30 replies to this topic

[Cosmos Human]

I'm going to grad school starting this August. All my forms are in. Just waiting for the financial award to be presented. I was lucky and received a scholarship with will cover some of my tuition for the next two years. Yea!

I called and they (financial aid office) said I should hear by the end of June or first week of July. I hate waiting!

So far in preparation of my attending grad school I am fixing up a small study area. My current lap top...is a brick so I was able to great deal on a 14" HP with an i5, 6GB RAM, and a 750 GB HD...$549.00 after the rebates. I will need this to carry around, and it weighs just a tad over four pounds. I have a backpack, pens, pencils, and a filing system all ready to go.

No info on textbooks just yet. They have available NOOK study so eBooks will be cheaper. Has anyone you know used NOOK study to d/l books and is the quality there?

I haven't set foot in an academic setting since 1993. What else should I be planning?

Edited by Cosmos Human, 17 June 2012 - 03:38 PM.

[Labyrinthine]

You are right to look to technology but keep in mind ebooks for text books is not universal yet - there may be some courses where you still need to buy physical books. If my book is offered in digital format, I go for it. I can make notes right in the program and bookmark, plus you can ctrl+F to find a topic if you forget where it was!

I use One Note for my in class notes. It is very handy and if you also have the e-book you can "screen clip" from the e-book to the notes you are typing.

Good luck! You are going to be great!

[sirrowan]

I'm officially jealous. I would love love love to go back to school to get my masters!

Good luck!!!!!

[Cosmos Human]

I know about One Note. The IT guy at work told me that his son whet to the same school and recently graduated. I was told not to purchase any software, as the school will give me all the software I need. This includes the full MS Office suite! I wonder if they have Photoshop? I only have the "Mickey Mouse" version of Office (Word and Excel only) on my brick lap top and nothing on my new lap top. I do have current versions of Norton 360. Since my tuition is not yet paid I have no access to their software center. But I was able to d/l the VPN which is necessary to d/l the software.

I also have a Kindle, but the textbooks may not display properly. That is what the FAQs state. A friend said that he uses an iPad for textbooks and it displays fine. But I don't have the money to buy an iPad; since I just bought a new HP, backpack, wireless mouse, and sleeve. The eBooks can be d/l on up to two devices. The bookstore is run by B&N, so the mark-up is high and they do not accept the B&N discount card.

Also my IT guy told me about textbooks on Half.com (eBay site). I have ordered from Amazon a lot and just found out that students get free two day shipping for like six months and can renew at $39.00 and change a year while they are at least half-time student; which I am.

Since I have not written an academic paper is so very long I purchased a book on APA style. Also a book on Word 2010 and Office Suite 2010 since I do not know them at all, only have used the much earlier versions. Have to learn the "ribbon" now!

Edited by Cosmos Human, 17 June 2012 - 04:36 PM.

[Cosmos Human]

I'm officially jealous. I would love love love to go back to school to get my masters!

Good luck!!!!!

I'm going to be in debt for a very long time! Thanks for the luck, going to need it!

Edited by Cosmos Human, 17 June 2012 - 04:35 PM.

[VibrantEcho]

Congrats and welcome to the back-to-school club! What program are you pursuing?

[Cosmos Human]

Master of Science in Social Administration (MSSA) Degree. It is the same as a Masters of Social Work

Edited by Cosmos Human, 17 June 2012 - 07:27 PM.

[Pam]

re: OneNote and the other Microsoft suite of products - you can sync your stuff to Microsoft's Sky Drive and then also use the programs directly from there. I use OneNote for school as well, and they don't' make it for Mac. And that makes me sad. But I can go to live.com and click on SkyDrive and all my OneNote stuff is there and 99% of the functionality of OneNote is there for me to use. I really like OneNote, if you can't tell.

And I can access from anywhere I have internet so I always have my notes.

[Cosmos Human]

re: OneNote and the other Microsoft suite of products - you can sync your stuff to Microsoft's Sky Drive and then also use the programs directly from there. I use OneNote for school as well, and they don't' make it for Mac. And that makes me sad. But I can go to live.com and click on SkyDrive and all my OneNote stuff is there and 99% of the functionality of OneNote is there for me to use. I really like OneNote, if you can't tell.

And I can access from anywhere I have internet so I always have my notes.

\Thanks for the info!

[Nemeweh]

Concerning books..

I find the ISDN number from the school bookstore website and can usually find it on Amazon, new even, for less $$. $79 a year gains me Amazon Prime which includes free 2 day shipping on 90% of everything I need. Also lots of kindle edition texts and even a kindle eReader you can install on your new laptop and save them on their cloud server so you access anytime/anywhere you can with a computer. (also free movies/shows like Netflix - just a side bonus)

Also there are rental websites like Chegg.com .

hth and congrats!

[Labyrinthine]

Students can get Amazon Prime for $49 most of the time. It is SO worth it in so many ways.

[Nemeweh]

Students can get Amazon Prime for $49 most of the time. It is SO worth it in so many ways.

Even better!

[Cosmos Human]

Students can get Amazon Prime for $49 most of the time. It is SO worth it in so many ways.

Is is $39.00 now, have to check. Worth buying!!

I don't think I get the free movies on the student price. But I do have Netflix!

Edited by Cosmos Human, 20 June 2012 - 01:16 PM.

[Cosmos Human]

Concerning books..

I find the ISDN number from the school bookstore website and can usually find it on Amazon, new even, for less $$. $79 a year gains me Amazon Prime which includes free 2 day shipping on 90% of everything I need. Also lots of kindle edition texts and even a kindle eReader you can install on your new laptop and save them on their cloud server so you access anytime/anywhere you can with a computer. (also free movies/shows like Netflix - just a side bonus)

Also there are rental websites like Chegg.com .

hth and congrats!

I know about this. I have a Kindle already and eReader (Kindle) installed on my laptop along with the NOOK Study as well. Finding books with the ISDN is a dream. I also have book borrowing from the library. I can request just about anything from an Ohio library as well!
Just found out today that my work is upgrading to Office 2012 and I can go to free trainings! YIPEE!

[Nemeweh]

Concerning books..

I find the ISDN number from the school bookstore website and can usually find it on Amazon, new even, for less $$. $79 a year gains me Amazon Prime which includes free 2 day shipping on 90% of everything I need. Also lots of kindle edition texts and even a kindle eReader you can install on your new laptop and save them on their cloud server so you access anytime/anywhere you can with a computer. (also free movies/shows like Netflix - just a side bonus)

Also there are rental websites like Chegg.com .

hth and congrats!

I know about this. I have a Kindle already and eReader (Kindle) installed on my laptop along with the NOOK Study as well. Finding books with the ISDN is a dream. I also have book borrowing from the library. I can request just about anything from an Ohio library as well!
Just found out today that my work is upgrading to Office 2012 and I can go to free trainings! YIPEE!

I'd ask my IT guy from work to burn me a copy and get me a key, if they would do it. Free is better than cheap! Although through the school I was able to purchase MS Office 2012 and whatever the last operating system they released was (how sad I cant keep track of what OS I am running ha!) for about 69$ via my student email/ID from school.

[Cosmos Human]

Concerning books..

I find the ISDN number from the school bookstore website and can usually find it on Amazon, new even, for less $$. $79 a year gains me Amazon Prime which includes free 2 day shipping on 90% of everything I need. Also lots of kindle edition texts and even a kindle eReader you can install on your new laptop and save them on their cloud server so you access anytime/anywhere you can with a computer. (also free movies/shows like Netflix - just a side bonus)

Also there are rental websites like Chegg.com .

hth and congrats!

I know about this. I have a Kindle already and eReader (Kindle) installed on my laptop along with the NOOK Study as well. Finding books with the ISDN is a dream. I also have book borrowing from the library. I can request just about anything from an Ohio library as well!
Just found out today that my work is upgrading to Office 2012 and I can go to free trainings! YIPEE!

I'd ask my IT guy from work to burn me a copy and get me a key, if they would do it. Free is better than cheap! Although through the school I was able to purchase MS Office 2012 and whatever the last operating system they released was (how sad I cant keep track of what OS I am running ha!) for about 69$ via my student email/ID from school.

My school gives me all the software I need for FREE!!! The IT gets asked all the time for software, no can give up! I have to d/l through a VPN to get the software, all FREE!!! It is a perk included my tuition.

[Nemeweh]

Nice then!!!

you are so going to rock this school!


eta - "than" - "then" - whatevs

Edited by Nemeweh, 20 June 2012 - 02:02 PM.

[Cosmos Human]

I did get a scholarship that would take off 30% of tuition. It is a part time program (for the next three years)which before the scholarship is figured in is $1238 credit hour. First semester is 6 credit hours.

I will no doubt have to take out student loans. It is eight semesters in total (year round).

I will most likely have to brush up on my academic writing skills and learn APA style. I bought the books. I have written papers in a very long time.

I wish I had a tutor but I can ask the BF who is a professor in history to advise me....

[mama25]

I did get a scholarship that would take off 30% of tuition. It is a part time program (for the next three years)which before the scholarship is figured in is $1238 credit hour. First semester is 6 credit hours.

I will no doubt have to take out student loans. It is eight semesters in total (year round).

I will most likely have to brush up on my academic writing skills and learn APA style. I bought the books. I have written papers in a very long time.

I wish I had a tutor but I can ask the BF who is a professor in history to advise me....

Youtube has some good tutorials on APA style. Good luck!

Edited by mama25, 20 June 2012 - 08:57 PM.

[iH8cra]

I did get a scholarship that would take off 30% of tuition. It is a part time program (for the next three years)which before the scholarship is figured in is $1238 credit hour. First semester is 6 credit hours.

I will no doubt have to take out student loans. It is eight semesters in total (year round).

I will most likely have to brush up on my academic writing skills and learn APA style. I bought the books. I have written papers in a very long time.

I wish I had a tutor but I can ask the BF who is a professor in history to advise me....

Youtube has some good tutorials on APA style. Good luck!

I'm in school and I church out APA-style paper after APA-style paper.

The best $29 I ever spent was on a program called PERRLA. It is an add-on for Word that will automagically put your paper into APA format, create citations, and format your reference page. It is worth every cent I paid for it and has saved me countless hours. I highly recommend it.

[Cosmos Human]

I did get a scholarship that would take off 30% of tuition. It is a part time program (for the next three years)which before the scholarship is figured in is $1238 credit hour. First semester is 6 credit hours.

I will no doubt have to take out student loans. It is eight semesters in total (year round).

I will most likely have to brush up on my academic writing skills and learn APA style. I bought the books. I have written papers in a very long time.

I wish I had a tutor but I can ask the BF who is a professor in history to advise me....

Youtube has some good tutorials on APA style. Good luck!

I'm in school and I church out APA-style paper after APA-style paper.

The best $29 I ever spent was on a program called PERRLA. It is an add-on for Word that will automagically put your paper into APA format, create citations, and format your reference page. It is worth every cent I paid for it and has saved me countless hours. I highly recommend it.

I will check out this software program. Thanks!

[beli]

I did get a scholarship that would take off 30% of tuition. It is a part time program (for the next three years)which before the scholarship is figured in is $1238 credit hour. First semester is 6 credit hours.

I will no doubt have to take out student loans. It is eight semesters in total (year round).

I will most likely have to brush up on my academic writing skills and learn APA style. I bought the books. I have written papers in a very long time.

I wish I had a tutor but I can ask the BF who is a professor in history to advise me....

Youtube has some good tutorials on APA style. Good luck!

I'm in school and I church out APA-style paper after APA-style paper.

The best $29 I ever spent was on a program called PERRLA. It is an add-on for Word that will automagically put your paper into APA format, create citations, and format your reference page. It is worth every cent I paid for it and has saved me countless hours. I highly recommend it.

I will check out this software program. Thanks!

I personally liked Grammarly.. http://www.grammarly...CFSWFQAod_SUl1w It's to be used after you write the paper I believe.. at least that's what I used it for.

but I used both programs when I was wrirting my senior paper and ended up with an A.

Good luck!

that is ONE thing I do not miss about school.. all the papers... lol.

Edited by beli, 21 June 2012 - 07:06 AM.

[Cosmos Human]

I did get a scholarship that would take off 30% of tuition. It is a part time program (for the next three years)which before the scholarship is figured in is $1238 credit hour. First semester is 6 credit hours.

I will no doubt have to take out student loans. It is eight semesters in total (year round).

I will most likely have to brush up on my academic writing skills and learn APA style. I bought the books. I have written papers in a very long time.

I wish I had a tutor but I can ask the BF who is a professor in history to advise me....

Youtube has some good tutorials on APA style. Good luck!

I'm in school and I church out APA-style paper after APA-style paper.

The best $29 I ever spent was on a program called PERRLA. It is an add-on for Word that will automagically put your paper into APA format, create citations, and format your reference page. It is worth every cent I paid for it and has saved me countless hours. I highly recommend it.

I will check out this software program. Thanks!

I personally liked Grammarly.. http://www.grammarly...CFSWFQAod_SUl1w It's to be used after you write the paper I believe.. at least that's what I used it for.

but I used both programs when I was wrirting my senior paper and ended up with an A.

Good luck!

that is ONE thing I do not miss about school.. all the papers... lol.

Thanks. I found a coupon code for the Perrla...online. But right now i have the "free" Work 2012. Need to get the full edition from school.

[Cosmos Human]

But wait there's more! I recently found out about the educational tax benefits. I can claim up to 4k of education expenses...tuition and fees off my taxes, or claim the life-long learning credit (I think the name changed), but not both. This is looking better everyday!

I can't claim books or my new pc...oh well. But I have to pay a student fee of like $130.00; a one time fee, and then tuition...even if it is paid via student loans. I thought required books would be covered but they aren't. I would subtract my scholarship from my loan and then claim that amount. Is it that simple? I wonder if the $100.00 I paid as a down payment would also be included?

Has anyone at CB taken this deduction? Please 'splain it to me....

[beli]

But wait there's more! I recently found out about the educational tax benefits. I can claim up to 4k of education expenses...tuition and fees off my taxes, or claim the life-long learning credit (I think the name changed), but not both. This is looking better everyday!

I can't claim books or my new pc...oh well. But I have to pay a student fee of like $130.00; a one time fee, and then tuition...even if it is paid via student loans. I thought required books would be covered but they aren't. I would subtract my scholarship from my loan and then claim that amount. Is it that simple? I wonder if the $100.00 I paid as a down payment would also be included?

Has anyone at CB taken this deduction? Please 'splain it to me....

Why can't you claim books? In my state we could deduct anything not paid by loans as long as it was a school expense up to a certain amount. Since my books weren't covered by the student loans I could deduct them.

Next year is gonna suck for me for returns due to not getting credits for school but ah well, I can deduct the interest rate I think once I start paying again. I have to go back and read again.

Congrats again!

As far as claiming on your tax returns you will get a form at the of end January or sometime In January for the previous school year with an amount in certain boxes. I forgot what it's called now 1098t? anyway... enter the amounts it says to enter when doing your taxes according to which box. that simple. It'll ask you if you are going to school click yes and extra screen will pop up then fill in the blanks. At least that's how I've always done it with online tax software.

Edited by beli, 23 June 2012 - 11:37 AM.