A West St. Paul-based textbook publisher is launching a platform to make books free through crowdsourcing.
Textbook Media's new CourseBreaks program is aiming to provide 5,000 digital textbooks to students at tribal colleges by fall of 2022, and it plans to eventually expand the program to support every college student in the U.S.
By diverting the cost of textbooks away from students, CourseBreaks estimates it saves students $1,240 annually.
The program is funded through support from private family foundations and corporate donors.
Textbook Media founder Tom Doran said in a statement that the cost of college isn't sustainable. He added that students who do go to college need to choose between rent, food and books.
Visions Inc., a Brooklyn Park-based integrated marketing company, is CourseBreaks' first institutional sponsor.
Visions Inc. CEO said the program shifts the costs of textbooks from students to sponsors like his firm. "Right now so much academic material is either pirated from the internet, acquired in some other workaround, or is simply not used by students. We can do better."
