college expenses-- tax deductible??

Parent Cafe
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<p>I am going to be a HS senior next yr but I plan on taking some community college classes after school. I have 2 courses I really need to take actually, but I saw that each course has required textbooks that cost more than $200 PER CLASS. (i am exempt from tuition fees b/c I’ll still be a HS student but I’m not exempt from book costs). So I will be paying $400 for books apparently.</p>

<p>I was a little shocked-- I am not familiar with college at all right now and I haven’t thought about book costs. So I contacted the college to see if they have books I am borrow but they said that people buy textbooks but the costs are TAX DEDUCTIBLE.</p>

<p>I am new to this too. I will be spending around $450 for the two courses I need to take (including semester one-time fee, ID, etc). Will my family get tax returns for this amount? How does it work??</p>

<p>Thanks in advance- I am just shocked because I am only used to AP courses and those are $80 and textbooks, I use for free=[ please explain to me how the whole tax thing applies to my situation!</p>

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<p>There are tax credits for education. But the only one that allows books to be used for the credit is the American Opportunity Tax Credit and for that you must be enrolled as a degree seeking student and must be enrolled at least half time. The lifetime learning credit only allows books as a deduction if the books must be purchased from the institution as a condition of enrollment (rarely, if ever the case).</p>

<p>iRS 970 has all the rules.</p>

<p>You should look for the books online and see if you can find them used and cheaper. We rarely buy books from the school bookstores as they are so pricey. Sites I have had good luck with are Amazon marketplace, half.com, ebay, textbooks.com.</p>