I disagree with the premise of the first paragraph. In the US, we had to buy large books for all classes. At best, we studied 10% of the content. In France, all teachers create their own "book" containing the material we actually studied. We paid about $50 total for copies for ALL classes. This version was very condensed and everything was very useful. We did have to complete some parts (mathematical proofs, some drawings, etc.) during the class.