Posted on 09/28/2012 6:01:22 PM PDT by newzjunkey
California college students hit with tuition increases in recent years will get a little financial help after Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Thursday to create a website on which popular textbooks can be downloaded for free.
Twin bills by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) will give students free digital access to 50 core textbooks for lower-division courses offered by the University of California, California State University and California Community College systems. Hard copies of the texts would cost $20...
(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...
You may remember Arnold attempted a similar project for K-12. It didn't work.
I've never, ever seen a textbook priced at $20.
What publishing company in their right mind would agree to a contract like this?
I like it: Require the socialist faculty to make their books available for free.
Otherwise, use old open source texts that are already online for free... Euclid’s Elements, etc. Like someone once said, if you really want to learn mathematics, study the masters, not their pupils.
“Free” simply means the cost has been transferred from the consumers of the book e.g. the students, to the taxpayers at large.
“The state is going broke, governor - We have to do something.”
“Hey! Let’s give away some more free stuff!”
“Good thinking, gov’!”
I agree and I would go one stepfurther. I would make all course materials open to the public. Education is supposed to benefit society then put at least all the remedial courses online free. Paying tuition for a basic math course makes no sense.
I'm thinking they dropped a zero because 200 bucks is more in the ballpark.
The ultimate goal of the really big publishers- is to sell digital to Universities on a licensed platform. They could reduce their prices considerably - but the college would pay for every student enrolled in the class. 25 students in a class, 25 license fees. No used books, no sharing, no purchases off of Amazon.
The ultimate goal of the really big publishers- is to sell digital to Universities on a licensed platform. They could reduce their prices considerably - but the college would pay for every student enrolled in the class. 25 students in a class, 25 license fees. No used books, no sharing, no purchases off of Amazon.
The ultimate goal of the really big publishers- is to sell digital to Universities on a licensed platform. They could reduce their prices considerably - but the college would pay for every student enrolled in the class. 25 students in a class, 25 license fees. No used books, no sharing, no purchases off of Amazon.
I’ve never, ever seen a textbook priced at $20.”
I think they forgot the last zero.
“O’er the land of the free stuff...”
Well, I do agree that something needs to be done. College books are ridiculous. In my last semester, I spent almost $700 on 3 books... USED!
And every few semesters they publish another version and force students to buy new.
They should require a book be used in a course for four years, take the cost of the book new, divide by eight, and make that the bookstore price for all four years. Oh... and prohibit professors from requiring a book for which they have received payment for “reviewing.”
I’ve wondered, for decades, WHY Universities require NEW text books for “Intro to” courses YEARLY [or even decadely].
Just how often does INTRO change?
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