08-24-2005, 12:44 PM
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#43 (permalink)
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Addict
Location: Kingston,Ontario
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I just read this:
Quote:
COMPUTER EXTRAS BLAMED FOR RISING TEXTBOOK PRICES
A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) indicates that prices for college textbooks have risen at twice the rate of inflation for the past 20 years and blames the increase largely on the inclusion of items such as CD-ROMs that are routinely bundled with books. The report estimates that the average full-time student spends $900 a year on textbooks, a figure that the California Student Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG)--long a critic of publishers--said echoes its own research. Merriah Fairchild, a higher education advocate for the group, said, "The findings of this report support what we've been saying for two years." Bruce Hildebrand, a spokesman for the Association of American Publishers, refuted the report, saying the average amount is closer to $600. Hildebrand accused CALPIRG of pressuring publishers to eschew newer technologies that can be of educational benefit to students. Fairchild said that in CALPIRG's research, 65 percent of faculty "rarely or never used the bundled materials in their courses." Chronicle of Higher Education, 17 August 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/08/2005081701t.htm
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