On average, how much do college students spend on textbooks per
semester or per year?  Please provide one or more references I can
cite in a paper.

Andrewxyz,

According to "Ripoff 101: How the Current Practices of the Textbook
Industry Drive Up the Cost of College Textbooks," the answer (for the
University of California in 2003-2004) is about $898.

The report is available from the California Public Interest Research
Group (CALPIRG):

PDF format
[ http://calpirg.org/reports/textbookripoff.pdf ]

HTML format
[ http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:OhiGM4qDbyYJ:calpirg.org/reports/textbookripoff.pdf++%22How+The+Current+Practices+Of+The+Textbook+Industry+Drive+Up+The+Cost+Of+College+Textbooks,%22&hl=en
]


The above paper references one by US Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY)
which found that the "average NY freshman or sophomore will pay $922
for books this year." You can read Schumer's press release at [
http://www.senate.gov/~schumer/SchumerWebsite/pressroom/press_releases/PR02101.html
].


Search Strategy:

I used the following search (which only provided two "hits") to find
the title of the Ripoff 101 report and used that report to find the
Schumer report.

"average spending" "college textbook"

[ ://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=%22average+spending%22+%22college+textbook%22&btnG=Search
]

I hope this helps you in your research! Feel free to ask for
clarification if needed.

/ephraim

Excellent response and very quick turn-around! Thank you, Ephraim.