Ever since Jen Anderson transferred to University Park, her book costs have doubled, causing frustration she thinks could be avoided.

"I spend, like, $500 a semester and they never have used books," she said.

Anderson (senior-political science) said she is upset that some faculty members do not take measures to help students obtain used books.

Jeff Markowitz, Council of Commonwealth Student Governments academic affairs director, said teachers do not always submit book requests on time and often require customized and packaged books for their classes, which cannot be sold back at the end of the semester and might impose financial difficulties on some students.

Markowitz helped create a letter that the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Academic Assembly is currently sending to student organizations, administrators and faculty members to promote the sale and "buy back" of used books at the Penn State Bookstore.

"We want to make college education more affordable for students," Markowitz said at Monday's assembly meeting.

Markowitz added that when faculty members fail to submit their book requests to the bookstore on time, students are prevented from selling old books back and purchasing used books for the new semester.

"There is negligence among faculty in handing in the form," he said.

Bookstore Assistant Manager Tom Fankhauser said that about 65 percent of the faculty book requests have been submitted for the upcoming spring semester.

He said faculty members could be more diligent in handing in their requests. "It boils down to if the teacher doesn't tell us, then we can't pay students the most money," he said.

Fankhauser added that sometimes a textbook does end up being used again, but the bookstore has no way of knowing this if it does not receive the request on time.

Brian Ault (sophomore-architectural engineering) said instead of customized books, classes should require a standard reading textbook that does not change each semester.

For example, he disliked purchasing the binder for Economics 002 (Introductory Microeconomic Analysis and Policy) and Economics 004 (Introductory Macroeconomic Analysis and Policy), which changes each semester and cannot be sold back.

Markowitz said although the letter of expectation does not contain any penalties for the professors if they choose not to comply, they will likely receive pressure from administrators.

"Some teachers will listen, but it's hard to get a mass amount of teachers to change their ways," Brittany Manopello (junior-advertising) said.

John Clark, associate professor of meteorology, said he requires customized course notes for his Meteorology 003 (Introductory Meteorology) class, but tries to keep the cost down for students.

"In the class I'm teaching, I purchase a set of notes, and students can buy them ... for $10 to $12," he said. "I don't see any problems there."

Steven Keating, instructor for the Eberly College of Science, said he requires a customized textbook for his Biological Sciences 004 (Human Body: Form and Function) class.

Although Keating used to require textbooks, he switched to customized books because they were cheaper than regular textbooks. He added that students cannot sell the book back to the bookstore, but can sell it to new students taking the class. "As long as I stick with the same version, there's at least a market within the university," he said.