RentScouter

This past Monday the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges announced the launch of the Open Course Library to help college students combat the rising cost of education by providing a new alternative for cheap textbooks. The state of Washington has put up $750,000 which was matched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to make the library possible.  Open Course Library is hoping to provide cheap textbooks that will cost college students $30 or less.

The project has been broken into phases, with Monday’s launch of phase 1 featuring materials for 42 common courses including Introduction to Chemistry and Calculus I. Phase 2 will launch in the Spring of 2013 and will add another 39 courses to the library. A team of instructors, instructional designers and librarians developed and peer reviewed the current 42 available courses, using available open source materials to put together course materials that stay within the $30 limit.

The Student Public Interest Research Group (PIRGs) conducted an informal study which estimates that the Open Course Library could save students as much as $41.6 million on textbooks annually if adopted at all of Washington’s community and technical colleges. However, the 42 faculty course developers and their departments are estimated to save students $1.26 million by using these materials during the current school year, a full $80,000 more than the cost of creating the program. “These savings will not only help Washington’s students afford college, but clearly provide a tremendous return on the original investment,” said Nicole Allen, Textbook Advocate for the Student PIRGs.

This is one of several small steps being taken across the nation to make education more affordable for students with cheap textbooks and for such legislation to get funding in a time of staggering budget cuts is truly inspiring. Washington’s Open Course Library is leading a charge that I sincerely hope gains a lot more steam, and with the planned addition of 39 more courses in  2013, it seems the Library may continue to grow. The question now is whether or not this project can be repeated and gain state funding across other parts of the country.

Some common questions about the Open Course Library:

1. What is it? The Open Course Library is a collection of shareable course materials, including syllabi, course activities, readings, assessments.
2. Who is it created for? OCL materials are created for faculty to use in their instruction.
3. So what? Students in our colleges spend about 25% of their total education costs on textbooks (about $1200 per year for a full-time student). The Open Course Library eliminates expensive textbooks and presents faculty with high quality, adaptable course materials.
4. Is that all? Nope. There’s more. The Open Course Library may also increase completion rates by providing students with high quality, affordable educational materials. A study of student completion rates is in progress.
5. Is it designed to replace faculty or face-to-face instruction? The Open Course Library does not replace faculty or force them to teach online.
6. Who owns the courses? These course materials were created through an optional SBCTC grant, and the SBCTC Open Licensing Policy requires that all materials created through optional grants carry an open license. Unless otherwise noted, the Open Course Library materials are owned by SBCTC and freely shared to the world with a Creative Commons Attribution-only license (CC-BY).
7. How was it created? Faculty course designers were selected through a competitive bid process. They worked with instructional designers, librarians, and other support staff to create the courses. Before creating new content, faculty searched for exiting, high quality open educational resources, or OER. They then filled in the gaps with their own course materials.
8. How do faculty adopt a course? All curriculum developed for the Open Course Library is free, digital, and shareable. We invite faculty everywhere to explore, copy, customize, translate and adopt any and all course materials. We only ask that you give us credit somewhere in your course. Here’s an example: “[Portions of] or [This] course adapted from the Open Course Library of the Washington State Colleges. More information at http://opencourselibrary.org.” We also encourage you to use Creative Commons to openly license your course materials and share it with others.
9. Are there any costs? Some courses currently require the purchase of a low-cost textbook. If an OCL course requires the purchase of a textbook or other resource, the cost may not exceed $30 per student. All other materials are free and there is no cost to adopt the course.
10. How can I contribute to the Open Course Library? Adopt the materials, spread the word, and to share your own course materials online with a Creative Commons license.

Open Course Library is one of many alternatives for cheap textbooks for college students.

Half Price Books has an aggressive plan for buying back used college textbooks and selling back those books online.

With headquarters in Texas, the family owned chain of over 110 bookstores is starting a pilot program in nine of its stores to become more active in the used college textbook buyback space.  Half Price Books has always allowed students to sell books and textbooks for cash at their locations.  Students have sought out school book savings at their stores for years, despite Half Price Books (HPB) not having an inventory system, but now HPB wants to draw in more students and see how much of the multi-billion dollar textbook buying and selling market they can garner.

How does Half Price Books stack up to the competition?  Their stores are generally located in malls and more suburban locations, but they have around 20% of their stores near college campuses.  This compares to the over 800 college bookstores operated by Follett based in Oakbrook, Illinois, and the over 600 stores operated by Barnes & Noble – the two largest bookstore companies serving the textbook market.  The National Association of College Stores (NACS) indicates the following:

59 percent of college textbooks are still purchased at bookstores or their websites

26 percent of textbooks are purchased online at venues like Amazon or Chegg

15 percent of remaining textbooks are bought and sold via student to student, alumni, or other bookstores like HPB

This means that nearly 75% of college students are still paying too much for books by not getting a price comparison.

Half Price Books is starting its textbook buyback program this month at nine stores near college campuses: University of Washington in Seattle, Washington; Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas; University of California Berkeley in Berkeley, California; University of Arizona in Tempe, Arizona; and five other locations.  According to HPB executive vice president Kathy Doyle Thomas, “We’re experts in the used book business. And we know college students are already in our stores buying the Julius Caesar supplement reading for a class on Shakespeare, but we haven’t been buying their calculus or economics textbook.”  Half Price Books will only sell back these used school books to students online, mostly likely through their Alibris portal.  RentScouter will allow students buying textbooks online to see these prices in comparison to normal used book and textbook rental prices.

The NACS reports that the average higher education student is spending $667 over the previous year on textbooks, workbooks, and related course materials.  Over 75% of students still prefer printed textbooks versus etextbooks, with extextbooks only comprising up to 10% of sales by 2012 according to the NACS.  According to a representative at the University of Texas Co-op in Austin, TX sales of electronic textbooks are growing, but reading a novel works well on a laptop or tablet – not an algebra or biology textbook.  Another issue with electronic textbooks is that they are generally not the cheapest textbook option, especially when one considers they can not be sold back for cash, or even transferred to another student.

While Half Price Books is rolling out a new textbook buyback program in nine stores, any HPB location will buy back used books, CD, DVDs, or video games just like always.  HPB is seeing what they can do to gain part of the almost six billion dollars a year textbook business in this trying economy while stores like Barnes & Noble are trying to diversify and Borders is rapidly closing stores.  In the flagship HPB store in Dallas, a new conveyor system and six buying stations has been implemented to speed up book buyback processing allowing them to buy back 8,000 to 13,000 books a day, compared to a wait time of up to an hour or more on the old system.

Get a buyback price comparison on RentScouter first, but don’t hesitate to check the buyback prices at your local Half Price Books.

If you want Cheap Textbooks for College – Buy Textbooks Online

Brand new textbooks from bookstores are expensive. If you have seen it yourself, I’m sure you’ve been shocked by the price. But even if we don’t like it, books will always be a part of our college education; and they’re a must-have when you want to study and get high grades. If you are wanting to save money, (who isn’t!) then you can try to look online for cheap textbooks.  These days, most people seek out cheap textbooks for college by buying cheap books online.

The internet has been a major source of information to most of us. It is where most of us run to when we need to know about the latest news update or when we are searching for some other information. Moreover, the internet is also where we can find the cheapest things including cheap books. We can find discounted items that are very affordable. Different things are sold online from clothes, shoes, cars, gadgets and even books. So, going online is definitely the best move that you can do in finding the cheapest textbooks for college.

Using the internet to look for cheap textbooks for college is definitely advantageous since you won’t to deal with finding your way through piles of books in bookstores. With just a few clicks of your mouse, you can easily find the book that you need. It’s very convenient and you can get the results in a matter of minutes. And with Rentscouter.com, there’s no need to spend an afternoon trying to find cheap textbooks for college – you can do it in seconds!

If you are looking for a required textbook, make sure that you have the title of the book, the volume or the edition, the ISBN number and the name of the author. This is important in finding the right book. You would not want to waste your time and money in shipping a book that is an older edition of the required textbook.

Why waste time? It is better that you find just one source and get all the books that you need from there. Using our service, you can compare pricing, policies, and even see customer reviews to make the best decision.  Another important consideration in buying books online is the shipping fee. Books are quite heavy and this might be quite pricey on your end. So look for stores that offer free shipping, or at least discounted. This is also one of the reasons why it is better to buy all your cheap textbooks for college from a single source so that you can save up on your shipping as well. There are a number of stores that offer free shipping if your purchases reach a certain amount.  However, it is likely you will wind up buying your cheap textbooks for college from several different stores.

Lastly, make sure that you read the fine print. Read the company’s policies – including the return policies. Your definition of damage might not be the same as theirs. Ensure that you know their rules before you click that buy or rent button.

Getting cheap textbooks for college by buying online is really a breeze.