What is the average number of textbooks a student needs per year?

Students in post-secondary education in the U.S. spend as much as $1,200 a year on textbooks as of 2014, states the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. With books typically costing upward of $100, this translates to an average of 10 or more books per year.

The cost of textbooks required for US universities and colleges has increased by up to 82 percent over the last 10 years. Due to the high costs of textbooks, up to 65 percent of students opt out of buying the required materials, choosing to use openly available resources online or buy secondhand books instead. Increasingly, students are leaning towards digital editions of textbooks, which often cost less.