The increasing cost of textbooks has left NIU students scrambling to find used books in order to save a little money.

It is not unusual for a full-time student to spend up to and more than $400 on a semester’s worth of books, said Roxie Nance, a senior OMIS major and employee at the University Bookstore.

Nance said it’s common for business or science students to spend $500 to $600 on books, while other majors such as English tend to be lower, at around $300.

“People complain, but they have to get them,” Nance said.

Despite not seeing as big of a difference between the cost of books for different majors, John Silletti, a junior business major and employee at the Village Commons Bookstore, 901 Lucinda Ave., agreed.

“A lot of people look for the used ones,” Silletti said. “I’ve had one person today complain on the prices.”

Silletti said textbooks are an expense students simply cannot avoid, but also do not have extra money for.

Freshman accounting major William Scott was upset at the cost of his new books. Scott said he expected to pay nearly $400.

“I’m a little surprised at the price,” he said. “I’m having trouble finding used books.”

The cost of textbooks seemed to come as a shock, especially to freshmen.

“It’s a lot more than I thought it would be,” freshman engineering major Andrew Miller said. “I’m glad to get it out of the way.”

Others had anticipated the high cost.

Richard Armour, a freshman computer science major, came in expecting to pay about $650 for textbooks.