"The Coop is a cooperative corporation that was setup in 1882 by students at Harvard to reduce their cost of living," Murphy says. "We are not directly connected financially with the University, but our by-laws commit us to service the University community."

The Consumers: The Faculty

Unless professors order texts they author, they do not stand to gain financially.

They also do not stand to lose. In deciding which and how many books to order, professors have the most control over how expensive their course materials are.

While many students may conceive of the textbook sale as occurring between them and the Coop, the more important sale occurs between a representative from the publisher and the professor.

"The sale is made between the professor and the publisher," says Coop Board member Daniel F. Runde, a second-year at the Kennedy School of Government. The Coop is "an intermediary between those parties and the student."

Professors do not always realize the direct impact that their choice of texts has on students' pocketbooks, Rollert says.

And since most professors have no financial stake in that transaction, there is no personal incentive to keep the cost of books for the course low.

Faced with high prices, students often find themselves picking and choosing which texts to buy, and in some cases, which courses to take.

Mike D'Alto '02 says he spent $270 buying books Afro-American Studies 10, "Introduction to Afro-American Studies," a purchase he says he now regrets.

"You don't have to buy all the books for every class, but I did," D'Alto says. "I'm a freshman, I'm an idiot. I spent a lot of money."

The total cost of all 24 books for the course at the Coop: $348.50.

If students are not buying books because of their cost, and therefore not reading them, high prices are affecting more than just students' pocketbooks.

"That's an issue we need to look into more," says Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Jeffrey Wolcowitz.

The Suppliers: Publishers and Authors