Tax Credit for Textbooks




Photo by wohnai

  According to the National Association of College Stores, the American Opportunity Tac Credit there's a short-term tax credit for text books and other educational materials.  Thank the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, etc, the tax credit of up to $2,500 a year covers course materials, tuition and fees for 2009-2012.

See the FAQs and talk to your accountant.

Trade-offs: Oxford vs. the Local Regional

Oxford University. Photo by Tejvan Pettinger. 

My counterpart at the blog Frugal Scholar, a university professor who practices frugality, has an interesting thread looking at one young woman's very difficult decision: Go to Oxford and pursue what she loves (at Oxford!) or go the more local, more affordable route, as her parents would like, and graduate debt-free.  And is there an in-between option?

Lots of people have weighed in and it points to the various opinions and tactics -- even among the frugal. Look, learn or even join the discussion at http://frugalscholar.blogspot.com/2011/03/college-debt-once-more-worth-it.html.

College application frenzy: One Dad Says Stop Stressing

Public Radio's Marketplace intereviewed the author of Crazy U: One Dad's Crash Course in Getting His Kid into College. The takeaway:  Relax.

In the interview with Marketplace's Tess Vigeland, the author Andrew Fergusen describes the pressure and frenzy surrounding the process of getting into college, then reflects:

 "Of course, this is the big myth about college admissions now, which is somehow the exact school you want to go to is going to determine your future and your future happiness, when it's actually quite clear in their studies about this, that where you went to college doesn't have any influence on your happiness or even your job earnings for that matter."