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Re:Guidance to make federally funded research freely availab... by fabian2k on Thursday August 25, 2022 @04:06PM (#32599302)
That's pretty much entirely in the hands of the universities and professors. To a large degree this is really a US-specific problem, US textbooks are easily 2-3 times as expensive as elsewhere. And the cause is likely that US universities require specific textbooks for courses, which is not how it works e.g. in Germany where I studied. I had a single course that required a specific textbook, which cost like ~50 EUR at regular price. Every other textbook I bought I selected myself, and they almost all were really worth their price.

Requiring specific textbooks in specific editions removes all market forces and direct competition. It also kills the second-hand market and makes it much more difficult for libraries. When students are free to choose which textbooks to buy or rent from a library you get a much healthier market.

Re:Guidance to make federally funded research freely availab... by therealdrag0 on Saturday August 27, 2022 @11:36AM (#32620147)
How do you build lesson plans around students who don’t have the same textbook?

Seems like the only way that’s work is if the teacher provided all necessary info and books were only supplemental.

Re:Guidance to make federally funded research freely availab... by mmastrac on Thursday August 25, 2022 @08:30PM (#32601857)
This is wild as someone with a North American perspective... you can buy your own textbook?

I'm shocked at how reasonable a policy this is.