Textbook Buying Season Here: 20 Million Minds Foundation Tells Students to Skip the Bookstore

"Textbook Price Comparison Sweepstakes" announced that 20MM will provide scholarship giveaways to students who compare bookstore textbook prices

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Aug. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Starting today, the non-profit 20 Million Minds Foundation (20MM.org) will be offering thousands of scholarship dollars to college students with the goal of directing them to cheaper textbook-buying options.

Over the next 60 days, 20MM will give away more than 50 scholarships to student winners of the 2012 Fall "Textbook Price Comparison Challenge." The contest is aimed at incentivizing students to skip the old, tired, but convenient walk to the overpriced bookstore.

For the contest, the "Textbook Price Comparison Challenge" will utilize a new innovative "real-time" textbook price comparison search tool offered on the Foundation website starting today. Students can expect to save 50% to 80% in some cases on textbooks currently offered by the campus bookstore.

To enter, students can sign in using a valid email address or Facebook login through the 20mm.org sweepstakes page. Students must then use the textbook price comparison tool to search for their own books and calculate how much they could save by skipping the campus bookstore. Students can earn extra entries by posting their savings on 20MM Facebook page, becoming a 20MM Facebook fan, and providing a link to social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook or blogs to help spread the word about the challenge and their own personal textbook savings.

The new innovative search engine provides student-necessary price transparency, which 20MM believes is severely lacking in the college textbook purchasing space.

The textbook transparency tool allows students to look through required college courses on their campus and find used, rental, and digital textbook options with a few simple clicks. This "kayak for textbooks" approach will finally allow the long-overdue ability for students to compare their own bookstore prices with those of leading online providers such as AbeBooks, Half.com, Chegg, BookRenter, CourseSmart and Kno, with a few simple clicks.

Schools currently featured on the site include a wide range of universities across the country, with a heavy focus on California's university systems.

"Today, students and their families are suffering from the ever-rising cost of textbooks. We are confident that the Textbook Price Comparison Challenge will help students become smarter textbook consumers by using our price comparison textbook search tool," said Dean Florez, former California State Senator and President and CEO of Twenty Million Minds Foundation. "It's about cost transparency and directing students away from inflated college bookstore prices to available lower-cost alternatives because every penny counts for our students."

The "Textbook Price Comparison Challenge" ends October 13, 2012.

20 Million Minds is a non-profit organization dedicated to greatly reducing textbook costs. The foundation is currently leveraging leading-edge technologies to create more affordable, engaging and effective educational materials for college students throughout the nation. Visit www.20mm.org

What: The 20MM Textbook Price Comparison Challenge Sweepstakes
When: Contest Length: August 13, 2012- October 13, 2012
Prizes: One (1) $1,000 grand prize scholarship and fifty (50) $100 first prize scholarships.
Where: 20mm.org
How to Win: Students use the textbook price comparison search tool, share and spread the savings while earning points to enter the "Textbook Price Comparison Challenge Sweepstakes."

CONTACT:
Beryl Chong, Communications Director
20 Million Minds Foundation
916.442.9300

SOURCE 20 Million Minds Foundation