College Textbooks Outrageous fees

Instructors could stop requiring students to purchase textbooks for their courses. Instructors could rely on information readily available for free.

clipped from www.eschoolnews.com Copyright fight looms over college textbooks Soaring costs have led to rampant sharing of textbooks online According to the College Board, the average college student spent between $805 and $1,229 on books and supplies alone during the 2007-08 school year. In the National Association of College Stores' 2008 Student Watch Survey of Student Attitudes & Buying Habits, students surveyed estimated they spent $702 on required course materials annually. Required Course Materials include: printed texts (both new and used), electronic textbooks, and course packs and customized materials. But if the campaign to curb textbook file-sharing follows the same arc as that of the music industry's efforts, it's possible this movement could shift its focus onto the students themselves who download or make available copyrighted texts online--especially as publishers realize how hard it is to keep up with an ever-changing lineup of textbook-sharing web sites.