"My first semester, I paid about $300 and this semester like $400, so probably in that range," Reynolds said.

Costs vary according to a student's major, and some tend to exceed $1,000 a year.

Matt Houser (junior-mechanical engineering) is one such student.

"My books are more expensive than that, especially if I can't find them used," he said. "Paying $650 per semester for a year was my worst, but that's with 18 credits per semester," Houser said.

One possible reason prices are so high is publishers frequently release new editions of textbooks. Whether the new editions are always necessary, or include new information on topics, is not always clear.

"It depends on who you talk to," Fankhauser said. "There's a whole debate about new editions, especially from a marketing standpoint. The selling point to faculty is that the book is as up-to-date as possible. And also, by not changing editions, there are not enough used books to satisfy every student's need."

Houser said mechanical engineering is an "expensive" major because it is hard to find used books. "Usually if you don't get them early, you don't get them at all," he said.

University professors become authors of most textbooks because their schools and similar ones are more likely to purchase the texts they write.

Paul Howell, professor of materials science and engineering, published a textbook for his class Materials Today (MATSE 081).

Rather than waiting to be recruited, Howell chose to contact a publisher and write the book himself.

"I pretty much decided to do it on my own because I needed it for an online course I was teaching," he said.

Writing the book himself allowed Howell to make most of the decisions on the book's content.

"With the content, I had close to but not perfect freedom," he said. "I also had a deadline. I had to finish the book before fall 2003, which is when I was teaching the course."

However, as the number of authors increases, the price of the textbook may, as well.

"A lot of regular textbooks--psychology, sociology, [introduction] to English readers--the vast majority of them are written and/or edited by faculty members at some university," Fankhauser said.

"There is such demand from faculty to find good books, but top-tier authors want more money, which increases the price of books. Ten years ago an author might request a royalty of 8 percent while, today, an author could request 15 percent," he added.

Fankhauser said new editions are released frequently because some subjects change textbooks more often than others.

"Most new editions are in biology, [introduction] level courses, sociology, psychology, anthropology ... areas like that change more often than math, physics, education and the hard sciences," he said.

Unfortunately, students may not receive the money they were expecting for a textbook during the buyback process if the instructor has changed editions.

"It didn't happen to me, but I know it happened to a bunch of my friends," Reynolds said.

The publishing business has changed greatly over the years, Fankhauser said.

"Today, publishers are owned by conglomerates," he said. "Ten years ago, smaller companies existed and there was not as much pressure to turn these increasing profits every year.

"From the publisher's end, one new book may sell 100,000 copies while another may sell 750,000 copies, so they'll invest in the one that will sell more," Fankhauser said.

The ideal situation for a bookstore, as well as for students, Fankhauser said, is to have all used books.

"It saves a lot of money," he said. "You don't have to worry about shipping and it's easier to process. It's easier to slap a 'used' label on a book than to deal with all these boxes with 150 different titles at a time."

In addition, it is the most profitable model for a bookstore because it receives all of the money -- the publisher receives nothing if books are re-sold.

Despite the high cost of books, Fankhauser said buying textbooks is worth it in the end.

"Most books in core classes are chosen for a reason," he said. "If you follow what's going on in class, go to lecture and utilize the textbook all at the same time and do well in the course by getting an A or a B, that $70 or $80 you paid for the book is money well-spent."