More on the cost of textbooks

And on the resultant need for Globaltext.

The July 16 2006 Denver Post reprinted a column by Washington Post  writer Michelle Singletary entitled "Book some time on the Web to save on college texts".  In short, her column points out that low-income university students in the US suffer from some of the same burdens of high-cost textbooks that we are addressing for students in developing countries with the Globaltext project.  For example, quoting from the GAO report we referenced in a earlier post, she notes that "At two year public institutions where low-income students are likely to pursue a degree program and tuition and fees are lower, the average estimated cost of books and supplies was $886, almost three-quarters of the cost of tuition and fees".   She does a nice job of discussing the ways in which the current textbook business model is broken, and as well as steps students can take to lower their  textbook costs.  Definitely worth a read.