Howdy Teacher and welcome to Parallax Bill's Yugo Mauser forum! Chuck has given you good advice.

But to further address your question, you just said "Mauser". That is a surprizing array of weapons produced over the larger part of a century! This is the "Yugoslavian" Mauser forum. Among just about all milsurp weapons, the Yugo 24/47 is the best buy, and likely the last major import. At $150- $200 this model is approaching the price range of many other models. But the availability is greater than the others.

There are German model 98 mausers. But Frankly, I would avoid trying to purchase an "original" German weapon because fakery is rampant and without really educating yourself first, odds are greater that you won't get what you're paying for. An exception would be if you were to purchase from some of the sponsored dealers such as Dennis Kroh's "Empire arms." But there you will pay for what you get. Now an exception is the "RC- "Russian Capture" K98k. These were Nazi rifles taken by the Soviets, stripped and repaired/reassembled into reserve weapons. They will have no true collector value but are representative of the model and can be excellent shooters.

Spanish American Mausers. These run from fairly cheap to hideously expensive and include some of the finest military rifles ever made, comparable and often superior to many of the better commercial rifles.

Czech Mausers. Brno produced excellent rifles in the vz24 model.

There are a number of different forums for these different types and frankly $250 with carful shopping can net a very nice piece. But you need to do a little homework first. For example. You'll see ads for "Mitchell's Mauser" They falsely extoll the "value" of there weapons. Stripped, rebuilt probably remarked rifles with no collector value. they are pretty to look at but it's doubtful if they will retain any appreciable resale value.

There's the once over. Look around the site ask your questions then hit the gun shows, gun & pawn shops. With your homework done, and a Teacher should appreciate that , you'll soon find yourself the owner of a fine Military Mauser.
Good luck!