bucks 
post),
this
Web
site was created by four recent college graduates and aims at 
students at
specific
colleges - in this case, more than 2,300 schools. After you plug 
in your
college
name and courses, the site serves up the list of books that you 
need and
where
to
find them at the lowest cost. Our algorithms help students find 
the cheapest
places
to buy all their books collectively, rather than one at a time,' 
according
to
the
Web site. That calculation includes shipping.
Jonny Simkin, one of the sites' co-founders, said the site 
currently
searches
Amazon,
Half, Alibris, Abebooks, Chegg, BookRenter, eBooks.com, and 
Cengage Brain.
The
site,
he added, has partnerships with 'all the major booksellers,' 
which are
slowly
being
added to the site.
SwoopThat also helps students sell their books by searching 
online vendors
for
the
highest buyback price.
In addition, the site also has an online exchange for each school 
that helps
students
buy and sell books with people nearby. When a student enters 
their courses
and
views
their book list, they can compare prices between other local 
students and
the
Web,'
Mr. Simkin said, 'and if they want to buy from a local student, 
they just
arrange
a meeting place on or near campus.
Affordabook.com. This site, also created by a former 
undergraduate, compares
prices
from 15 textbook retailers on the Web, including Amazon.com, 
Chegg,
Half.com,
Ebay
and several others. I was frustrated with the university 
bookstores and how
they
charge hundreds for textbooks that you can find online for a 
fraction of the
cost,'
said Vincent Thomas, who created the site about five years ago 
when he was a
junior
at Virginia Tech.
LocalTextbook.com is essentially an online classifieds section 
for
textbooks,
which
aims to help students buy and sell books with other people on 
their campus;
that
way, everybody saves money on shipping costs. Still, it does cost 
something:
you
need to pay $3 to list each book (or, you can earn credits by 
referring
friends
to
use the service).
Right now, the listings on the Web site -- created by a college 
senior --
are
located
on only five campuses in Ohio, but they hope to expand this year.
Open textbooks. These books are much less expensive than 
traditional
textbooks,
but
it's basically up to your professors to select them -- if they 
don't, you're
out
of luck. Professors can save students thousands by assigning open
textbooks,'
Ms.
Allen of the Student PIRGs said. That is why our campaign focuses 
on getting
the
word out to professors, and letting them know this is out there.
These books can be read online free, while hard copies are 
typically a
fraction
of
the cost of traditional books. You can download the book to your 
computer or
phone,
or print a printable PDF. Hard copies typically cost $20 to $40, 
according
to
the
Student PIRGs, either in the bookstore or online.
In addition, the 'open' license typically gives professors more 
flexibility
to
tailor
the material to fit a particular course by removing unneeded 
chapters or
adding
new
material. The Student PIRGs site has a catalog of open textbooks 
and
publishers
(Flat
World Knowledge, which offers open books, is also part of the 
'rebellion'
coalition).
The Student PIRGs list their own book-buying tips here.
Have you started book shopping? Let us know what sites you have 
the best and
worst
experiences with in the comment section below.
This is a more complete version of the story than the one that 
appeared in
print.

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--
Darian Smith

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things 
that matter."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

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