This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Flat World Knowledge. All opinions are 100% mine.
I graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University in 2005. I was fortunate enough to have the Florida Bright Scholarship which paid 75% of my tuition. I am not even sure if that scholarship exists anymore as they kept changing their terms while I was still in school. I can not imagine attempting to pay for school without the help of my parents (who put me through college) or without the scholarship.
Unfortunately my degree in Education has proved to be borderline useless. The education system can’t afford to hold onto their teachers and the politics themselves are impossible to understand (unless of course you agree with standardized testing which I do not.) So, for years I have been debating going back to school and just recently completed a certificated program for a lactation counselor through the University of California. The tuition was expensive enough, but the cost of the textbooks. Whoa man. Textbooks are way too expensive. While I understand a lot of education and professionalism goes into the quality of the textbooks, it sure burns a hole in my pocket (as well as many other students.)
Do you know that according to The College Board, students spent an average $1137 in 2010-2011 on textbooks and supplies? That doesn’t include cost of living or miscellaneous college expenses. Why on EARTH are we paying that much for textbooks? Is there a way to get cheap textbooks?
Have you ever felt held back by your textbooks? If you are low on money, maybe it’s the hundreds of dollars per semester you are having to spend in addition to the actual cost of class. From what I understand, according to Gates Foundation study, the cost of textbook is having a substantive impact on students’ ability to complete coursework. Of the students who did not graduate, 60% reported that textbooks and other fees besides tuition affected them. Out of the students who did graduate, around 58% felt the same way about the cost of textbooks.
I’ve discovered this website called Flat World Knowledge that offers a variety of textbooks written by creditable authors and professors and best of all, they are free. FREE. (Why didn’t I know about this site when I was in college!)
Flat World Knowledge has a plan to go beyond leveraging technology and to reduce cost by using the open license to improve learning materials in 2 critical ways:
- Enabling faculty to change the textbook from a book to a platform.
- Enabling the student to consume content that suits their learning style.
They have a variety of subjects and titles. You can even search by your class. If you are a little confused on how it works, you can Visit their site and request more info.
Hopefully, if you are going back to school or know someone who is, that this site wil be of help to you! Every cent counts!
The textbook situation is awful. It’s worse for upper level degrees as well. I have to get the specific textbook required by my professor (which is usually written by my professor) and every 2-3 years they take the same textbook and add/take-out a handful of cases and put out a new edition, which we have to buy brand new instead of borrowing from other students. I just think the whole thing is selfish.