University entrants and recent graduates will know the pain of the textbook splurge. At the start of each new semester you were basically sacrificing a plane fare, your car rego or a handful of concert tickets by buying the textbooks you needed for the coming subjects.
It was always a low blow, especially considering the mounting HECS debt sitting pretty in the back of your mind. To combat the financial pain of buying shit you’ll use for 14 weeks before putting away forever, Western Sydney University has unveiled a plan to offer textbooks to students for free, beginning in 2017.
Western Sydney University is putting a goofy smile on thousands of new students’ faces by offering textbooks for free.
Although its a far cry from when Australian Universities offered you your entire degree for free, this is a massive step in the right direction from WSU. Several countries around the world have been reaping the benefits of free and proper education for years while Australians huddle together under the crushing umbrellas of their climbing HECS debts.
It’s a progressive change, but not a perfect one. The textbooks will be offered digitally, so if you don’t have an iPad or a laptop, you’ll be squinting at your smart phone (and if you don’t have one of those, too bad, according to WSU).
With more and more students switching to digital books as well as getting their textbooks for free by pirating them online or sharing them between each other, it’s nice to see an Aussie uni ahead of the trends.
Via Junkee.
