Cost-effective, Convenient, and Eco-Conscious:
Online College Texts "Write the Book" on Savings

The trouble with traditional textbooks.

Hardcover textbooks sell for hundreds of dollars. New editions are often bundled with accessory software that students don't need or use. What's more, classes rarely cover an entire table of contents, wasting hundreds of pages of paper and ink.

According to a report issued by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the cost of college textbooks doubly outpaced the annual inflation rate over the past 2 decades. And in California, where Governor Schwarzenegger is championing an initiative that would replace all public school texts with cheaper, greener, online alternatives, the 2008 state auditor report revealed this finding:

[At community colleges] the cost of textbooks was nearly 60 percent of a full-time student's total education cost in academic year 2007-08.

That means some students are paying more for their books than for their actual instruction!

What's an e-book?

Enter e-textbooks. E-books are publications that are available online — either through individual colleges and their instructors, through OERs (open education resources, where academic authors post their content for free use), or though companies that specialize in this new resource. The benefits of e-books go far beyond lower costs.

Digital texts are eco-friendly. They don't need to be reprinted every time new research uncovers an error or an addendum. They don't become useless after one owner marks up the margins, or overextends his highlighter. And they don't wind up in a landfill when a student opts to change majors.

Besides saving trees, e-books also act as timesavers. Unlike their printed counterparts, e-books offer easy searches for specific phrases and keywords. Students can use a built-in "Find" option to scan hundreds of pages instantly. Some e-books come with interactive features, like online note-taking, flashcards, and quizzes.

If eyestrain or (lack of) Internet access present study hurdles, companies like Flat World Knowledge help students print soft-cover versions of their texts for a fraction of the hardcover price. Additionally, some texts are available as audio-books, or as individual, printable chapters.

What's an e-book reader?

Making e-books even easier to access, some companies have developed electronic reading devices, otherwise known as e-book readers. Sony created the PRS e-reader, and Amazon created Kindle, which allows users to download, store, and read text from books, magazines and newspapers. Both Sony and Amazon have recently partnered with colleges and universities, in an effort to replace traditional textbooks with e-books and e-readers.

Kindle functions via cellular network, but incurs no monthly connection cost. Through Kindle 2 and Kindle DX (the larger, newer version), Amazon has made over 300,000 books available, and more are sure to follow. Downloads cost a fraction of what the physical books would cost. And Kindle includes a "read to me" feature that allows users to plug in their headphones and simply listen to their favorite chapters.

But sleek e-readers have some competition in the newly debuted, COOL-ER, a minimalistic electronic reading device created by Interead. Like Kindle, this new e-book reader can download and display texts that are made available in e-book format. COOL-ER does not have wireless capacity, but it reads in 8 different languages and is compatible with any PDF or ePub-formatted document. Perhaps most importantly, COOL-ER is among the least expensive e-book readers on the market.

Which colleges are using e-books?

Since online schools already embrace the digital medium, they're quicker than most traditional schools when it comes to adopting e-books. American InterContinental University and DeVry University are just 2 of the online colleges that currently provide students with digital versions of all required textbooks and reading materials. The cost for these online texts is included in the price of regular tuition.

What can you do if your college isn't offering online text options? You might consider transferring to an online university or an online college where e-books are more readily available. Enrollment counselors and online student forums can address how frequently e-books are employed. If transferring isn't an option, consider taking the rental route. Providers like Book Renter.com (www.bookrenter.com) carry millions of books that are searchable by ISBN, author, or title. You can rent your required texts and return them when you're finished!

This September, when back-to-school sales are beckoning, don't pay a bundle for your college books. Contact your instructors and your classmates. Together, you can investigate online text providers like CourseSmart.com or Flat World Knowledge.