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# College Textbook Costs, In Their Words: Sarah Timmerman, University of Northern Iowa
- URL: https://www.investigatemidwest.org/college-textbook-costs-in-their-words-sarah-timmerman-university-of-northern-iowa/
- Published: 2018-05-08T09:00:06.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-11T02:39:15.000Z
- Author: Anna Flanders
- Tags: Education, iowawatch, college costs, college textbooks, higher education costs, learning, university of northern iowa, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-06-18 04:56

Q: How much did you pay for all textbooks, hardcopy and e-textbooks, this semester

**Sarah Timmerman: For the fall semester, I paid $125 and then for the spring, I paid $80\. Together, that’s $205 for this entire year.**

##### Sarah Timmerman, 20  
University of Northern Iowa  
Spring 2018 sophomore  
Hometown: Clive, Iowa  
Major: Elementary Education, special education minor

Q: What was your most expensive book?

**Timmerman: My most expensive books were for Russia/the Soviet Union. They were each about $35\. That was for the fall. For the spring, it was an Arts Integration book—so it’s like how to incorporate the arts into a classroom, like dance, music, all that stuff. It cost $34.38.**  

Q: How often do you use your textbooks?

**Timmerman: Some classes I use the textbook daily, but a lot of them I don’t use very often—maybe once a month.**  

Q: How much did you spend on textbooks this semester, not e-books?

**Timmerman: About $30 for hard-copy \[in the spring\]. I spent about $105 for hard-copy for the fall.**  

Q: How often do you use the Internet?

**Timmerman:** **I use it everyday, all the time.**

Q: Did you resell your books from last semester?

**Timmerman: I did.**

Q: How much money did you get back for them?

**Timmerman: Not a lot—$10 or $15 total. I sold one to a friend, but the rest were to the bookstore.**

Q: Does the value you get from your textbooks match what you pay for them?

**Timmerman: No, not at all.**

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cd/d3/cdd3c059-8898-40b1-bcf7-cb2d3aa89775/content/images/2026/09/Textbook-Squeeze-Project-Logo.jpg)

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