Make Textbooks Affordable
Everyone knows that textbooks prices are outrageous. Students spend an average of $1,168 a year on textbooks and course materials, and prices have been rising more than for times the rate of inflation for the past two decades!
It’s no accident that textbooks are so expensive. Publishing companies have been raking in huge profits while engaging in bad practices that drive up costs: issuing new editions that make used books hard to find, bundling textbooks with unnecessary CDs and pass-codes, and more. They get away with it because students don’t have a choice -- we’ve got to buy the book they’re selling, even if the price is outrageous.
The good news is that we're making progress. Students can save hundreds through discounted options like renting, used books and bookswaps on campus. At the same time, lasting solutions like open-source textbooks are gaining traction, which could literally revolutionize the textbook market by offering free online access and reducing costs up to 80%.
We're fighting to rein in costs by promoting cost-saving solutions on campus, while also tackling publishers' stranglehold on the market to change prices for good. We're educating students, faculty and bookstores, and raising awareness through research and the media. We're also calling on publishers, colleges and foundations to support the creation of more open-source textbooks that could save students millions each year.
Social Media
Follow our campaign on Twitter @HigherEdPIRG, and watch the action unfold with #textbookbroke.
Textbooks
Campaign Resources
Latest Reports
Related Issues
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Student leaders educate the campus about income inequality during National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week.
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We collect petition signatures - lots of them!
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Hunger and Homelessness intern Roua Aboukhadijeh collecting interview footage on campus for a short film on poverty.
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Students campaign for High Speed Rail.
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Fast Trains ARE Cool.
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Students volunteer at a local garden for the National Hunger Cleanup.
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Volunteers wear the textbook mascot costumes to educate students about affordable textbook alternatives.
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Students posing with the textbook Rebellion books, We Want Cheaper TEXTBOOKS!!
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Textbook Rebel and Mr. $200 drew attention to outrageous textbook prices.
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Six media outlets covered a stop on the Textbooks Rebellion tour to promote affordable alternatives to outrageously expensive textbooks.