EBooks Are Rarely a Good Deal, Now You Can Pay a Ton for Them to Spy on You!

By Derek R Haake

Recently a pilot program was announced that discussed how eBooks can now track you to see if you did your homework or not.

In effect, eBooks now can record what you do and how you do it while you are suffering through a long reading assignment.

Sadly the Chronicle showed that eBooks only save students $1 versus buying a new textbook, but this is only part of the equation. eBooks, unlike traditional textbooks, have zero - that's right NO resale value for students, rendering them worthless at the end of the semester. Unfortunately for most students, buying and selling books online can save them up to 95% of their textbook costs, versus the small savings that eBooks actually offer.

Now there are benefits of eBooks, including enhanced and interactive content, but for most students and especially in light of today's rapidly increasing costs of higher education, students need to save more than ever. The reason that publishers are really embracing eBook content is simple - they eliminate the secondary market that has cut into their profitability for years. Every time an eBook is sold, the publisher gets their piece of the sale - with traditional books, the publishers only get revenue when the book is sold - new. With eBooks, they can dramatically increase their profitability.

Since the publishers will be making more money, one would expect the costs of eBooks to drop, but once publishers have access to this new revenue source, will the costs fall? Simple economics dictates that when there is more adoption of a product, the costs come down to make it more attractive to a wider piece of the market. However, the textbook market is "broken" because the purchaser - the college student - is not the person that makes the buying decision - the profess / University. Being told what book to buy has always put the publishers in a wonderful situation - at least for them. Textbook costs have risen by 800% in recent years, demonstrating that they are all too aware of this marketplace characteristic.

Now there are reasons why textbook costs are going up. Publishers must pay for talent to write their books - do we really want our students using educational materials that are sub-par? No. Costs of transportation and materials have increased too. My point is that there are rational reasons to justify the increase in prices, but these incidental costs do not account for the massive increase in textbook prices over the past year, and students should expect this trend to continue.

As for the eBook, as the publishers promote and move students away from the textbook, the secondary market gets eliminated and soon, students - if you are not careful - may be spending $1000 per year on devices that tattle to your professor on you.

Derek Haake is the founder of CampusShift.com, a community that helps students save on textbooks by comparing prices with its textbook search engine, and also the only community that has a local and nationwide student-to-student textbook marketplace. Mr. Haake founded Campus Shift after he went back to school to pursue his MBA and JD, and after earning them devoted his full time to the company, which started in January of 2011.

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To AP or Not to AP? That Is The Question

By Jeanmarie Keller 

Lame attempt to borrow from Shakespeare's Hamlet, I know. I blame my college education and four classes on Shakespeare. I've said it before and I'll say it again.

Lame attempt to borrow from Shakespeare's Hamlet, I know. I blame my college education and four classes on Shakespeare.

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

When it comes to your High School classes: It's not what you NEED to graduate; it's entirely about what you NEED to get into college - and they are NOT the same thing.

Don't believe me? Take a look at the recent study that found 80% of high school GRADUATES in New York City who applied for college were UNPREPARED. They did what it took to graduate from high school, but that was not what they NEEDED to handle college.
That being said, as students are deciding their classes for next year, I get a lot of questions surrounding  

Advanced Placement (AP) classes.

Questions like:

• Should I take them?
• How many should I take?
• Which ones should I take?

Let's tackle them one at a time.
Should I take them (AP Classes)?
Ask any college admissions officer and they will say "YES". If you want to keep the highly selective colleges open as a possibility, then the answer is "Absolutely". AP classes, when properly taught, are college level classes. And, students who take AP say they felt better prepared for college.
Another way to look at this question is from the perspective of the admissions officer. If I, the admissions officer, have hundreds or thousands of candidates to choose from, I'm looking for reasons to kick kids out of my pile. Students who didn't take the AP (but could have) could be yet another way to weed kids out.
How many should I take?

As many as you can handle. If you want to keep the Ivy League and Ivy-type colleges on the table, than at least five. First off, when you go to college, ALL of your classes will be "college level" so if you're saying that you cannot handle more than one AP class, then you need to be asking yourself if you're really ready for college. Also, what is NOT on your transcript can be just as telling as what is. If your high school offers 10 AP classes and you only have one, it might naturally raise the question of "Why is that?" in the admissions office.

Which ones should I take?

Well, the simple answer is: It depends. There are AP classes that carry more weight in the admissions office and there are AP classes that don't. But again, what kind of muddies this even more is the fact that what is NOT on your transcript can be just as telling as what is. For example, AP Art History doesn't carry the same kind of weight in the admissions office as say AP American History. BUT, if you're interested in being an Art major, then the LACK of AP Art History might hurt your particular application.

Your Smart Plan For College Assignment:

Look at your schedule for next year. What classes are you signing up for? Are you trying to take it easy in an attempt to work less but still keep your GPA up? Are you taking the most challenging classes you can handle? Are you challenging yourself or playing it safe?

These are the questions an admissions officer will be asking when they look over your transcript. What assumptions will they come to when they look at yours?

Jeanmarie Keller has helped thousands of students get into colleges they love while making sure their parents save a fortune on the bill. Jeanmarie is the creator of the Smart Plan For College System which teaches her client-families how to get noticed in the admissions office, get in at the colleges right for them and how to get the money they need to help pay the bill.

To receive Jean's weekly email newsletter and Jean's free CD: How To Find Cash For College, subscribe today at http://www.JeanKeller.com

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