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College students spend as much as $1,000 per year on books and supplies, so the advent of electronic textbooks has been heralded as major step forward. But a two-year study by researchers at Daytona State College shows that electronic texts don’t always turn out to be the money-savers students and professors hope they’ll be.
The study, which was funded by the U.S. Department of Education, compared four different textbook distribution models: buying traditional printed books, renting printed books, renting e-textbooks, and renting e-books along with an electronic reader. In three out of four semesters, researchers found that students using electronic texts pilot saved just $1 over the cost of a traditional hardback book. The reason? Publishers typically say the bulk of their costs come from paying textbook writers and researchers, not from printing, so they can't make e-texts less expensive.
Cash-strapped students said they were only interested in using electronic texts if they cost around $35, and most math students balked at using e-texts at all. Digital versions don't allow them to work out problems with as much speed, efficiency and convenience as old-fashioned books. They’d rather "pay more for a printed text in which they could solve math problems by hand." Students who bought electronic books were also frustrated by their inability to earn back some of their money by selling the textbooks to the campus bookstore at the end of the term.
"In three out of four semesters, researchers found that students using electronic texts pilot saved just $1 over the cost of a traditional hardback book."
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