Con: No textbooks needed

PAMELA KALIDASAN Reporter

With the cost of textbooks exponentially rising, especially in higher education, there needs to be other alternatives for students who can’t afford to purchase one.

According to the College Board, the average budget for books and supplies for a four-year undergraduate is approximately $1,240. It doesn’t seem that much at first glance, but in the long term, that number adds up especially when students have to account for other expenses.

The College Board also wrote that undergraduates planning on attending a four-year college would have to pay around $26,820 and higher depending on if students are settling in-state or out-of-state.

And because of these high costs already in higher education, students have done several things of their own to combat this issue.

An article published by the Department of Educational Foundations and Research has stated that college students have saved money from buying commercial textbooks by purchasing old editions, sharing textbooks with peers, using copies available at the campus library

Photographers:

Brandon Sinclair Bre Jenkins

Dominique Dungo

Ginina Pulcinella

Jasmine Casanova

Madeleine Schade

Pauline Gener and downloading illegal electronic copies and some not bothering to buy a textbook.

This is an important and prevalent problem, especially within higher education, that needs to be addressed. Students worrying about the costs that come with buying the materials needed for a classroom, such as a textbook, shouldn’t be a financial burden to put on students and their parents.

What’s important is to open up new resources for students to have access to other options that may even be better to opt for in the long term.

And one such option is OpenSource Education Resources (OER) that expands and distributes textbooks, course readings, articles, journals, course packs, quizzes, videos and other educational resources such as databases readily available to students for free.

With OER, students at Pierce can access a wide variety of material for literature, art, sciences, business, child development and other subjects to look through separate databases and have more options readily available to them.

During this pandemic when most work was remote, Pierce heavily relied on technology to reach out

“Myfavoritecoffeedrinkis definitelythecaramelFrappuccino from Starbucks. I like the sweetness of the cream and caramelappliedtothecoffee itself. "

-JorgeLira to their students through various channels such as the Canvas shell, campus updates via email and allowing students to communicate with advisors, staff, faculty, tutors, etc. through Cranium Café or other virtual assistance tools.

As technology grows and develops rapidly, there will come a time where all education sectors have to adapt to this new normal or hybridized education where the learning materials aren’t all in print and instead are readily accessible.

Furthermore, this involves education adapting and encouraging their faculty to use online resources with their students and work with other possible technology to provide students with the best resources with or without an open book.

-NadirNavarro the opportunity to revise unacceptable letters. The Pierce College Roundup will not publish, as letters, literary endeavors,

-LawrenceJohnson pkalidasan.roundupnews@gmail.com publicity releases, poetry or other such materials as the Editorial Board deems not to be a letter.

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