Victory, Panic, Reprieve

Like Funny About Money, I had a customer service win recently: the email I sent to Asics about Frugal Son's fallen-apart shoes was successful! I sent in the old shoes and they will send a new pair! Savings: about $60.00.

I didn't post about this because of a financial panic, also involving Frugal Son. As you may know, he spent 2009-2010 in Nantes, studying French. Upon return, he had to get credits from the home insitution. Hello, Bureaucracy! Hello, Procrastination! In the meantime, his scholarship was affected by the delay in not getting credits.

"Oh, by the way, I just got a bill for $9200.00, retroactive. I'm sure it will work out."

Yeah, maybe. So Mr. FS and I called various places at the university and the state offices. So far, we have gotten a partial reprieve. As of Friday, the bill is down to $5200.00.

The problem with bureaucracies is that you don't know if you've done something wrong (or not done something) until it's too late. I've heard horror stories about students losing scholarships (in one case of about $16000) because of neglecting to fill out a piece of paper. I almost made a mistake myself.

Now that the total reprieve is in sight, I can be happy about the replacement of the defective shoes.

It seems that the little financial victories are often accompanied by panic-inducing dangers also of the financial sort.

But it's worth taking a chance with Asics I guess. Just be mindful of the scary bureaucracies that hold so much power over us.

Any good customer service lately?

A Roth IRA for my Daughter

Ahhhh. A poignant moment. Miss Em earned about $1100.00 last year, so I urged her to start a Roth IRA. Of course, I had to help her through the complexities, which were exacerbated by computer glitches and other stuff. So a 15 minute on-line process ended up taking a lot of time.

Miss Em doesn't quite understand WHY I am so insistent on her Roth. I said, "In 40 years, when Mr. FS and I are gone, you will see this account and be happy you did it."

In case you are wondering, she got Vanguard STAR, a balanced fund, which is the only one with a $1000.00 minimum. We are putting it under our family account umbrella, so she is exempt from the low balance fee.

My college-age children earn very little money. They chose fully-paid-for scholarships, so we are happy to provide spending money and support summer programs. Both also volunteer in the summer. Their scholarships allow them the luxury of participating in service activities.

But when they earn some money, it goes into the IRA. Now our family has funded its Roths for 2010 and Mr. FS and I have funded for 2011. You have till April 18 to fund your 2010 Roth. JUST DO IT.

If you are lower-income, you may be eligible for a Saver's Tax Credit.

Do you love the Roth IRA as I do?

College Debt Once More: Worth It?

I haven't written on this topic for a while. Then I got a comment on an oldish post. Rather than answer there, where it will languish in obscurity, I thought I would appeal to my readers for some more responses. From Alyssa:

Though the debt is daunting, as a senior in high school hoping to major in Anthro and Archaeo with an acceptance into Oxford (which will only give me a scholarship if I'm from a third world country) tucked under my belt, it seems worth it. However, struck by the thought of so much debt (with the current $ to pound exchange rate the tuition + room + board + extra expenses is about $43,000 (25000 pounds)) my parents forced me to apply to UIC. UIC does NOT have an archaeology program, only an anthropology one. Trying to explain to my parents (who did not go to college during the worst bubble for higher education in history) that debt may be my only viable option for succeeding in my major (compare UIC's lack of an Archaeo program to Oxford tons of onsite excavations and 6 world renowned museums) is near impossible.

For the average student, debt is horrendous. Humanities and Social Science majors on average do not make enough to cover for such costs, but ironically, theirs are the majors that are dependent on the school's resources the most. So when is it worth it? Pay the extra when you have a degree that pays off, but when you didn't really need to pay the extra? Working part time to pay off $130,000 (3 years at Oxford) doesn't frighten me as much as going to a school with a 54% graduation rate just to commit an act of "financial responsibility" does. Though the maxim "a good student does well anywhere" may be true, anyone who has seen a public high school juxtaposed against a magnet high school can attest that such "good students" are still limited by the opportunities within their environment, no matter how gifted they are.



Some of my thoughts.

--Many students don't end up doing anything directly related to their majors. Archeologists: jobs in academics, museums, what else? How do you KNOW this is what you want to do?
--Why UIC? Is that University of Illinois at Chicago? A while back, Stanley Fish was Dean there and did some pretty fancy hiring. In fact, I read that the quality of faculty far exceeded the quality of students! So it may not be such a bad option. I'm sure many students go to grad school in archeology with anthropology degrees.

--What about University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana? That's the flagship?

--Here is my favorite. As a frugal gal, I try to think of OTHER WAYS TO GET WHAT I WANT. So, why not go to a state school and DO AN EXCHANGE PROGRAM AT OXFORD or similar? It should be better known, but, in exchange programs, you often PAY THE FEES OF YOUR HOME INSTITUTION. My son spent a year in France. The Americans from private schools paid $30,000-$50,000; the Americans from state schools paid their in-state fees. FOR THE SAME PROGRAM. In fact, I would check on the exchanges available from state schools before making a decision.

--Summers. With the money you save by going to a state school, you can do summer archeology programs. My cousin leads such programs in Israel and Turkey from his state school in NJ. You could go to Greece too!

Any other thoughts, Dear Readers?

Paying for Grad School: "Discounted" Tuition

There was another mediocre article today in the Wall Street Journal, this time about paying for graduate school. I'm not going to get into the usual discussions about should you or shouldn't you? or are humanities degrees worthless?

I just want to point to a tuition trick I've seen before. Trick is probably a harsh term. Scheme? Whatever.

When 24-year-old Kristi Roybal was choosing between graduate programs in social work and international studies, she picked one at the University of Denver, which offered her a $20,000 annual scholarship.

But with a $53,000 total annual tab, she had to figure out how to cover the rest.

About 5-6 years ago, a friend/student/neighbor suddenly decided that she wanted to get a Phd in Food Studies. At the time, I thought this was a bad plan because the person was clearly not cut out for academic life, though she was smart enough for anything. Anyway, she applied to the Anthropology Program at the University of Chicago, an august institution.

In reply, she received not a rejection, but an invitation to the MA Program in Social Thought or something like that. The letter had a perky tone: (paraphrase) "It must be strange to get into a program different from the one you applied for and with a scholarship at that!" She was offered $15,000 off of $35,000 tuition. And she actually thought about it for a long time, even though it would have involved a loan for AT LEAST $20,000.

I looked into the program and discovered that there were no designated faculty; there was no department. Students took various courses from various social science departments. In other words: a no cost program from the school. No wonder they could be so generous.

As for the young woman in the WSJ article: instead of thinking of the big discount from U of Denver (a private school), why not get your social work degree from your state school. You may not get a discount of $20,000, but you will be paying in-state tuition.

There are some cases where the prestige of the institution really matters: if you are seeking an academic career, the better the school (and that may even include undergraduate), the better your chances of being hired at a similarly prestigious gig. Law schools MAY be the same.

But social work? That's a vocational degree and I imagine that it's more important to emerge with few loans for what is likely to be a rewarding but low-paying job.

The scholarship tactic reminds me of stores: $100 off! I was thrilled by a scarf at an on-line catalog: reduced from $119 to $9 (!!!), I was swooning with desire. But I hesitated. And the scarf was removed from my cart. It had sold out. I realized that I already had scarves in the offered colors.

As always, it's not what you save, but what you spend.

Thoughts?

American Opportunity Education Tax Credit: Textbooks Included

For all the laments about the rising costs of college, there are plenty of people who pay low or no tuition. For some, perhaps most, this is need-based. For others, including many members of the middle class or beyond, this is merit based.

Why am I mentioning this? Because I have mentioned the American Opportunity Tax Credit to many people and not one had heard of it. There have long been tax credits for tuition and fees. And for most, tuition and fees ate up--and continue to eat up--the credit, In 2009-10 (and, I think extended in the recent lame duck congressional session), TEXTBOOKS are included in the $2500/year potential credit. TEXTBOOKS were never included before.

Because both of my children made use of their National Merit Scholarships, they pay no tuition or fees. THANK YOU CHILDREN FOR YOUR CHOICES. Like many, I have been appalled by textbook prices. Even with all my ingenuity and frugal bloodhound skills, I have seldom managed to save very much.

As of 2009, I can relax. The French text is $120 plus a $90 computer pad fee...well, tant pis.

But many don't know about this. My daughter wanted to lend her books to her pal last semester. The books were keepers and I didn't want them to go astray. Miss Em's friend had very high SATs and received free tuition at the same college. I told Miss Em to tell the friend to tell her parents that they would be eligible for the credit. Via the grapevine--from a doctor--a thank you.

Miss Em's hometown friend who received both need- and merit-based aid was lamenting the fact that she couldn't accompany us to Goodwill for a fun shop because she had to save for her textbooks. I told her to tell her mother about the credit. I hope she does.

Many students in Louisiana (TOPs program) and Georgia (HOPE credit) pay no tuition. Other states give free or reduced tuition to students--like my daughter's friend above--who have high SATs or ACTs (over 1400 seems to be required; over 1500 will be better. This is just for the first two parts. For the ACT, I think over 30 is the requirement. It may be higher.)

Even students at private schools may receive tuition scholarships. Textbooks, often not covered, are estimated to cost around $500/semester. I think this is a low estimate, since textbooks prices--like prescription drugs--are both required and prescribed by people often clueless about the cost to the users. Much has been written about the constant, unnecessary revisions in textbooks, which render used books unusable.

OK. Enough of that rant. For those who pay no or low tuition--and this perhaps applies to community college students in some areas--the American Opportunity credit can BE USED FOR TEXTBOOKS.

I hope Miss Em's pal's mom files an amended return for 2009 and 2010.

If you know anyone in a relevant situation, please pass on this info!

P.S. I am NOT A TAX EXPERT. LOOK INTO THIS YOURSELF. PLEASE.

Textbook Computer Codes

I mentioned the other day that my daughter had to buy a $100.00 computer code for her French class to go with the $75.00 used book. The new book-natch-was $175.00. I didn't mention that her math teacher had the class purchase codes, but told them not to bother with the text. the text PLUS code was only a little more than the code alone.

Funny About Money plaintively inquired:
Computer access code!? Heaven help us.

That is inexcusable. Is there any reason classmates can't be put in groups or group themselves informally so they can all access the computer using one member's code? What if each kid in the group paid the person who sprung for the new textbook $10 or so? That would bring down her cost and let the students who can't afford to spring for $175 for a French text(!!!!!!!) save their money.


She probably wasn't plaintive, actually. It's a good question.

Not being in the textbook biz, this is what I think. Anyone who knows better/different, do not hesitate to set me right on this.

I think this is a way the publishers keep students from buying used or sharing. The codes provide access to all sorts of material for students--in that sense, offer extra value. BUT BUT BUT the codes have to be-I think-unique, because they are linked to quizzes.

The quizzes are--again, I think--composed, graded, and recorded BY THE TEXTBOOK PUBLISHER. This is a way that publishers market their books--"Look TEACHER, we can save you the dreary work of composing and grading quizzes."

Anyone care to correct me on this? Really, I'm just surmising. What do you think of the practice?

If I'm right, what is for sale is a unique code. The text itself is just gravy.

My Karmic ROI: Relief

ROI=RETURN ON INVESTMENT

A few days ago, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek post about depositing $600.00 into my karmic savings account: that's how much a thrift store acquaintance said I'd saved her when I recommended thrifting a tux set for future proms. The tongue-in-cheek part came at the end, with the query: What should I spend my $600.00 on?

I hope that writing about my karmic moment--which just happened--will not bring bad luck. Knock on wood for me.

On the last day of our almost three weeks of visiting our relatives in Massachusetts and California came some disquieting financial news. Because of Frugal Son's--what shall we call it--flakiness, he did not have a dormitory assignment. (See last year's post on French visa for similar event.)

Now, students can always live off-campus. But Frugal Son has a ROOM AND BOARD SCHOLARSHIP, which does not transfer to off-campus housing. He called and discovered that he was number 10 zillion on the waiting list.

Anyway, through some parental ADVICE and PRESSURE, and the aid of an administrator in navigating the scary bureaucracy of a large school....he got a room! I guess a lot of people drop out at the end...and the administrator said they DO try to accommodate students with scholarships.

The savings: $6000.00, exactly 10 times my karmic investment.

Amazing.

College Textbook Costs: Yet Once More

Yet once more* the college textbook cost theme. Funny About Money wrote about it; I have taken on the issue several times. Now the New York Times has taken on the issue, with opinions from many experts.

Why are textbooks so expensive? Because they can be. Because the price is lost amid other expenses. Because people might be paying with borrowed money, which, sadly, may be seen as "funny money." (It's not.) One of the experts in the New York Times piece compared the textbook industry to BIG PHARMA: the people who "prescribe" (doctors, teachers) have no idea what the item (drug, book) costs. The purchaser (patient, student) has to suck it up. Well, guess what! I made this analogy on this very blog ages ago. And I'm not an emeritus professor of economics. I feel so, well, thrilled.

I may have an unusual perspective: I am a teacher, but my school has a rental system: students pay only $18.00 per course, for up to two textbooks. So I am NOT GUILTY! I am also a parent of two college students, however, and their schools do not participate in the rental system.

I have discovered that trying to save money on textbooks is like aiming for a moving target. All the strategies work--sometimes, sort of, but don't count on it.

--Buy it and sell it when you're done: Good idea, but textbook publishers try to circumvent the used book market. I bought a 2008 Art History text at Goodwill a few days ago as a test case. At a quarter, it was not a big investment. This book sold for $115.00 new. It is now in a new edition. New editions also often come out in October or February, thereby making your recently purchased text worthless.


--Buy on Amazon: Textbook sellers are not dumb. Unless the book is getting near its new edition date, it is likely to be pretty expensive.


--Rent from Chegg: If you look at their rental prices, you will see that this is not a cheap route.

And so on. I have spent HOURS trying to get books cheaper, with little success. Here is one example: My daughter needed a French book last year. It was $175.00. I found a used copy at Powells for $75.00. Did I save $100.00? Guess again.

On the first day of class, the teacher announced that students needed a current computer access code for the text. These came with the new books. For those who bought used...the code cost $100.00!

I have loads of similar stories, which I will bore you with only on request. It is a dreary tale. Just don't believe all that cheery advice on "buying used" and "renting from Chegg." If my experience is any indication, you won't save much money.

So...what am I doing this year? Well, the tax code changed in 2009. The first $2000.00 in educational expenses gets a tax credit. For most people, this is eaten up by tuition and fees. However, if you are on tuition scholarship (Hope in Georgia, TOPS in Louisiana) or at a junior college with low costs, you can now--as of 2009--get the tax credit for books. Thank you Congress! Feel my love.

*Yet once more: The opening words of Lycidas, a pastoral elegy by John Milton, which has an academic theme.

College Debt and College Prestige: From a Student/Entrepeneur

Dear Readers: I have been on the road. For today's post, I am stealing a comment left by Logan Leger, a fellow I met (in real life) a while back. He wrote in response to one of my no doubt tiresome ruminations on college debt. Anyway, here is a rumination from an actual student. One not related to me.




I've been meaning to respond to this article for a while. I don't have any advice for the reader, but I would like to talk about my situation.

After high school, I had a lot of choices, including some big scholarships at some great schools. Unfortunately, my family also falls in that doughnut and couldn't afford to cover the remaining expenses. Moreover, my parents were adamant about not taking any loans and graduating debt free. This left me only one choice: state school, where nearly 100% of expenses were covered.

Now, I'm in the position of graduating in three years with an engineering degree from a school that has a national name, and debt free to boot. At first I was angry my parents wouldn't cosign a loan and felt trapped. Now, however, I realize how good of a decision it was. Not having any debt and having financial freedom really opens me up for a lot of opportunities.

This brings me to my final point. I was born an engineer, but I was born an entrepreneur first. Being at a state school opens my schedule up to pursue many ventures. Had I gone to a more prestigious school, I would never have had the time. And, after I graduate I won't have to work in the system because after three years of hard startup work, one of my startups will reach profitability, enough to sustain me because I have no debt.

I have a great degree I can use to make good money in my life. But because I ended up at the state school, I can pursue my dream.

July 5, 2010 3:58 PM

A very impressive fellow, don't you think?

College Debt: Is It Worth Taking on Debt for an Ivy Degree? Some Practical Advice

A while back, I wrote (yet once more) on the college debt situation, featuring the now-notorious NYU grad with $ 200,000 in debt. I received this response from a reader:

You know, I wish I was in the camp that looked at the financial situation before deciding on where to go to college. But what about those who realize they are getting themselves into an unreasonable amount of debt in the middle? There are perks in terms of facilities and recruiting (and internships which can lead to jobs). And is it worth transferring to a state (and I live in a state with a not so great school system) school after already going into so much debt?

I agree even after doing it that it is foolish to take out massive loans on the promise of a high paying job. But that promise does get more likely if you go to a school well known in its field.

So is it worth it to go $200,000 K into debt for a religious studies degree? Probably not. But if you want to go into say consulting or investment banking...

Oh, how horrible to feel the monkey of debt on your back. How horrible to be so conflicted about your choice WHILE you are in college.

Before I respond (not that I have the answers, needless to say), let's review the college scholarship reality. There are MERIT scholarships and NEED scholarships. Ivies don't give merit scholarships because they don't have to. My children got merit scholarships at schools that wanted them--where their SATs and National Merits were desirable.

Need is another matter. If you make under say, $80,000/yr--you can probably get a full need-based scholarship at any Ivy or other private school of prestige. If you are in the middle-class doughnut hole, between @100,000-180,000/yr--you will get nothing, even though an Ivy--or any private--education, may be more than 1/2 your take home pay.

My family is at the lower end of the doughnut. I realized that my kids would have received FULL SCHOLARSHIPS if one of us quit our job. Amazing! Some self-employed people of my acquaintance manipulated their income downward during the crucial pre-college and college years. While most of the kids receiving need-based scholarships ARE genuinely needy, there are ways--as a Wall Street Journal column recently put it--to "game" the financial aid system. The kid with the NEED scholarship may be the child of a cardiologist who has many business expenses--like a company car. Salaried people like us can't do that.

Anyway, the year before the big meltdown, the new prez of Harvard announced that families who made between $100,000 and $180,000 would only have to pay 10% of their income. I think Stanford may have followed suit. That would be quite a reasonable price for an Ivy education, one I could have easily fit within my frugal budget.

BUT not all kids--even the smartest and most accomplished--can get into an Ivy. I doubt my children would have gotten into Harvard, Yale, or Stanford, though they may have gotten into Penn or Cornell. Just don't know. Other private schools could not match the Harvard/Stanford plan, so those in the doughnut remained, facing a $50,000 bill.

Back to my questioner: what should a student do who has already completed one Ivy year and feels the hot breath of future debt on the back of the neck?

1. Transfer to a state school. This is not a great idea. Anyone who gets into an Ivy is wooed with goodies out the wazoo by state schools. These offers don't apply to transfers. So, you don't get the prestige of the Ivy, but you also don't get the goodies the state school would have heaped upon you as an incoming freshman.

2. People in business might disagree with the above. They would discuss the "sunk cost fallacy."

In economics and business decision-making, sunk costs are retrospective (past) costs that have already been incurred and cannot be recovered. Sunk costs are sometimes contrasted with prospective costs, which are future costs that may be incurred or changed if an action is taken. Both retrospective and prospective costs may be either fixed (that is, they are not dependent on the volume of economic activity, however measured) or variable (dependent on volume).

Behavioral economics recognizes that sunk costs often affect economic decisions due to loss aversion: the price paid becomes a benchmark for the value, whereas the price paid should be irrelevant. This is considered non-rational behavior (as rationality is defined by classical economics). Economic experiments have shown that the sunk cost fallacy and loss aversion are common; hence economic rationality — as assumed by much of economics — is limited. This has enormous implications for finance, economics, and securities markets in particular. Daniel Kahneman won the Nobel Prize in Economics in part for his extensive work in this area with his collaborator, Amos Tversky.


Still, an Ivy has some value, though what the value is, no one knows for sure.

3. Assuming the person wants to continue at Ivy U, what to do? Well, here are my frugal tips. Do not change your major! In fact, try to graduate in 3 years. It would be more cost-effective to take a few courses at Local State U than to work in the summer. You need to make sure your college will accept these credits BEFOREHAND. Colleges are often reluctant to accept transfer credits.

4. DO NOT do Study Abroad. With Study Abroad, you pay your school's tuition and fees. Hence, my son spent a year in France. He paid the state tuition, fees, room, and board. Guess what? These were covered by his scholarship! The other people in the program paid between $10,000 and $50,000 a year--for the same program. You can do your year abroad AFTER college, paying the program costs out of pocket. These are--based on my son's investigations in France--less than half the cost of private US college tuition. room, and board.

Can anyone think of anything else?

Student Loans and Bankruptcy

This is an issue taken up in today's New York Times. Over the past few years, there have been scads of articles featuring hapless recent grads of expensive private colleges, shocked at their loan burden. Interestingly, several of these students are grads of NYU.

Of course, this is an issue close to my heart, as my children regretfully declined acceptances from private colleges--complete with merit aid--and chose state institutions.

So I was inspired to pen a comment, which I am copying below. I wrote this in the heat of emotion without re-reading, fyi. So no guarantee of completeness or coherence.

I'm of several minds about this. Both my children got into prestigious private colleges--small liberal arts colleges. My husband and I had always dreamed of sending them to Oberlin, Kenyon,Reed, and the like. Yet when it came down to it, each chose a no-cost state institution--even at full-cost the price would have been very low.

Yes, teenagers are naive about money and the burden of interest payments. Yes, parents are complicit in urging the teens to go to a "top college." Yes, colleges have raised tuition in part BECAUSE of the ready availability of loans. And, as we found out last year, some college financial aid officers were receiving kickbacks from "preferred" lenders.

But I believe the laws were changed, in part, because graduates of law schools and med schools were declaring bankruptcy UPON graduation!

So I would suggest that colleges/banks be required--as credit card companies now are--to show what the payments will be down the road. But I also believe that families and students should take more responsibility about their college choices, especially when considering a private college. Tuition at private colleges has gone up at twice the rate of inflation.

Perhaps the ability to discharge student loans in bankruptcy will make the banks wary about lending vast sums of money to naive teenagers.

I think we've all seen the need to teach basic math skills and consumer awareness. I have heard from my own students, "I thought that it was an OK amount of debt because the bank said I could borrow it." Shades of the housing bubble.

What think you, dear readers? I said to Mr. FS--somewhat facetiously--that if we had known the laws would change we could have saved less money for the kids AND encouraged them to go for the prestigious college.

Frugal Note: Since I have copied and pasted this from a comment that will--perhaps--appear on the NYT website, I have created a twofer situation: two comments for the labor of one. This is more commonly known--in extreme couponing circles (of which I am not a part)--as a BOGO: buy one, get one free.

From the Mouths of Colleges: Search for Low-Need Students

Every now and again, I glance at the websites of the liberal arts schools where I had short-term jobs. I love the ethos of such schools, but was, for my own children turned off by the expense.

I've seen musings on the internet about the relation of the housing bubble and the tuition increases of colleges: people seemed more than ready to borrow from their housing appreciation. And, of course, there are many wealthy people around. In case you didn't know, colleges ARE businesses, albeit non-profits. The particular college below was, during my brief period of employ, in the money, the recipient of the largesse of a major drug company's foundation.

From the mouth of a college: the targeting of students from families that can afford to pay its almost $50,000/ year tuition and room and board fees:

Faced with falling enrollment due to the current financial situation, members of the community are devoting significant time and resources toward attracting more students to the college.

The Office of Admissions is pursuing a number of initiatives aimed at increasing the applicant pool and improving the yield of admitted students who end up enrolling. Some of the initiatives are aimed specifically at students who are low-need, or whose families can afford to pay a higher portion of tuition costs.

Mr. X explained that the goal of the initiatives is to increase enrollment from last fall’s total of 1,124 students to the college’s target figure of 1,200 students.


Any thoughts?

Is College Necessary? Two Cases

How could I even think such a thought? But many of my cherished and longstanding beliefs on education have undergone changes over the past few years. To wit: the virtue of private liberal arts colleges, a la Oberlin and the like. I was saving up for these, but when it came to the decision, we went for free public institutions over pricy (even with some merit aid) colleges. I think Mr. FS and I feel more agony over the decision than my children do. Had we only had one income, and our children thereby eligible for full need aid, then it would have perhaps been a different story. Likewise, if we had higher incomes or wealthy families backing us up.

Two cases I have heard of late are making me ask "Is college necessary?"

Case 1: Talented musician, mediocre student. Got into out-of-state college with good music department. Received instate tuition, but entered on academic probation. After 3 years of Ds in all subjects other than music performance, he is taking a year off and working in a restaurant. The manager loves him and suggested that he think of a career in restaurant management. The restaurant in question is part of the empire run by a superstar Louisiana chef. He has a significant amount of student debt. What would be the point of his getting a college degree?

Case 2: Heard this one yesterday. Academically talented student, only child, attended prestigious lefty New York college. Suffered a tragedy: her boyfriend died suddenly of a congenital condition. Took leave from college. Working as buyer in mother's uber-successful clothing boutique. She is brainy enough to learn on her own. Or she could avail herself of the many nearby colleges. What is the point of her getting a degree?

That I--a true believer in art for art's sake--even entertain such thoughts is a shocker.

What do you think?

Kicking It Down A Notch: Instant Coffee

Miss Em, oops I mean Lucy Marmalade, decided she was spending too much money at Starbucks, plus she wanted to have a way to get coffee late at night when she was studying. We decided that making coffee in a dorm room would be too troublesome and messy. Instant--which I haven't imbibed in over 30 years--would seem to be the answer.

Oh, how I love the internet. No sooner did I type "BEST INSTANT COFFEE" than I had the answer: Nescafe Clasico. It is made for the Hispanic market. Post-Katrina, my locale became something of a Hispanic market, as people from Central America came for work. So we found it at Target and elsewhere.

And I am here to say: it is quite good! Now I've bought some for me and Mr. FS.

For Lucy, it saves time and money. For us, it saves time. Frugal all around.

Back in grad school, when I bought my first Melitta drip pot, my friends would have gaped in shock at the thought of instant coffee (or bottled salad dressing or bouillon cubes or frozen broccoli or....lots of other things). What a relief to lower my standards a bit.

Have you lowered your standards in any food area?

Saving on Textbooks: I Should Just Give Up

So much terrible news in the world these days. The pictures from Haiti really bring home that my experience of Katrina Lite was indeed lite: within 3 days, the Red Cross was dishing up food downtown and, a few days after that, the streets were sufficiently cleared that you could drive to the Target parking lot where volunteers were handing out water, ice, and MREs (plus diapers and formula if you needed those things). The joke around here is that Louisiana is a third world country. But, of course, WE HAVE NO IDEA. And my cynical mind wonders if the CEOs of Goldman Sachs et al are relieved that news from Haiti knocked their smirking faces off the front pages.

SORRY. Oh yeah, TEXTBOOK PRICES.

It's easy enough to say: buy used or check out Amazon. What I did was check out Amazon, Powells, weigh the possibilities of rental on Chegg and other similar sites, and so forth. There is no easy answer. I did discover that the books my daughter had from first semester were basically worthless, but that the books she needed were expensive. WHY?

Books go into new editions with great rapidity. If your book is brand new, it has about 2 years of life. So, maybe, I would buy and then resell. If it is near the end of its lifespan, used might be cheap, but you will not be able to resell. Rental might be better. Example: the new edition of a book a friend needed will be coming out January 28. Just after the stock of the old ones will have been purchased.

For courses in history, literature, and so on that require regular books--not textbooks--you should check used bookstores and Powells. Or even the swap sites like paperbackswap.com. My daughter needed The Stranger, Grendel, A Room of One's Own. I had all these, but all are available at paperbackswap. If you are not a swapper you can buy credits from the site or from members, who sell them in the Book Bazaar.

So what did I do? Well, I had some of the books. Then I suggested borrowing. She did borrow a math book. Then I bought her French book and some other trade books at Powells. I saved about $50.00 on the French book.

Or so I thought. A new development, at least to me. The French book requires an on-line code, which comes with the new book. If you buy used, you need to pay $50.00 for the code. Savings: 0. Time wasted: quite a bit.

Ditto for the borrowed math book. The code costs $99.00; the new book costs $109.00. See where this is going?

My biggest savings will come from the US tax code. For 2009 and 2010, the tax credit for education has been expanded from tuition only to include books. Since my kids have tuition scholarships, I have not taken any tax credits. Now I can get a credit for the full cost of their books. So my search for cheaper books was an educational adventure. What I learned: you can't beat the textbook companies. At least, not much.

How to Save Money on Textbooks: Not So Easy

Textbook prices. This is a scary subject. I don't really know too much about the business end, but I think textbooks are extremely lucrative for publishers. They can charge what they want because you gotta have them. I got a glimpse of the business side recently when I heard that one of the publisher's reps, a very corporate type with power suits who had appeared on Jeopardy, was reassigned, after losing our order.

As my devoted readers know, my frugality extends beyond my immediate family, to the world at large. So I was always aware of the cost of the books I was ordering. But most teachers have no idea. At my current institution, frugality is built in. We have a textbook rental system, whereby students pay only $18.00 per course for up to two books! Given that language, math, and science books range now from $150.00-$200.00, with $50.00 or more for the flimsy workbooks that accompany them, you can see that this represents a huge savings. In fact, quite a few students say that the rental system--which the other state schools did not adopt--is what attracted them to the school in the first place.

In fact, the textbook industry reminds me of the drug industry; well-dressed reps who show up at your place of employ, sometimes with pizza (better lunches at doctor's offices). Customers who HAVE TO HAVE THE PRODUCT. And doctors/teachers who have no idea of the cost of what they just ordered.

I don't think we're allowed to get pizza anymore, incidentally. I have heard reports on NPR outlining how professors are offered trips for research or author credits and so forth. That's not the case at my school as far as I know.

My children are at colleges where they have to buy textbooks. Tomorrow: a report on my successes and failures in getting them textbooks at reasonable (i.e. "reasonable") prices.