A recent study has shed some light on the controversy surrounding skyrocketing textbook prices. According to the study, students are paying more for textbooks because publishers are including extra materials, such as CD-ROMs or workbooks, and are releasing new editions every few years.

The California Student Public Interest Research Group and the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group conducted the study. Researchers surveyed 521 faculty members and 156 students, in 10 public universities in California and Oregon, about rising textbook prices. The study showed that about half of all new textbooks include some kind of extra material, and 65 percent of faculty said they "rarely" to "never" use these materials for their courses.

Bookstore workers in State College said the reason for the rising prices is consistent with the study's findings, but there are other reasons for the price increase.

Tom Fankhauser, assistant manager at the Penn State Bookstore in the HUB-Robeson Center, said he is not convinced that extra materials are the sole reason for increasing prices.

"There's a multitude of factors that go into [increasing prices]. It's not just this extra material," Fankhauser said. "It's not just one singular thing raising the price of books."

However, publishers do benefit from including these materials because it hinders the ability of a book to enter the used book market, forcing stores to order more new books, he said.

Publishers only benefit from first-year sales, so when bookstores sell used books, publishers receive no revenue. This is why new editions are coming out so rapidly, said Norm Brown, manager of the Student Book Store, 330 E. College Avenue.

"[Publishers are] basically only getting first-year sales. That's the strategy that they've chosen to go with," Brown said.

Including materials like CD-ROMs presents a problem for both students and bookstores because publishers rarely sell textbooks separately from the extra materials, Brown said.

"That's a frustrating thing, that we're not able to buy these things individually," Brown said.

Of the faculty surveyed, 40 percent said new editions are "rarely" to "never" necessary for instruction.

Twenty years ago, a book remained in the market for about five years. Books only last about two years today. Only 20 percent of a textbook's content needs to change to justify a new edition, Brown said.

Fankhauser said prices have increased about 5 percent a year. Some publishers are releasing new editions every one to two years, he said.

Brent Yarnal, who teaches several geography courses at Penn State, said he tries to use the textbook as much as possible because he understands the price students must pay for the materials.

"I really base the course around that textbook so that they use it intensely," he said. "I think that I'm not just asking them to waste their money. They need it for the course."

But including CD-ROMs with textbooks raises prices and has little benefit for students, he said.

"I think [including CD-ROMs is] a rip-off for the students because I really don't think that those animations are that useful that they should have to spend that much extra money on them," Yarnal said. "I really do think that that's profiteering by the book companies."

Most students are not using the additional materials, Fankhauser said.

"No student is going to use all of those CDs," he said. "By virtue of putting more out there, the percentage of usage is going to go down."

Some Penn State students said they agreed with the study.

"It's not their fault. Unfortunately, most of the faculty are stuck with what the publishers give them," Bridget Daly (junior-animal biological sciences) said.

Supplemental materials should be optional for students, Daly said.

"I did not think the CD was helpful in learning," Toshio Hayashi (senior-electrical engineering) said.