Happy New Year, and welcome to another wonderful semester of college life! Whether you're enjoying beautiful warm weather or digging your way through mountains of snow, we all have something in common -- it's time once again to plunk down hundreds of dollars for textbooks.

It may be too late for this semester, but for what it's worth I've included below an article about textbook prices and the real cost of textbooks.

The textbook publishing industry has undergone a series of mergers and acquisitions over the past 20 years or so, with yet another in the wings, and it hasn't been to your benefit. One glance at textbook prices in your local bookstore is evidence enough of the spiralling madness, but there are alternatives.

The National Association of College Stores has a breakdown of where each dollar goes for a new textbook. A closer look at their logic, though, reveals enough slight-of-hand to make Penn and Teller genuflect in awe.

First, let's take their categories for the non-bookstore portion. (Face it, no matter what the publisher charges the bookstore is going to make their cut - at least they aren't shy about telling you that.)

Word problems are the bane of many college students, confusing because they give you lots of information and no real guidance on how to solve them. Here are some techniques to help you demystify the word problem and go about getting the correct answers.

Gasoline is $2+ per gallon, textbooks run $500 or more per semester, tuition has had double-digit increases. Face it, going to college is getting way too expensive. What's a poor struggling student supposed to do? Here are some suggestions for keeping your head (and finances) above water:

Dear Professor Cram:

Can you explain how to solve for fixed costs, variable costs, and total costs?

Renee, Bahamas

Thanks for your question, Renee.

The challenge in this problem is identifying costs and determining whether they are fixed, variable, or mixed (and then splitting out the mixed into fixed and variable.) Since I don't know how much you already know, let's start with some definitions.

Dear Professor Cram:

What is the relationship between inflation and the unemployment rate?

Denise, California

Thanks for your question, Denise.

The answer is not as simple as it used to be. For many years the popular theory has been there is a tradeoff between inflation and unemployment.

Dear Professor Cram:

A man deposits 1200 at the end of each year into a savings account that earn 6.75% interest compounded annually. After 4 years he made no more deposits. What would be the balance in the account 3 years from the last deposit?

Eva, Faulkner University

Thanks for your question, Eva.

This is a future value of an annuity problem, complicated by making payments at the END of the periods, but not payments for the whole time. So we have to break it up into pieces: years with deposits, and years without deposits. First, let's lay out what we know about the payments. I usually do this on a timeline, but those are hard to type....

Dear Professor Cram:

Ellen borrowed $500 at 12% simple interest, to be repaid in 8 equal monthly installments of $70. If she pays off the loan when she makes her 4th payment, how much will she save in finance charges under the rule of 78s?

Charles, SFC USAR

Thanks for your question, Charles.

This a combination of Simple Interest and Rule of 78s. If you haven't already, you may want to review our tutorial on interest rates.