We often hear stories of students who don't buy their textbooks because they feel they can't afford them. While we understand the hard economic realities of being a college student, we also know that students ultimately hurt themselves when they don't have easy access to reading materials for their classes. It's true, textbooks are expensive, but that may change in the near future. In fact, FREE TEXTBOOKS are already being used on many college campuses.
You're probably asking yourself how a textbook could be free. In today's online environment, some enterprising new publishers are providing free access to the electronic version of a textbook, and then offering a print version at an affordable price. Flatworld Knowledge claims to be the first and largest publisher of free and open textbooks. Another nonprofit organization called OpenStax College is also commited to reducing costs for students by developing free textbooks.
We applaud these innovative new textbook publishing models as well as other Open Access initiatives around the country and the world.
