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VALLEY U. PHOTO

In this room at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, we can hear crying and a hollow sucking sound as parents’open their wallets to pay for textbooks.

Tired of spending hundreds on textbooks you only read half of? Wish there was a way to sell back books and actually get your money's worth? You're not the only one.

In 2006, according to Marcus Varner of Education Today, a report issued by the federal Government Accountability Office found that textbook prices were increasing at twice the rate of inflation. New editions were released at increasingly frequent rates and were discovered to rise in price by 58 percent although they contained only minimal changes.

Luckily for students, Congress passed the Higher Education Opportunity Act, a reform bill that went into effect July 1, 2010.It's important you know what this bill entails so you don't get ripped off, because according to the Public Interest Research Group, the average student spends $900 a year on books for school.

Here are the provisions:

1. Publishers are required to disclose prices and revision information when marketing textbooks to professors. Now professors have an idea of what kind of cash students are forced to cough up, and they can consider lower cost options.

2. Publishers love stuffing CDs and online passcodes into the textbooks to jack up the prices even more. But these added treasures often go unused. In fact, according to PIRG research, 65 percent of professors surveyed don't use the extra material that comes in the bundled versions. Publishers are now required to offer all the items in textbook bundles for sale separately. This gives students freedom to spend money on what they need and not on CDs that sit around and get scratched.

3. The new law asks colleges to provide the list of assigned textbooks for each course (including ISBNs and prices) during registration. That way, you can have more time to shop around for the best deals.

If you discover noncompliance with the law, call the Student PIRG hotline at 202-681-8398.

Here are some places you can shop:

 · New and used textbooks: Amazon.com, AbeBooks.com, Half.com, Biblio.com and eCampus.com.

 · Rentals: Chegg.com, BookRenter.com, TextbookRentals.com, TextbookRevolt.com, eCampus.com and CampusBookRentals.com

 · eBooks: CourseSmart.com, eCampus.com and iChapters.com. Classic books with expired copyrights are downloadable for free at Bartleby.com.

 · Price comparison: CampusBooks.com, BigWords.com, BestBookDeal.com and AllBookstores.com.

Here are a few other things you can do to keep your hard-earned cash in your wallet:

 · Be worldly: The international edition of a textbook will usually be significantly cheaper (sometimes 90 percent off) than those produced for the U.S.

The differences between U.S. and international editions are usually minimal and content is usually almost identical, according to Jeffery Strain of College Central.

International editions can be found at AbeBooks.com.

 · Use a bookswap, such as Bookswap.com: They allow students to buy and sell their used books directly between each other.

This lets you sell books for more than you'd receive from the bookstore and to buy books for less than you would at the bookstore.

 · Get an old edition: Once a new edition of a textbook comes out, prices for previous editions fall drastically and can be obtained at great discounts.

Often, the new edition will be basically the same as the previous edition.

Just be sure to check with your professor first.

 · Save your receipts: A federal tax credit for 2009 and 2010 of up to $2,500 is available for some students each year for out-of-pocket higher education expenses including course materials, tuition and fees through 2012.

Visit www.textbookaid.org for more information.

 · Visit the library: Some schools put copies of textbooks on reserve, and if you get there quickly, you might get to check out a copy.

 · Ask your professor to borrow a copy: Most professors receive at least one sample copy of the textbook.

If you're buying books last minute, you may not have much of a choice. But even if you have other options, see what the bookstore has to offer.

Here are some numbers to remember:

 · Used books are typically 75 percent of the new price.

 · If a book is being used again next term, the bookstore will usually buy it back for 50 percent of the new price.

 · If the bookstore doesn't know whether the book is being used again next semester, they will buy books back for 10 to 30 percent of the new price, sometimes even less.