KAMLOOPS — TRU students are are petitioning to cut textbook costs.
After collecting more than 1,800 signatures of support, TRU Student Union members made a presentation the university’s board of directors Thursday morning asking for ‘Open Textbook Programs’ to be allowed on campus.
The program, currently being used at UBC, SFU, and Kwantlen University, allows instructors to update and delete information from an online textbook to ensure students are receiving the most up-to-date information.
“What happens is faculty has the control of writing the textbooks and then they give the textbooks to students for free,” said Brian Chiduuro, President of the TRU Student Union. “The faculty literally get paid by the government to write the textbooks.”
Each Open Textbook Program costs $5-thousand, with the student union petitioning for a $50-thousand grant to go towards ten different programs.
With textbooks costing students hundreds of dollars each semester, Chiduuro says the new program will keep more students in school.
“We get students who are currently dropping out or failing their exams just because they don’t have a textbook and this is due to the costs they’re facing,” added Chiduuro. “What we’re saying is we’re at a university, everyone should be given the opportunity to learn.”
The TRU Board of Directors is taking the union’s request on to the University Senate.
The hope is to have the new program running by this fall.
