Whether you are on quarters or semesters, every student has to buy a different textbook for each course, which is never cheap. The universities continue to use buy the textbooks from expensive publishers, and to make any sort of profit, students continue to pay higher and higher prices for required textbooks.

Many professors tell you the books are required, but the students don't always actually need to have them.

A professor is not going to tell you they don't actually use the textbook, but from my own experience, I've had at least one class a quarter that doesn't use the textbook at all. That leads to wasted money that I could be used for food or other supplies I need for classes. So how much money does a university make off of a $300 textbook?

A university bookstore makes only about 6 cents per one dollar spent on a new textbook. So if the bookstores are making such a small amount, why are the books so expensive? The publishers mark up the wholesale price of each textbook to cover all of the fees that go into the marketing of the book, the publishing, etc.

However, each year these prices continue to rise and many books are only valid to the university for one year, due to the next edition being published. So not only are the bookstores not making too much of a profit, but they are still agreeing to force their students to pay outrageous prices for a textbook that will only be used for a quarter or semester.

As of 2015, the average cost of tuition was around $26,000 for a four-year institution.

Many of these include the price of a room, board, textbooks, and supplies with added fees. Some universities are fighting back. Not only against publishing companies over-charging for textbooks, but for tuition as a whole. These universities are attracting students by charging a flat rate for tuition, the cost includes tuition, books, and fees. Which makes budgeting easier for students struggling to pay their way, there are no hidden fees, there are no random tuition increases, and no unexpected costs such as expensive textbooks.

Not enough universities are doing this though, Western Washington University, for example, charges around $6,300 a quarter for tuition, on top of that, added fees for buildings on campus or services. Not all students utilize but cannot easily opt out of. They also estimate books to cost around $1,000 per quarter. If you live on campus, not only do you pay for your dorm room, but they also make students have meal plans for about $1,000 added.

For students like me that rely on financial aid, scholarships, and student loans to cover all these costs, panic sets in when we see the cost of required textbooks for our classes. Because, although financial aid is offered, it isn't always enough to cover the cost of textbooks.

Next quarter I will need to spend around $130 for 2 textbooks, the 3rd I already have. Many of you may be saying, "Well, why not buy them used." Buying textbooks used from the bookstore can be almost as expensive as new. Some classes require you to use the access codes that now come with many of the textbooks that are required, they hold the online content and extra study material, but they can only be used once. This makes students have no choice other than buying the textbook new which can become very expensive.

Universities need to take the time to re-evaluate the tuition and fees they ask of students. They also need to lower costs elsewhere to be able to lower tuition for students, like putting a hold on unnecessary construction projects and paying professors what they deserve (if a TA teaches their entire class, they probably shouldn't be paid as much as a full-time professor).