New California bills will provide free, digital textbooks to university students

The Obama administration has said that it wants all students using digital textbooks within five years, and newly signed legislation in California should help to bring that goal closer to reality. Last week Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr signed a number of education-related bills, two of which relate to the use of digital textbooks. Bills SB 1052 and SB 1053 will give students access to free textbooks for "50 strategically selected lower division courses" at both the University of California and California State University, as well as community colleges throughout the state. In addition to the free digital versions, students will be able to buy hard copies for $20 each, and the Los Angeles Times reports that the first batch is expected to be available by the 2013-2014 school year. In the meantime, students may want to save some money by renting their textbooks from Amazon.

Via The Atlantic - http://www.theatlantic.com/technolog...tbooks/263047/
Source The Los Angeles Times, CA.GOV


http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/30/34...ital-textbooks

Lucky bastards, college textbooks are damn expensive.

WTF. Make this nationwide please. I'd save so much money.

Obama administration wants all students using digital textbooks in five years -
http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/3/276...tbooks-5-years

I go to college next year. MAKE IT HAPPEN NOW.

I hope they make this happen. The textbook industry is truly one of the most corrupt ones. They overcharge, give you back very little in return, put out new editions with the sole intent of making other editions out of date, and often have deals with universities so that the universities don't want to change. I understand paying for books, but the textbook industry is a greedy bunch of horrible people and I really really hope this passes even if I'm not in college by that time to reap the benefits.

I really hate buying textbooks if you couldn't tell.

In 5 years I'll already be graduating.

^And yeah, I hate that. I wish some one higher up will look into that mess. I bought a math textbook for 120 and I only get $1 back. Rip off.

Same here. Buying books are such a hassle I hate that some books are so expensive and you get nothing back but I have lowered some of the cost by renting some of my books.

Renting is good but I'm bothered by the fact that once they get the textbook back, they have my money AND the book. At least if I buy the book, it's mine.

And $1 for a $120 book? try amazon. shipping's kind of a hassle and sometimes they have high standards, but they've beaten the tradeback quotes from my uni WITHOUT FAIL every single time. it's crazy!

I wonder how many high school students have bad backs when they graduate because of textbooks.

Books aren't that bad when you know the right places to get them from.

I should have gone to UC instead

Didn't Apple make an agreement to have textbooks be less that $14? All they need is a school issued iPad, and they're set.

A year before I start.

Best public university system in the US.

And tuiton is jacked up as well if you're out of state.

Why California? All of the ivys and most of the top schools in the country are on the East coast.

(Obama you need to help us DC folk out first cause we are the nation's capital for god sakes. good grief nnnn;;; )

Ivys are private as well as most other top schools. UC's are by far the most groundbreaking and sought after public research institutions.