KSU Students Create Money Saving Textbook Service

KSU Students Create Money Saving Textbook Service

By Samuel Rusch, Kennesaw State University

KENNESAW, Ga. - TreeCabin is a new service for college students that will allow them to stream their textbooks online for $40 a month. The era of renting old and used textbooks is over; welcome to TreeCabin.

Paul Ngalle, 22, is the founder and CEO of TreeCabin Software Group Inc. On his team of developers are fellow Kennesaw State University computing and software engineering students Samuel Olusanya, 20, Kyle Fugatt, 22, Kevin Markley, 20, and Alexander Armstrong, 22.

Ngalle is a junior at KSU studying mechanical engineering and perusing a minor in aerospace engineering. Originally born in Cameroon, Africa, Ngalle immigrated to the U.S. in 2005 with his mother and sisters with big plans ahead of him.

Some people say that they do their best thinking in the bathroom. The idea of TreeCabin popped into Ngalle's head one day while taking a shower. When Ngalle thought about how difficult it is for students to find the right textbooks at an affordable price, he said to himself, "Why isn't there an easier way to do this?"

So, how does this whole TreeCabin thing work? Well, when the service becomes available, students will need to create a TreeCabin account and pay $40 a month for the textbooks of their choice. Students will have access to unlimited textbooks for only $40 a month; now that's ludicrous.

The days of expensive college textbooks will soon be a thing of the past. According to collegeboard.org, the national average for the cost of textbooks for U.S. students attending a public four-year university from 2014-2015 was $1,225. Ngalle hopes to lower that average to under $500 through the use of TreeCabin.

The story behind how Ngalle came up with the name TreeCabin begins with TreeCabin being an online service - there are no trees being cut down to make textbooks. This is how the "Tree" half of TreeCabin came to be. Being able to stream all of your textbooks, anytime, from the comfort of your own home just sounds cozy, doesn't it? Do you know what else is cozy, a cabin; did you see what he did there?

KSU is a proud partner with TreeCabin Software Group Inc. Ngalle envisions TreeCabin being a nationwide phenomenon and for TreeCabin to achieve success, Ngalle said, "We'll need to work with the bookstore of every university to get this done."

Ngalle said that publishers and bookstores are losing a lot of money each year to third party businesses. Some students buy, sell or rent their books from Amazon, Chegg and other places leaving the university system hanging out to dry. TreeCabin will save students money and make sure that the publishers and schools get their fair share of revenue.

Plans are in the making to develop TreeCabin facilities on college campuses across the nation with KSU being the very first one.

Ngalle said that there are plans to develop a TreeCabin app. But like Mick Jagger said, "You can't always get what you want." The TreeCabin app could be limited to only tablets, but Ngalle said that that is subject to change.

Amazon and Google are onboard with TreeCabin and they are helping work out some of the more technical details. TreeCabin will operate on the same servers used by Netflix which handles over 32 million subscribers a month.

Wilmot Reed Hastings, Jr., co-founder and CEO of Netflix, was a key source of inspiration for TreeCabin. Ngalle has studied Hastings' work for countless hours and with inspiration through his innovation, TreeCabin is becoming a reality. Ngalle said, "TreeCabin is going to change the landscapes of college textbooks...there is nothing else like it."

Launched during the first week of classes this fall, the TreeCabin website already has over 2,000 students signed up to be notified when TreeCabin will be available. To learn more, visit www.treecabin.org for more information.