"We would handle that sort of thing on a case by case basis," Santry says. "If a student came in and said they wanted help meeting costs for the books in a class, we'd be happy to talk about that." He added that the problem in handling books in financial aid is rooted in the wide variance between book costs per student--from Hur's $300 to Eav's $800.

"Personal expenses is supposed to include books, but not the entire cost of books," Santry says. "We would encourage anyone who has concerns about these expenses to come and talk to their financial aid counselor."

Possible Solution: More Used Texts

The easiest and simplest remedy for high textbook costs is for students to buy used books, but that requires action by professors and the Coop.

It's an idea that Rollert and the Committee on Undergraduate Education got behind last year and have made progress on by working with the Coop.

"The Coop has been fantastic in its willingness to work with both Harvard College and the U.C. on some of the perceived textbook pricing problems," Rollert says.

Availability of texts is an issue that Murphy says the Coop is very conscious of, but it is dependent on the Faculty to improve. The Coop's ability to get used books and the price at which they get them are contingent on having book-lists early from teachers.

"If we know a book will be used next semester or the subsequent semester--condition [of the book] permitting--we will pay 50 percent of the cover price," Murphy says. "The same book goes on the selling floor for 25 percent off cover."

It's standard industry practice, followed by other Ivy League schools such as Cornell.

When a text is not being used again in a Harvard course--or the Coop hasn't heard from the professor that it will be--wholesalers buy used texts at prices in the range of 0 to 40 percent.

To improve the situation, the Coop can educate the Faculty as to the impact of getting their book order forms in on time.

Rollert says Murphy and his staff have made big leaps, leading to 350 additional used book titles this year.

"When you consider that you save about 25 percent on used books over the new book cover price, the 350 additional used book titles translate into a significant amount of money saved by students," Rollert says.

Market Competition

A basic tenet of Ec 10 is that free market competition makes for cheaper and better products, but in the textbook industry, Coop competitors don't offer a much better deal.