Books and supplies add about $600 to $1,200 to your college costs each year. At lower-cost colleges buying books can bust your budget, sometimes even exceeding the cost of tuition and fees. Unlike tuition and fees, however, textbook costs are something you can control by buying and selling cheap textbooks.

Two of the best methods of saving money on textbooks include buying used textbooks and selling your books back to the college bookstore at the end of the semester. Each approach can save you as much as half of the cost of buying new textbooks, so if you combine them and are lucky, you could pay next to nothing for your textbooks. Unfortunately, faculty change editions periodically, so you won’t always be able to sell all of your textbooks.

Buying used textbooks isn’t as icky as it sounds. Often the used textbooks will have notes in the margins and highlighted passages that can help you understand the material and study for exams.

An alternative is to rent your textbooks. This doesn’t save you as much as buying used textbooks and reselling them after the final exams, but it guarantees that you’ll be able to earn some cash by returning the textbooks. As with reselling your textbooks, the main drawback is you don’t get to keep the textbooks.

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Did you know that April is Financial Literacy Month? With the recent economic struggles, it’s clearer than ever that many students (and even parents) need some personal finance training, stat! According to the National Financial Educator’s Council:

“About thirty-four percent of parents have taught their teen how to balance a checkbook, and less than that has explained how credit card interest and fees work and ninety-three percent American parents with teenagers report worrying that their children might make financial missteps such as: overspending or living beyond their means.”

While parents can be a good starting point, “Around sixty-nine percent of parents admit to feeling less prepared to give their teenager guidance about investing than they do having the ‘sex talk’ with them.” Yikes!

In the spirit of Financial Literacy Month, we want to help you learn to manage your money! To kick things off, here’s a list of some great websites designed to teach you those much-needed money skills!

• 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy
• Practical Money Skills for Life
• MyMoney.gov
• Jump$tart.org
• National Financial Educator’s Council
• Schwab MoneyWise
• LearnVest
• Loyola University’s Financial Literacy Month Page

My mother always told me, “Don’t put it on a credit card if you can’t afford it in cash” and I’m free of credit card debt to this day! Share your wisdom and tell us some of your own personal finance tips by leaving a comment below!

Don’t forget to be on the lookout for more personal finance posts in the coming weeks or check out last year’s Financial Literacy Blog Series!

Source: http://www.financialeducatorscouncil.org/financial-literacy-statistics.html

This week has brought a flood of news on gay rights as Supreme Court justices review the Defense Of Marriage Act (DOMA). The repeal of DOMA would bring many benefits to same-sex families, such as death benefits, tax incentives, and health insurance coverage.

What does this have to do with financial aid? A lot, actually.

An increasingly common issue in the financial aid application process is how LGBT families file the FAFSA.

Because of DOMA, financial aid for same-sex families is determined differently and can lead to non-uniform aid awards. When filing the FAFSA, both parents (if married) are required to provide their financial information. In the case where marriage is not federally recognized, only one parent would be able to file for the student, leading to increased financial aid for the family. What’s more, any financial support from the other parent would be reported as untaxed income and subject to different treatment in the aid calculations. The same logic applies to married students.

If DOMA is repealed, the application process would be streamlined for all married couples. Financial aid would take all financial support for the student into account, and the question of “which parent should file the FAFSA” would be eliminated for these families.

This also means that same-sex families might get less financial aid, because financial awards would be based on both parents’ income and assets, not just one.

Clearly DOMA has far-reaching impacts for college students and their families, as repealing DOMA would mean uniformity in the financial aid process for all married couples.

Developing good saving habits starts when you’re young, but many students don’t know where to begin. While we know it can be tough to save money when college expenses keep growing, every little bit helps. Below are five ways to help you save right now and better manage your money.

1. Automate your Saving

If you receive a regular paycheck from a part-time or on-campus job, see if you can allocate a portion to automatically deposit in a savings account. It doesn’t have to be a lot, but by putting a little bit away into a separate account, you’re more likely not to spend it and can even earn interest on the savings.

2. Use your Tax Refund Wisely

Did you just get your tax refund or are you patiently awaiting its arrival? It might be tempting to spend all of the “extra” money right away, but don’t! Put it directly into your savings account to build interest for when you really need it. That doesn’t mean don’t treat yourself to something nice, just keep it reasonable.
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Technology Gifts

1. External hard drive – This was a life-saver for me in college. There were a few times when my USB drives were corrupted and unusable. Backing up all of your papers and other files on an external hard drive will eliminate the headache of recovering any missing files down the road.
2. Digital camera – A digital camera is always a great gift to document all those college memories. High School seniors will also appreciate this as their senior year winds down.
3. Noise-canceling headphones – College is…loud. Whether studying in the library or trying to sleep when there’s a party down the hall, these are great for all students.
4. Laptop – This might be a little pricey for a holiday gift, but take advantage of sales this season. If you decide to pick out technology for your student, make sure know what features they’ll need beforehand! Computers with good graphics cards and a lot of RAM are great for streaming movies or playing video games, as well as the basics like word processing.

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Happy Veterans Day, and National Military Family Month! In the words of Maya Angelou, “How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!” To thank all of the military men, women, and families who serve our nation, here are some resources to help veterans everywhere take advantage of their education benefits.

Funding Education

Scholarships for Veterans and Families

There are hundreds of scholarships out there to help veterans and their families receive a college education. Whether you’re a veteran, or the spouse or child of a soldier, there are lots of scholarships to take advantage of. Here are just a few:

• Veterans Tuition Awards
• Military Service Recognition Scholarship
• Regents Award for Children of Veterans
• Veteran, Spouse of One Disabled From Service Scholarships
• Military.com Scholarship Finder
• Tillman Military Scholarships
• Leave No Veteran Behind

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With the presidential election creeping closer and closer, it’s important that students know how the candidate’s policies will affect them. While Obama and Romney agree on a few education points, there are some key differences consumers should take note of. Here’s a quick overview of the major differences:

Student Loans

One point of agreement between the candidates is the importance of keeping student loan costs low for families. Both parties were in favor of the 3.4% interest rate extension that was enacted back in July 2012.

Obama – President Obama ended the Family Friendly Education Loan Program (FFELP) and in its place created the Federal Direct Loan Program. This shifted the student loan program from the private sector to federal as part of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (HCERA).

Romney – Candidate Romney is in favor of reversing the “nationalization of the student loan market”, bringing competition back through private lender participation. While it is unclear whether FFELP would be reinstated, he does propose an end to the Direct Lending Program created under Obama’s Administration.
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As a student, your time is spent doing all sorts of things; From jobs, school work, and classes, to socializing and sleeping, students are always on the go. But did you know that on average, 40 hours of the week are unaccounted for? These are 40 hours you can use to make more money, join a club, or teach yourself a skill, and improving your time management strategies can help you get there!

Here’s a quick breakdown of the top places a student’s time goes every week, and where the 40 hours fit in:

• Sleeping – 56 hours
• Uncategorized/Unused time – 40 hours
• Class – 15 hours
• Eating – 14 hours
• Socializing – 12 hours

These 40 hours of unaccounted-for time have great potential if you know how to manage your time wisely. Hone your time-management skills to be more productive – whether it’s volunteering, working, or even napping, plan your day ahead of time. LifeHacker.com has some great articles about ways to stay productive and motivated throughout the day, so make sure to check them out for inspiration.

For more tips on effective time management, check out our recent Infographic Time Management for Students.

Did you know that the average student productively uses 128 hours out of the 168 hours in a week? When you’re in college time management can make or break you. Successful students will learn pretty quickly that effective time management strategies can help make college less stressful and more fulfilling.

One such strategy is getting a day planner AND USING IT. Whether you use a physical planner like the ones provided at many college bookstores, or keep track of your time on your google calendar, planning for all your activities in one place is a huge help!

This brings me to the next time management tip: don’t procrastinate! I know, students are sick of hearing this, but it’s still a good piece of advice. Staying on top of your assignments and getting them done early can help you manage your time more effectively, as well as keep your stress levels down. Plus, the less all-nighters you have, the more time there is for sleeping!

To find more helpful time management strategies, check out our newest infographic, Time Management for Students! While you’re there, leave a comment and let us know how you manage your time in college!

There has been a lot of talk lately about the financial literacy of Americans, and of the Millennial generation in particular. According to the National Financial Educators Council:

About thirty-four percent of parents have taught their teen how to balance a checkbook, and less than that has explained how credit card interest and fees work and ninety-three percent American parents with teenagers report worrying that their children might make financial missteps such as: overspending or living beyond their means.

To help combat the low rates of financial literacy, the Department of Education has recently launched a new Financial Awareness Counseling program. This online tool allows consumers to enter their student loans and other financial metrics to view reports on things like:

• Student loan balances
• Managing spending while in school
• Income and tax information
• Default avoidance

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