Save on Textbooks

The cost of textbooks for the average US college student per year is about $900!  Some pay more, some less, but either way that’s a whole lot of money.  Not only are textbooks bulky, heavy, and hard to get your money back for when you’re through with a course — but generally, most students report that they only use those text books for short periods of time during a class, for only select bits of information.  The rest is pretty much useless.  Could there be a textbook racket going on in higher education?  Who knows.  But what we do know for sure is there’s a viable alternative, in open source.

If you know where to find them, text books are available online either very cheaply, or even for free.  Most of the original sources used to compile college textbooks are already in the public domain in one form or another, and the same information you get from $900 worth of books is just a few clicks away for someone savvy.  This infographic shows you the comparative costs of traditional textbooks versus the open source books movement and other alternatives.  Better study up if you want to save some cash.