Are students held captive by rising textbook prices? - Meredith Hamilton, Christian Science Monitor

Textbook prices have risen by 1,041 percent since 1977 according to NBC’s recent review of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data. College Board suggested that college students budget anywhere between $1,200 and $1,350 for books and supplies in the 2014-2015 school year. For students comfortable with digital texts, a 2015 New York Times article suggests another option. “Open-source textbooks are created under an open license, so they can be downloaded free or printed at low cost; instructors can even rearrange the sequence of material, to suit their preference. There’s a movement to make faculty-written, peer-reviewed open-source textbooks available to professors and students, to help keep a lid on the cost of textbooks.” http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2015/0802/Are-students-held-captive-by-rising-textbook-prices-How-to-cut-the-cost