Textbooks can last for way more than 3 years. Right now, my math textbook is in great condition, and just by looking at how many names it has in it, it probably

Textbooks can last for way more than 3 years. Right now, my math textbook is in great condition, and just by looking at how many names it has in it, it probably has been used for at at least 4 years, and at this rate, it'll probably last for another 3 or 4 years, and that's a conservative number too. My school has 4 classes per semester, and a lot of times electives, like construction, art, mechanics etc. don't have textbooks, so even if we go by 7 classes per semester, we can probably cut the amount of classes that require textbooks in half. And if you factor in the fact that textbooks can last 6 years (going by my anecdotal evidence), you can get the textbook and iPad price quite similar. In this case, schools may go with the iPad anyway, given the push made by made schools to provide students with digital literacy.