At the recent meeting of the University Council's Committee on Welfare Services, one member of the committee said that some members of the academic staff expect students to spend more money on the purchase of text-books than seems realistic, given the financial situation of many students and the high cost of books.

For the three years 1975-77 Mrs Mildred Brown, Accommodation Officer, has surveyed the income and expenditure of university students living in the halls of residence (mostly full-time students). The surveys show that the average sum spent by students on textbooks and class materials rose by 50 per cent between 1975 and 1977. Last year the average sum spent by students was $132. The range of expenditure was large: 25 per cent of students spent between $50 and $99, 50 per cent between $100 and $159 and 25 per cent between $160 and $250.

When looked at on a faculty basis, there was also a wide range of expenditure within each faculty, although on average science students spent the most on books ($160). On average women students spent slightly more than men except in the Commerce and Administration Faculty where the average was about the same ($133). In Arts men spent on average $102 compared with women ($137). Most of the law students surveyed were in their first year and showed a similar pattern of expenditure to arts students.

It was suggested at the welfare services committee meeting that academic staff perhaps were not sufficiently aware of the amount of money students were spending on textbooks and possibly some academic staff need to give more thought to the cost of books when selecting texts. With many books now costing over $30, it is dear that for three or six credit courses students cannot be expected to purchase several expensive textbooks.

The average expenditure of $132 spread over courses totalling 36 credits is equivalent to $44 for a twelve credit course, $22 for a six credit course or $11 for a three credit course.