Special to the American
MyFreeTextbooks.com, a new online service founded by Carlos D. Fearn, a 2000 graduate of Washington University, has found a way to help college students save hundreds of dollars on their textbook purchases.
Now, until January 25, 2008, MyFreeTextbooks.com, along with corporate sponsors eager to connect with college students, will solicit students to signup at the company website, complete just one free trial or membership offer from a corporate sponsor, and refer five other students to do the same. In exchange, students will receive a $200 rebate check on their spring semester textbook purchases mailed to them in as little as one week.
The site was founded by entrepreneur Carlos Fearn, who as a college student at Washington University in St. Louis remembers the pain of spending hundreds of dollars on textbooks each semester. His time as a college administrator also brought him into contact with other students who constantly complained about the high costs of textbooks. These experiences encouraged him to come up with a solution to help minimize the shock of buying textbooks.
“Unlike tuition, which is normally covered by financial aid, most students have to purchase textbooks out-of-pocket. When you are already on limited funds, this can be a great burden. As such, I wanted to identify a solution to help students really save some money on their textbooks,” Fearn said.
“After doing some research, I realized that companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year targeting college students. Why not bring students to these companies at a fraction of the cost of advertising to them, and have them divert a portion of their ad budgets towards offering rebate dollars on textbooks?”
The solution was MyFreeTextbooks.com. He said his site “allows companies to benefit from low-cost access to the college students they desire and allows students to save $200 by just signing up for a free trial offer from a sponsor company and then telling their friends
about it. It’s a win-win situation.”
After tuition, textbooks are the largest expense for college students and their parents. It is estimated that students spend over $900 a year buying textbooks.
And while buying used textbooks or participating in book buy back programs have aided students in reducing the overall costs of textbooks to some degree, there had yet to be a solution that really puts a significant amount of money back in the pockets of students and their parents.
Fearn said, “In the end, it’s all about saving money and MyFreeTextbooks.com feels it has finally made that a reality for college students when it comes to buying textbooks.”
To learn more about MyFreeTextbooks.com and sign-up for a textbook rebate, visit www.myfreetextbooks.com.