Low-Cost Textbook Initiative to Start in Spring 2016

Starting in Spring 2016, the College of Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts will put a new Low-Cost Textbook initiative into place.

The idea behind the initiative is that certain sections of courses will use books and materials that cost no more than $25.00. Students will be able to identify which courses offer the low-cost option when they register for classes thanks to a blue “best value” piggy bank icon located next to the course information.

“The university's unofficial motto is ‘We care,' Dr. Salvatore Attardo, dean of the College of Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts, said. “The best way to show we care about our students is their being able to afford buying the textbooks for their classes. Students who have their textbooks do better than students who don't have them. That's just plain logic.”

In January 2013, The Huffington Post reported that textbook prices had risen by 812% in the past 30 years. A&M-Commerce students spend an average of $1,400 per year on textbooks.

The initiative will begin on a small scale, restricted to core courses in the College of Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts. Faculty members who wish to participate will still choose their own course material, and will receive a small incentive from the College of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Arts dean's office in acknowledgment of the work involved in finding free or very inexpensive suitable course materials.

For more information, contact Dean Attardo, at 903.886.5166 or [email protected].