Posts Tagged ‘current trends in education’

Rent Textbooks: College Made Cheaper

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010
Save your pennies for Ramen Noodles -- rent textbooks: college cheaper!

1Happysnapper (photography) / Nina

At My College Guide, we know you are probably overwhelmed not just by the price of college, but of all the college extras, like dorm necessities and textbooks. Do you want to cut down on the cost of college?

The newest trend towards reducing college cost (besides buying used textbooks) is to rent your textbooks. Seriously, it’s all the rage. My College Guide has made it easy with our handy list of websites that are renting textbooks online.

Renting textbooks makes the price a little more reasonable and, honestly, no matter how interesting your professor made the class, chances are that when it’s over…you won’t even touch (let alone read) that textbook ever again.

Rather than have it sit around collecting dust under your bed or take up valuable closet space – you can send it back! Do your research (buyer beware), compare costs, and you might be able to rent textbooks for cheap, saving yourself money that can go towards the important things, like Ramen Noodles and iTunes downloads. Just don’t wait until the last minute — give your rented college textbooks a chance to be shipped to you in plenty of time!

BookRenter College Book Renter
BookSwim eCampus
Campus Book Rentals Skoobit
CengageBrain Textbook Revolt
Chegg Textbook Stop

New Trend? University of South Florida Gives Athletes Free Laptops

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

Great news for athletes currently attending the University of South Florida: free laptops!  Summarizing an article released by the University of South Florida, USF student athletes log in more than their fair share of hours on the road, missing out on the whole point of college: the classes!

University of South Florida

CWMc/Clyde McCain

The University of South Florida boasts more than 450 student athletes…that’s a lot of computers! But, thanks to funds raised by the Student Bulls Club (a fan club for USF sports), an NCAA Academic Enhancement Fund, and a grant from the Verizon Foundation, USF students can now plug into the wireless college experience no matter where they are.

The catch?  They don’t get to keep the Apple Macbook Pro notebook computers forever: athletes will sign the computers in and out on a semester to semester basis.

We’re curious to see if and how this concept could evolve in  colleges and universities — and how schools could potentially tweak the idea to suit their needs.  We promise to keep you informed.

If you were deciding between schools, would the possibility of obtaining a free laptop influence your decision on whether or not you would attend?