2008 Woodie Awards
Social Networking Site Helping to Save Money
University Relations
Issue date: 8/27/08 Section: Life
At the beginning of each school semester, college students line up in droves at campus bookstores across the county to purchase their textbooks for their upcoming courses. Whether buying new or used, it's a day that means a hard hit to the wallet.
But two guys, with an idea to save students from throwing money away on price-inflated textbooks are changing the landscape for obtaining those dreaded textbooks. In the fall of 2007, Kevin Hornschemeier and Jaisen Mathai launched a textbook swapping Web site.
"The bookstores make tons of money off college students trying to get an education," said Hornschemeier, one of the minds behind Socialbib.com. "We wanted to save students from having to waste a lot of money on college textbooks like we had too."
Socialbib.com is a networking site for students to trade books for free. With a simple process in place, students post the books they wish to give and receive, and when there is a match an exchange is made. Students from Alaska to West Virginia have signed up on the site, creating an estimated 150 matches, or one match for ever 25 students, since the inception of the site.
"With our service, students post their used books that they are willing to give away for free, and they receive the books they need for free from other students," said Hornschemeier. "There is no searching involved as the site does all the work for you."
According to the Higher Education Project, students spend an average of $900 a year on textbooks, an estimated 20 percent of tuition at an average university and half of tuition at a community college. Since launching in late 2007, SocialBib.com has helped to save students more than $13,600 on textbook purchases. And the number is growing everyday, with the goal to eventually help students save $100,000.
The first of its kind, SocialBib.com is only available to students with the .edu (in email addresses) to keep the network legitimate. And a rating system let's you know up front who is a trustworthy swapper and helps to keep all the users of the site in check to ensure a pleasant interaction for all students.
"We started to search and we were shocked to find that a site like this didn't already exist for students," said Mathai. "So we sat down and put a plan into place to make this a simple site that students would go to first to get books for free."
Both Web developers, Mathai currently works at Yahoo! and Hornschemeier at Strata-G Communications, used their experience creating Web sites for other people to design and create their own. Their interactive background enabled them to ensure that the site was simple to use and to their specifications.
Now that the site is launched and has been in service for nearly a year, they want to reach out to more students and make them aware of this opportunity to get free textbooks.
"The more students who use the site the better the service gets," said Mathai. "If we get just 25% of all college students to actively participate in the program, students will be able to find almost any book they need, right away for free."
But two guys, with an idea to save students from throwing money away on price-inflated textbooks are changing the landscape for obtaining those dreaded textbooks. In the fall of 2007, Kevin Hornschemeier and Jaisen Mathai launched a textbook swapping Web site.
"The bookstores make tons of money off college students trying to get an education," said Hornschemeier, one of the minds behind Socialbib.com. "We wanted to save students from having to waste a lot of money on college textbooks like we had too."
Socialbib.com is a networking site for students to trade books for free. With a simple process in place, students post the books they wish to give and receive, and when there is a match an exchange is made. Students from Alaska to West Virginia have signed up on the site, creating an estimated 150 matches, or one match for ever 25 students, since the inception of the site.
"With our service, students post their used books that they are willing to give away for free, and they receive the books they need for free from other students," said Hornschemeier. "There is no searching involved as the site does all the work for you."
According to the Higher Education Project, students spend an average of $900 a year on textbooks, an estimated 20 percent of tuition at an average university and half of tuition at a community college. Since launching in late 2007, SocialBib.com has helped to save students more than $13,600 on textbook purchases. And the number is growing everyday, with the goal to eventually help students save $100,000.
The first of its kind, SocialBib.com is only available to students with the .edu (in email addresses) to keep the network legitimate. And a rating system let's you know up front who is a trustworthy swapper and helps to keep all the users of the site in check to ensure a pleasant interaction for all students.
"We started to search and we were shocked to find that a site like this didn't already exist for students," said Mathai. "So we sat down and put a plan into place to make this a simple site that students would go to first to get books for free."
Both Web developers, Mathai currently works at Yahoo! and Hornschemeier at Strata-G Communications, used their experience creating Web sites for other people to design and create their own. Their interactive background enabled them to ensure that the site was simple to use and to their specifications.
Now that the site is launched and has been in service for nearly a year, they want to reach out to more students and make them aware of this opportunity to get free textbooks.
"The more students who use the site the better the service gets," said Mathai. "If we get just 25% of all college students to actively participate in the program, students will be able to find almost any book they need, right away for free."
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