RICHMOND - College students angry about rising textbook prices are taking their concerns to the state Capitol, lobbying in support of legislation that could facilitate price shopping and would ban publisher "kickbacks" to professors who agree to require certain books.

Virginia Tech senior Sumeet Bagai said college textbooks can often be bought online or at off-campus vendors for between 20 percent and 40 percent less than at university-operated bookstores. But in many cases, students do not know which books are required until the week before the semester or even the first day of class, he said. Speaking at a news conference Monday held by the advocacy group Virginia21, Bagai later said he spent more than $500 on books this semester, including $130 on one book. Several recent studies have found that the average college student pays between $700 and $900 annually on textbooks.

"When consumers don't have information about which books will be required in advance, the campus bookstore becomes an artificial monopoly, destroying the power of the free market to set fair prices," said Bagai, president of the Virginia Tech Student Government Association. "Students need to know which books are going to be required for class at the same time the bookstore does."

House Bill 1726, sponsored by Newport News Republican Del. Glenn Oder, would require public colleges in Virginia to post online the list of textbooks required for each class as soon as the professor submits an order form to the university-owned or affiliated bookstore.

Jerry Diffell, manager of Tech Bookstore, an independently owned vendor in Blacksburg, said the legislation would not greatly affect his operations because Virginia Tech's bookstore already shares its book orders almost as soon as they are submitted by the professors.

Diffell said he supported the bill even though it would likely increase his competition.

"The more open and the more free-wheeling the market is, the better it is for everybody," Diffell said.

Oder's bill would also prohibit university employees from receiving any form of payment, loan, subscription or gift in exchange for requiring students to purchase a specific book.

Oder's bill would not address some of the other more prevalent complaints aimed at the publishing industry and university bookstores. For instance, publishers increasingly sell textbooks shrink-wrapped with workbooks or other one-time-use-only materials.

But when students go to resell the textbook at the end of the semester, they often get back a fraction of their original price because it is no longer "bundled" with the other materials required by the professor.

Another Oder bill would direct the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to study the pricing issue.

J. Bruce Hildebrand, executive director of higher education for the Association of American Publishers, said textbooks are often bundled with workbooks, CD-ROMs and other materials at the individual professor's request.

"Publishers provide materials ... that will best serve the students' needs," Hildebrand said. "Professors have hundreds of choices to choose from. They select those materials, whether it's a textbook or a textbook and supplemental materials, that they feel their students can best learn with."

But Diffell disagreed, saying publishers are pitching the bundles to well-meaning professors who do not realize the bundling could affect resale values.

"The publishers are driving the cart, not the professors," he said. "The publishers are being very creative in having the bookstores order new textbooks."