<p>@mathmomvt What is the American opportunity tax credit?</p>
<p>[never mind, figured it out]</p>
<p>@staceyneil if you pay $4K or more in qualified educational expenses (QEE) on behalf of your dependent child (or your dependent child pays them himself/herself, including through loans) you get a $2500 tax credit, part of which is refundable (you get the money even if you paid no tax). You can get a smaller portion of the credit if you pay less. QEE includes tuition, mandatory fees, and mandatory books/materials. Room and board does not count. Usually buying a computer doesn’t count, unless the student is required to have one for a specific course or program. Similarly notebooks and general school supplies don’t count. But if they required specific drafting supplies for a drafting class, that could count. I believe you can do this for 4 calendar years per child, but don’t quote me on that part. And I think it’s one of those things that’s always set to expire, but then gets extended for a few more years, so it could go away at some point.</p>
<p>Since DS14 has a full tuiton scholarship, most of what we will be paying on his behalf is room and board, which doesn’t count. But there is about $2K in mandatory fees, plus whatever he spends on textbooks that we can get a credit toward. So we will need receipts for textbooks. (If your child has a scholarship that doesn’t specify that it must be used for tuition, you can apply part of it toward room and board. That makes that part of the scholarship taxable <em>to the student</em> but chances are your student doesn’t have much income so they’ll pay little or no tax on it and you can get the tax credit, and pay back the student for any small amount of tax they might owe on it.)</p>
<p>calla1: I agree. Call the FA office Monday and explain the situation. Perhaps they can offer some ideas. Five years ago, my oldest son wanted to go to a particular private college. He really loved the place. We did not love the FA offer, so he asked if I would call. The outcome would determine his decision. The lady was so nice and understanding. He just did not qualify for anything else. When I mentioned that he had a NM offer from an OOS public, she told me, “Take it … and I’ll see him for grad school.” He is going to law school elsewhere, but it was nice that she saw the big picture.</p>
<p>As for textbooks, my son had me do the shopping every semester, and he was glad I did. Once got a stats book for $1.20. It retailed for $178. So look around. Maybe a roommate is taking the same class and you can split the cost. Check it out of library, as they usually have a copy. Oh, and make sure they sell them back to somewhere! My oldest son regrets not listening to his mom and packing them up for Amazon. A few dollars is better than no dollars.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Son '14 had another amazing night track-wise. Broke his 800-meter run record for the second time this season and qualified for states. Helped a relay team qualify for states, too. Ran the anchor on another relay team to a record time. He was pretty pumped. He has nine school records to his name, including seven individual ones.Some of his teammates are so thrilled for him. Meanwhile, the local media does not realize it, and no one knows what to do about it. As the mom, I cannot call and let them know. His teachers are furious that no one has written anything about him. Oh well. He says he hopes if he wins a state title, then they will notice.</p>
<p>@Calla1, what a horrible shock on the job front. I hope you have better news soon. I have read of FA offices coming through in situation like this.
@Momreads, congratulations on your son’s track successes! How exciting!
S14 has IB tests beginning tomorrow. Right now he is taking a timed practice physics test. Poor kid has his last test the morning before graduation.</p>
<p>@RennaissanceMom: or he could do your suggestion #1 [take amtrack to NYC & stay in city & then rent car to drive to cornell] but rent the car in New Rochelle instead of in NYC. After taking MTA from Grand Central Station to New Rochelle. Evidently Budget and Hertz are right near the New Rochelle Metro North station. I didn’t realize that myself. (But I guess why would I…). That’s in case it is cheaper to rent from there, which I have no idea really.</p>
<p>@calla1 I am SO sorry about your husband job. </p>
<p>I just googled “American opportunity tax credit” and it looks like it has income (AGI) limit to be qualified.</p>
<p>Note on the tax credit: If you’re paying for qualified education expenses from a 529 account, you can’t get the credit, so you’d have to pay the 4k out of regular accounts.</p>
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It’s not a year anymore. It’s six months, then 50% off after. Still a good deal.</p>
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<p>Good point, but I think it depends whether you’re paying out of the money you actually contributed or interest/earnings. When I take a withdrawal it says what portion of it was interest. The earnings portion can’t be used toward QEE for the tax credit, but I’m pretty sure if you are withdrawing money you yourself contributed, that can be used toward QEE for the tax credit.</p>
<p>529 money can be used toward room and board expenses, so we’ll pay R&B out of the (small) 529 balance, and fees/textbooks from regular income, and take the credit on that.</p>
<p>@calla1 I’m so sorry. I do understand how that is because my ex-husband has been unemployed for about 4 of the last 5 years. I do hope he’s been employed long enough to qualify for unemployment. I do believe they’ll work with you. </p>
<p>As for textbooks, my D waits until classes start. They have a shopping period for the first two weeks so nobody has their textbooks yet because they haven’t determined for sure which classes they’ll keep. That gives her plenty of time to obtain her textbooks. Sometimes she buys used, sometimes she buys off of Amazon or another site and sometimes she rents. It has varied significantly. She searches for the ISBN and figures out the best deal. Sometimes she gets e-books too- especially for novels for lit classes. </p>
<p>@calla1 so sorry for the job loss. Do call the FA office. The worst thing that can happen is no additional funds, but you won’t know until you call.</p>
<p>@momreads doesn’t the school have an athletic director or director of student services that can drop a,line with the local papers? They can even tweet about his accomplishments and have it picked up that way! This happened to my DS when he made the winning score in the waning moments of a game for a historic win. The school tweeted it, it was picked up by the local paper, and they ran a short story on it.</p>
<p>^great idea, novamom. What I found too is that local papers will take your article about the event, publish it with their own byline, and be vastly more likely to publish it if it comes with “art” (a photo).</p>
<p>@Calla1 – I am so sorry to hear your bad news – wishing you the best both in having the FA adjusted, and in managing while DH is not working. </p>
<p>@AsleepAtTheWheel – definitely used textbooks, not purchased from the school if you can find them online or thru a friend. The school bookstore always charges a LOT more than you can find elsewhere. My last semester at CCC, my math professor told us that the “exclusive” math book only produced for that school and costing about $150 was the same as another one with a different title - gave us the ISBN number, and I was able to get it for $5 shipped. Also, depending on the major, sometimes it is helpful to keep the books as reference material during one’s career, so for those kinds of books, I occasionally bought new, or barely used, but still not from the school bookstore.</p>
<p>Oh, I forgot, after reading thru pages and pages of posts – Prom dress is done, and currently at prom!! I wanted to share a pic, but not necessarily forever, or even if that is allowed here on CC, so was wondering if there is a 2014 FB group??</p>
<p>@calla1 How terrible – hope that this is just a temporary setback. I would be very surprised if you didn’t get any accommodation. </p>
<p>By the way, I’ve set up a custom URL for the acceptances/decisions Google doc: <a href=“Class of 2018: List of Acceptances (H.S. Class of 2014) - Google Docs”>http://■■■■■■■/class2018</a></p>
<p>@calla1 - So sorry to hear about your husband’s job situation. As several others have stated, call the FA office first thing on Monday moring and ask for their guidance regarding a reevaluation. </p>
<p>@calla1 – Ugh. How awful. There’s no good timing for something like this, but now is certainly bad timing. So sorry. Hope that you do get some accommodation. Keep us posted.</p>
<p>@momreads – give me the name of the local paper and I’LL call them. If he keeps improving at this pace he’ll have to drop out of college to train for the 2018 Olympics. Run Forrest Run!!</p>
<p>To all who shared their experience and suggestions on the textbook question, much thanks. Very helpful. I found the cheaptextbooks . c*m site particularly intriguing. </p>
<p>@calla1 so sorry. It’s never good timing but just as one of your kids is starting college has to be one of the worst. Definitely call fin. aid. As a public uni. UCSB will have a specific way to handle this kind of inquiry so you should get an answer from them fairly easily. Good luck on all fronts.</p>
<p>@calla1 I am so sorry to hear about your husbands job loss. I hope that UCBS offers some assistance. My husband and I have had our share off employment issues. It is not easy - hang in there.</p>
<p>Great advice everyone about the textbooks and the tax credit. </p>
<p>My S went to his GF ( former) Prom last evening. I invited myself over to her house to take pictures! They looked so beautiful and handsome. We rented a designer slim tux for my very slim son and it looked great on him. He also rented a vest and tie to match her dress. We really took a guess on the color ( shade) and it was right on! They looked so happy and excited. His date looked radiate - she is so beautiful but is the type who doesn’t realize how pretty she is. Normally, she wears glasses and no make up…
Because the Prom was over an hour away, S was spending the night at her house…today is his 18th birthday ! What a great birthday celebration for him. I just hope he is ok with going back to the “just friends” status of their relationship…they never see each other but txt constantly …I just don’t get it but I am not 18! </p>