If he can't sell the books when he's done with them, he'll probably throw them away.

"When we buy a textbook for $120 to $130, and we go to sell it ... we may get only $20 or $30," said Miller, 21, a senior from Allentown.

Jessica Murch paid $425 for the six textbooks she needed for her spring term classes at Pitt.

"It's better than last semester. It was over $600," said Murch, 18, of Rochester, N.Y., a business administration major.

The climbing cost of college textbooks has been the subject of congressional hearings and legislative efforts in almost three dozen states. A federal law that takes effect in July is aimed at controlling textbook costs.

It requires publishers to tell professors the price of textbooks when they choose books for classes, and it ends the practice of bundling — packaging editions with CD-ROMS, study guides and online tools, which critics say are unnecessary. It asks colleges to tell students which textbooks they need a semester early.

During the past three years, lawmakers in 34 states, including Pennsylvania, proposed more than 100 bills related to college textbook expenses — from eliminating the state sales tax on textbooks to establishing book rental programs, according to the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, which advises the secretary of the Department of Education on student financial aid policy. Pennsylvania lawmakers passed no legislation.

"We hear a lot from the average student about the cost of books. It is a significant concern and problem," said Kenn Marshall, spokesman for the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.

Bookstores at Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned colleges and universities are owned by student associations and not controlled by the schools, creating a hodgepodge of outlets that fiercely guard territories, Marshall said. There is no consortium of associations to buy in bulk and reduce costs.

University professors such as Juan Manfredi, associate dean of undergraduate studies and a mathematics professor at Pitt, have urged textbook publishers to lower costs.

"It's not the best way to invest education dollars, in my mind," said Manfredi, one of 700 mathematics and physics teachers from 150 universities who wrote to publishers expressing concern about the cost of undergraduate textbooks.

Publishers said they are offering options this year for students, including e-books, no-frills and low-cost printed texts, rentals and customized curriculum.

"Publishers are finding more solutions to meet three critical goals: to help improve student success rates, to provide a range of options that meet all students' budgets, and to help schools control their costs," said Bruce Hildebrand, executive director for higher education at the Association of American Publishers.

Indeed, students and teachers said the days of carrying around 400-page textbooks are waning.

"The (printed) page is going to become obsolete ... more than half of Pitt's courses are online now; in five years they all will be," said Manfredi, one of 2,000 professors to sign a statement supporting the use of free, online textbooks.

The University System of Ohio last year began offering discounts on e-books and rewarding faculty who find innovative ways to hold down the price of textbooks.

"Our approach has been a little different. Other states have tried to legislate the price of textbooks," said Michael Chaney, spokesman for the Ohio Board of Regents.

Pitt offers students access to a digital library, encourages academic departments to use standard texts for at least two years and to order textbooks early enough that students can market used books.

More students are buying books online.

"That's where we're going," Chaney said. "Freshmen this year were born in 1992. They've always had the Internet, e-textbooks and other multimedia pieces."

Data released by the Student Public Interest Research Groups, or PIRGs, suggest that products such as Kindle and iPhone could drive down the price of textbooks dramatically.

E-books are so popular that Amazon said its Kindle reader outsold regular books this past Christmas.

A survey of 1,133 students from 17 colleges suggests substantial student demand for alternatives to traditional textbooks.

"Students are ready to explore new options for reading their textbooks," said Nicole Allen, textbooks advocate for the Student PIRGs. "If more affordable, competitive options enter the marketplace, it could mean much needed relief for cash-strapped students."