NORTH COUNTY —— Professors at area colleges are strategizing with on-campus bookstore officials to curb the rising cost of college textbooks, which has shot up at twice the rate of inflation in recent years.

If professors find ways to avoid assigning costly textbook options, except when such materials are essential to a class, students save money and are less frustrated by rising costs, faculty members and bookstore officials at Cal State San Marcos, Palomar and MiraCosta colleges said last week. Costly options include requiring the newest edition of a book, or "bundled" books that include software.

The rising cost of textbooks has become a major issue on college campuses, and a report released Aug. 16 by the Government Accountability Office in Washington, D.C., blames new publishing strategies that encourage professors to choose more costly textbook options and packages.

Publishers have also begun putting out revised editions of textbooks more quickly to fight against the more affordable used book market, according to the federal report, which was requested by U.S. Rep. David Wu, D-Oregon. The report also says that average textbook prices have risen 6 percent since 1987, while inflation overall has been about 3 percent.

"We need to resist the publishing industry and choose the best for the students," said Carmen Nava, an assistant professor of history at Cal State. "Conscientious faculty members are only going to have students buy what they have to have, and I think most faculty members at Cal State are conscientious."

Representatives from the Association of American Publishers, a trade group representing many of the nation's largest publishers, concede that prices have gone up sharply, but say that students learn more from improved textbook materials.

"The entire focus of what publishers do is to improve student success, and none of the focus of what I'm hearing from critics deals with student success," said Bruce Hildebrand, executive director of the trade group. Hildebrand also stressed that publishers do not lobby professors to assign textbook packages that include unnecessary extras.

Bruce Bishop, director of student affairs at Palomar College's main San Marcos campus, said that personnel at the Palomar bookstore have become much more aggressive about coordinating textbook orders with professors at the college. However, he noted, it is sometimes difficult to convince publishers to sell a textbook without the bundled software.

Dick Robertson, vice president of student services at MiraCosta College in Oceanside, said that such coordination is an essential component in the fight against rising textbook prices.

"Our bookstore manager meets with department chairs regularly to talk to them about these issues," Robertson said.

Officials at all three schools said that student angst about the issue has increased, but they also said that students are resourceful and have begun searching for cheaper options, such as buying books on-line.

"Associated Students at Cal State plans to publicize more alternative ways to buy books, especially using the Internet," said Mark DeGuzman, president of that group.

DeGuzman said that prices have gotten "ridiculous" in his four years on campus and that many students pay even more because they buy the books with high-interest credit cards.

"It's a major concern for students," he said.

Robertson said that student leaders at MiraCosta have expressed a similar level of concern. "Several of the student leaders I have been meeting with this month have said that this is the No. 1 thing they would change about attending MiraCosta," he said.

At Palomar, Bishop said students have taken the cost increases more in stride.

"Most students view this as part of the cost of going to school," he said. "There is not a great deal of anger from students on this issue."

Pam Edmonson, director of commercial services at Cal State, which runs the on-campus bookstore, said students there often get frustrated when professors assign the latest edition of a textbook when a previous version would suffice, or when professors tell students to buy a 20-chapter book and then assign only three chapters.

"Students have a real problem with those things," she said. "That is where the real heartbreak is."

Professors not being careful about what they assign makes it crucial for bookstore officials to coordinate with professors, but the success of the strategy varies by academic subject, Edmonson said.

It works especially well with classes in history, Latin and philosophy, where cutting-edge textbooks are not especially necessary, she said, but classes in computer science, genetics or biology often need the latest edition of a textbook.

Nava, the Cal State history professor, said that professors should resist the urge to have the latest textbooks and software.

"There is this belief that you have to be up-to-the-minute," she said. "But we must also think about the effect on our students, who are mostly in the working class."

The government report says that the average student spends nearly $900 per year on textbooks and related supplies, or 26 percent of tuition and fees at typical four-year public colleges. At two-year colleges, average textbook costs are 72 percent of tuition and fees, because tuition is lower.

The California Public Interest Research Group has issued several reports on the issue in previous years, and helped convince Congress to order the new report.

The research group issued a list of student strategies to combat what they call publisher "price gouging." The strategies include buying textbooks overseas, using online book swaps, using copies of class textbooks available in the library, asking professors to negotiate lower prices with publishers, asking professors to order textbooks "unbundled" and starting a book rental service on campus.

Contact staff writer David Garrick at (760) 761-4410 or dgarrick@nctimes.com.