Tax credit for textbook purchases

Receive a Tax Credit for Hitting the Books!

Course Materials Now Qualify for Tax Credit

Attention Students and Parents!

SAVE YOUR COURSE MATERIAL RECEIPTS –
YOU MAY BE ELIGIBLE FOR A TAX CREDIT UP TO $2,500!!

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's (ARRA) newly created American Opportunity Tax Credit, textbook and other course material expenses – along with tuition and fees incurred in 2009 and 2010 not covered by scholarships or grants – may be claimed as a tax credit on that year's tax return!

You must keep a record of your expenses to be eligible!!

[information from http://textbookaid.org/]

Tina Lau, North County Librarian

Financial aid tips for your FAFSA

I just found some good tips for filling out your FAFSA from the Kiplinger's blog:
http://www.kiplinger.com/features/archives/2009/01/avoid-student-aid-traps.html.

Tips included things like not waiting until you've filled out your income tax return.

Tina Lau
North County Librarian

Digital textbooks for half the price of printI

This posting has been moved to http://slobooks.blogspot.com/.

Textbook Rental Service

I just found out about a textbook rental service called Chegg (for "chicken and egg"). There's a good article about it in Business Week Online at http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=23783243&site=ehost-live

Prices seem to be about 50% of retail for textbooks. Check it out at www.chegg.com!

Tina Lau
North County Librarian

Another money-saving coupon code

Save with eCampus Coupon Code

By BookOpinion on Books

From Nov. 1 to Jan. 31, 2008, eCampus.com is offering BookOpinion users two different coupon codes to save on your next purchase. Offer: Save 5% off of Purchase of $75 or More Expires: Jan. 31, 2008 Code: HIGHFIVE Offer: Save $10 off of $200 Purchase Expires: Jan. 31, 2008 Code: HIGHTEN Use this link to go to eCampus and save!

[taken from the BookOpinion blog]

Tina Lau
North County Librarian

Coupon codes for buying books online

These are coupon codes good for the month of November, taken from the blog BookOpinion:

Save with BiggerBooks Coupon Code

By BookOpinion on Books

From Nov. 1 to Jan. 1, 2008, BiggerBooks is offering BookOpinion users two different coupon codes to save on your next purchase. Offer: Save $5 off of first Purchase Expires: Jan. 1, 2008 Code: FIVEOFF Offer: Save $10 off of $200 Purchase Expires: Jan. 1, 2008 Code: TENOFF Use this link to go to BiggerBooks and save!

Save at Alibris with Coupon Code

By BookOpinion on Books

Alibris has sent us a coupon code for BookOpinion users for the month of November. This offers expire at midnight on Sunday, Nov. 25, 2007. Save $3 off a purchase of $30 or more using Coupon Code: GARCIAMARQUEZ Click here to go!

Enjoy!
Tina Lau
North County Librarian

Save some money on books

There is a blog called BookOpinion that I sometimes read, which has discount codes for online bookstores sometimes. Here are a couple that I just found:

Save at Alibris With Coupon Code
http://bookopinion.com/blog/2007/10/04/save-at-alibris-with-coupon-code/

Alibris coupon til Oct 25

Save with eCampus.com Coupon Codes
http://bookopinion.com/blog/2007/08/06/save-with-ecampuscom-coupon-codes/


eCampus coupon til Oct 31

Hope someone can use them!

Tina Lau

North County Librarian

Save Money on Your Textbooks

How to Save Money on Your Textbooks:

1. Cuesta bookstore puts out its list of textbooks, available in the bookstore or the library checkout desk on both San Luis and North County campuses. Order textbooks as soon as possible. Make sure you have the correct edition/ISBN. (Most classes use the same text as last year, but if the text is more than a couple of years old, there could be a new edition.) A few teachers will accept the previous edition, such as the nutrition and human biology teachers at North County. If you are taking Math 7, the instructors are asking you to purchase the eighth edition of Fundamentals of Mathematics instead of the ninth, which means students are scrounging at Aida's or online to get it.
2. Check http://www.addall.com/ or http://www.bookfinder4u.com/ for the textbook. Often you will find instructor’s editions for really cheap, which usually is fine. The ISBN won’t be the same as the student’s edition, but that is OK.
3. Shipping times vary, but normally the book will arrive in 1-2 weeks. If that isn’t soon enough for the class, both the San Luis and North County libraries have copies of the most-used textbooks on reserve for two hour use in the library. You can check to see if the library has a copy at webcat.cuesta.edu/uhtbin/webcat. If that won’t work for you, you can also purchase texts at Aida’s in San Luis Obispo, which will normally be a little bit cheaper (not much, though) than the prices at the Cuesta bookstore.
4. This will not work if you need to purchase a bundled textbook with CD, login code for textbook website, etc. You have to pay retail price for that. The Cuesta bookstore textbook list will indicate if you must purchase a bundled textbook.

[This is a rerun of a posting I made back in December, when it was book-buying time]

Tina Lau, North County Librarian
(in Money, WWW Resources)

Income Tax blues

It's that wonderful time again: time to do your income taxes. Even if you don't feel like doing them, you need to fill the forms out so you can use them for financial aid purposes. All the forms are available at the IRS website at http://www.irs.gov/.

If you have questions on your income tax, a great resource is J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax. It's available at the San Luis campus library in the reference collection at KF 6369 J18 2006. I've used it for years to decipher my income taxes.

And yes, I finished my taxes two weeks ago, so I'm feeling smug.

Tina Lau, North County Librarian
(in Money)

Show Me the Money

The Cuesta College Financial Aid Department, in collaboration with the Associated Students of Cuesta College, will be hosting "Show Me the Money" a Financial Aid Literacy Fair. The event will take place on the North County campus on Tuesday, March 28th from 5:00 to 8:00pm in the Courtyard [N.B. Due to rain, it has been moved from the courtyard to the cafeteria and the
lobby of the 1000 building], and on the San Luis Obispo campus on Wednesday, March 29th from 11:00am to 2:30pm in room 5401.
"Show Me the Money" will feature interesting and informative workshops on such topics as "Financing Your Education," "All About Credit Cards," "Is Your Financial Future At Risk," "Identity Theft," and "Achieving Your Financial Goals." Local and national lending institution representatives will be present to answer questions. Free pizza, soda, and Cowboy Cookies will be available. There will be drawings for gifts, gift certificates, and scholarships ranging from $20 to $200 dollars. The band KARMA will provide live music. [taken from the campus headlines section of the Cuesta website]

Tina Lau, North County Librarian