Search results matching tag 'education'

Do school uniforms save money?

Teresa Mears — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:35:00 GMT

As students head back to school this fall, an age-old debate is raging: Do school uniforms save parents money on school clothes? Catholic school students have always worn uniforms, but in recent years more public school students are wearing uniforms, too.

Whether requiring students to wear uniforms improves the education experience continues to be debated. Marian Wilde at Great Schools reports that studies have found both that it does and it doesn't.

But is it cheaper? Parents disagree on that, too. And the answer may depend on whether the school uniform code is flexible, such as requiring any navy pants and white polo shirts, or navy pants and white polo shifts from specific vendors.

Parents are definitely trying to save money on school clothes this year. According to the The National Retail Federation's annual Back to School Survey, four of five Americans say the economy is significantly affecting back-to-school spending plans.

Many parents say uniforms for public school students do save money, and as more schools have turned to uniforms, more stores -- from Wal-Mart to J.C. Penney to Sears to Lands' End -- have added school uniforms to their offerings.

Tiffany Ulmer, a mother of two charter school students in Eagle Mountain, Utah, persuaded her local Wal-Mart to stock the uniforms her kids needed.

If you're shopping for school uniforms this year, here are a few ways to save:

Check local thrift stores for used uniforms.
Organize a uniform exchange with other parents.
Check online sources.
Look for online coupons.

Cheap Kate, of the Orlando Sentinel's Frugal Force, cautions that it's best not to do too much back-to-school shopping before school starts because your kids' needs may change during the year.

What are your tips to save money on school uniforms or school clothes in general? Do you think requiring uniforms for public school students is a good plan?

Related reading:

Make your clothes last longer

Clothes shopping for frugal families

18 top tips for buying used clothes

Free college lectures and more

Teresa Mears — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:56:00 GMT

We've all thought about how much more we'd learn if we got a chance to go to college again as mature adults, and there is a monster list of online college courses. One of the best places to be a student again is at iTunes U, which provides free access to thousands of audio and video files from some of the world's top universities.

The service also provides free access to public radio and TV programs, and this summer the Library of Congress began participating. You can listen to American Public Media's "Marketplace" or watch PBS programs, all free and at your own convenience.

You can watch and listen on your iPod or your home computer, using the iTunes program you use to buy music. Apple offers a guided tour of iTunes U to help you get started.

The Learn-Gasm blog has listed 50 terrific lectures to get you through the economic crisis, including a 13-part podcost by Dan Ariely of Duke University called Predictably Irrational, on how to control your behavior and make smart decisions even during a crisis.

Dara at The Do It Yourself Scholar offers a guide to iTunes U and says the best course collections are from Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley, Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Trent Hamm of partner blog The Simple Dollar finds good personal finance podcasts through iTunes' podcast section. He was even inspired to start his own free podcasts.

If you're home schooling or looking for good material for your elementary and high school-age children, you can find good K-12 material and teacher development resources, notes Maya Payne Smart at Edutopia.

Basics of online education

Downloadable audio books closer than you think

Top 10 moneymaking degrees

Karen Datko — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:27:00 GMT

Forget a job on Wall Street. If you want to make money when you get out of college, engineering is the current hot choice.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers released its 2009 ranking of the top 10 average starting salaries for new college grads, and petroleum engineering was No. 1, at a cool $83,121. Nine of the top 10 jobs have "engineering" in the title.

But does that mean you should change your major immediately? Hold on, said Darwin at Darwin's Finance. Not so fast.

Darwin, a high school math and science wiz, majored in chemical engineering (No. 2 on the list) at a big state university, an experience he discussed in great detail in a post called "Top 10 college degrees in 2009 with massive demand." Funny thing is, he never worked in his field after graduation. He's in project management for a biotech manufacturing firm.

Darwin's major points:

Don't put lots of stock in these lists. They're "cyclical," he said, noting that finance and other business majors were hot last year.
Don't underestimate the competition. He thought he was pretty clever until he realized that many of his classmates were smarter and more disciplined. Others who brought less to the table than Darwin were weeded out.
Know what you want from college life. He worked a lot harder than friends who majored in non-engineering fields. No spring break trips for him. He's not kicking himself now, but we do sense a tinge of regret.
A bigger paycheck starting out doesn't mean you'll remain among the highest paid. He wrote:

The reason I say not to focus solely on starting salary is that if you're anything like me, you'll work very hard in both your undergrad (post-grad) and your career only to find that finance and business majors, while starting lower, end up making multiples of your salary within years.

Related reading:

Is a college degree worthless?

Will grad school pay off?

Students today, debt slaves forever

How much college debt is too much?

Inside the new GI Bill

Karen Datko — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:00:00 GMT

The Post-9/11 GI Bill that took effect with much fanfare will provide many veterans and military members with expanded educational opportunities.

Contrary to some reports, the older Montgomery GI Bill isn't going away with the advent of the new bill and, in some cases, may still be the better option. But for many, the new law will cover the full cost of a college degree.

We love the idea that people who have served their country are rewarded with a paid education. It's also good for the nation as a whole.

The original G.I. Bill of Rights, which expired in 1956, had huge ramifications for the country, the Chicago Tribune explains: "By providing World War II veterans with money to go to college, the original GI Bill transformed the American campus from a preserve of children of affluence into a broad highway to the middle class."

Here's how the new bill works:

Generally, members of the military, National Guard and Reserve who have at least 90 days of active-duty service after Sept. 11, 2001, are eligible for the bill's benefits. The amount of the benefit is based on length of service. Those with three years are entitled to the full amount.

Here's another important component: Those who have been in the military for a specified amount of time can transfer their unused benefits to a spouse or children. Children must use it by age 26.

Also:

The bill provides yearly tuition and fees up to an amount equal to those charged to in-state students by the most expensive public university in each state. Thus, the benefit varies state to state. Right now, the California public university system, which charges fees in place of tuition, is in kind of a no-man's-land, but that's being remedied.
If you want to attend a more expensive school, the Yellow Ribbon Program may help. Some universities have elected to split the extra cost with the VA.
Generally, you're eligible for a monthly housing allowance.
You'll also get a yearly $1,000 book stipend.

The older Montgomery GI Bill might work better for some military members, particularly those who are still on active duty. Military.com explains:

Choosing to switch to the Post-9/11 GI Bill is irrevocable, making sure it best suits each individual's needs before switching is critical. For most, the new GI Bill is a better deal; however, here are some reasons why the Post 9/11 may not fit your needs:

The school you plan to attend is located in a state with low tuition rates and/or you plan to use your benefits to attend online courses.
You plan to use your benefits to take vocational or technical training.
You qualify for less than 100% of the Post-9/11 GI Bill based on the number of active-duty months served since Sept. 10, 2001.
You have used more than half of your MGIB benefits. If you exhaust your MGIB before switching, you may be eligible for up to 12 additional months of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits.

To compare the two laws, click here. Also, Military.com has a good explanation.

Still clear as mud? Here are additional resources that explain the new bill:

The VA's GI Bill home page.
Veterans Benefits GI Bill.
"Fact checking the new GI Bill" at Military.com.
Newgibill.org.

Related reading:

Does military service still pay?

Payday loans ambush military members

Who's profiting from the Iraq war?

Basics of online education

Karen Datko — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:17:00 GMT

This post comes from Jim Wang at partner blog Bargaineering.

If you go back 10 or 15 years, there were two things you could do online that would get you laughed at: finding a date and getting a postsecondary degree.

With dating sites flourishing and online education popping up everywhere, the stigma associated with the online versions of both has all but been washed away. Meeting someone online no longer means you're meeting someone capable only of interacting with a computer, and getting a degree online no longer means you took some cupcake classes and paid for a diploma.

However, just as you still want to be careful whom you choose to meet in person from an online dating site, you'll also have to be careful which online university you choose to attend. Like dates, not all universities are created equal.

Benefits

The main benefit of online education is flexibility. When I attended Johns Hopkins for my MBA, I had to drive half an hour each way and pay for parking just so I could sit in a classroom. Sure, I participated, but the vast majority of the time I listened to a lecture and then drove home. With online education, the flexibility of listening to courses when I wanted to would've been very appealing. Nothing replaces the classroom experience, but when the majority of your other part-time classmates are looking to learn a little, get a degree, and get out, the classroom experience is limited.

Plus, by taking it at my own pace, I free up an hour of my life that I can spend on something else.

While flexibility is probably the biggest benefit, a close second has to do with the speed of learning. A class always seems to progress at the speed of the slowest vocal student. This is bad for two reasons. First, if someone understands a concept quickly, he or she must wait. If someone doesn't understand a concept quickly but is shy about it, the class continues on without that person. Both students are done a disservice, and that's mostly avoided with online education.

The last big benefit has to do with cost. Online programs are often less expensive than traditional programs strictly from a tuition perspective. With a lower cost, students can avoid loans, which further drives down the cost of education. It's a lot like the idea of online banks and brick-and-mortar banks: Online banks don't have the overhead that traditional banks do and they are able to pass those savings on to consumers.

Drawbacks

As with anything else, there are pluses and minuses. Online education still suffers from a stigma because it's not "traditional." Some online universities are incorporating a classroom component, where you might have to attend a classroom session once a month, but some people still see online courses as "buying" your degree (which is still true with some institutions).

Another drawback of online education is that it's self-paced. Self-paced learning is a double-edged sword. Some students learn at their own speed, and others don't get the full value of the course because they're trying to cram it all in at the last moment. Understanding how you'll handle self-paced learning is important in understanding whether online education is for you.

We've briefly discussed the benefits and drawbacks of online education. Let's look at how you should choose an online education institution.

Accreditation

The easiest measure of a university is whether it's been accredited. Accreditation is a way to determine the quality of the education at a particular school. It's performed by private accreditation organizations, not the federal government. Fortunately, the Higher Education Act of 1965 requires the U.S. secretary of education to publish a list of nationally recognized accrediting agencies and a database of nationally accredited postsecondary institutions and programs.

It's important to note that not all accreditation is created equal, though all are recognized as equal by the federal government. It's generally accepted that regional accreditation is the highest level of accreditation a school can get. There are six regional accreditation organizations:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.
New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.
Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

You can also go to the Council on Higher Education Accreditation to find out more about the accreditation body that accredited the online university you're looking at. You can read more about educational accreditation at Wikipedia.

You do not have to be accredited to open a school and award degrees. That's a very important point to understand. A school may be authorized to operate and not be accredited, so you'll want to check its accreditation and which organization awarded it.

Why does accreditation matter? Some employers and other universities may not recognize degrees you've obtained or classes you've taken at non-accredited universities because they can't be sure of the quality of the education. By going to a non-accredited school, you run the risk that your degree or your classes aren't recognized, so why risk it?

How to pick the right online university

After reviewing accreditation, you'll want to start doing the same research you would for a traditional university:

Professors. Since you'll be learning from them, do a little bit of background research on the professors who will be teaching your courses. See what their degrees are in, what their experience is, and what you think they bring to the virtual classroom.
Cost. Online education is generally cheaper but it may not be, after you consider all the fees and charges they may add on (cost of software should be included in tuition).
Classroom size. It may seem kind of silly to look at classroom size when you aren't in a classroom, but this will give you a better idea of how stretched your professor may be. Remember that these professors will be reading your work and giving you feedback. If he or she has 50 students, then you won't get as good an experience as you would with a professor who needs to interact with only 20.
Software requirements. If the online university uses software that requires you to have a newer computer, you'll need to add that to the cost of attending.
Classroom attendance. Some universities will require you to regularly attend a classroom session, perhaps once a month or once every two weeks.

Free online courses

If you're not concerned about getting credit for classes or degrees but are instead focused on expanding your skill set, you might want to try taking free online courses from traditional universities. Many universities offer self-paced online courses that are absolutely free. Here are a few to get you started:

What are your thoughts on online education?

Related reading at Bargaineering:

What is your total credit limit?

Supermarket psychology

Cheapest cars to insure

100-plus tips for college survival

Karen Datko — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:24:00 GMT

Want your college experience to be meaningful? Campus Grotto produced a comprehensive and insightful list of more than 100 tips to survive -- and actually learn something, which is why you're there. Right?

Some of the advice on the list won't vastly improve your prospects (although "Wear sandals in the showers" could prevent the distraction of itchy feet). But much of it could be critical, particularly as educators debate the pros (you save money) and cons (you work your buns off) of earning a bachelor's degree in three years.

(We did it, many years ago. Limited finances were a powerful motivator, and taking several advanced placement classes in high school helped.)

In fact, some U.S. colleges already offer three-year programs, the Houston Chronicle reports, adding, "But the programs aren't for everyone. Part-time students can't participate. Nor can those who lack discipline."

Among the Campus Grotto tips that deal with staying focused:

"Don't fall behind." Sure, that sounds obvious, but there's no better way to increase your stress than to have to cram and catch up.
Read the textbook. Yes, some students do skip this part. Also, don't skip class.
"Finals week will be hell; make sure you are prepared."
Sit near the front of the classroom. You'll get more out of it, and you want the professor to know you.
Don't take an 8 a.m. class if you can't stay awake. (We fell asleep in early-morning calculus much too often, which the prof commented on, even though we sat way in the back.)

Many of the tips deal with other serious issues, like financial aid and picking a major. Among the tips that are funny but make lots of sense:

"Don't cite Wikipedia in your research papers."
Don't wear your jammies to class. Why advertise how unmotivated you are?
If you join a frat, anticipate that your grades likely will suffer that semester.
Ditch the love interest at home, unless he or she is "the one."

Related reading:

College for half-price

Is a college degree worthless?

Help! Can our kids afford college?

Will community college meet your needs?

What's a master's degree worth?

Karen Datko — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:11:00 GMT

This guest post comes from "vh" at Funny about Money.

Tina, my associate editor on the day job and my moonlight business partner, sent a link to this interesting discussion. The main post itself has several links to relevant, equally interesting posts and conversations.

Given the astonishing burden of student loans that too many young people are saddled with -- my son's roommate's girlfriend, for example, remarked that she will graduate from a top-quality institution with a master's degree in international business and $1,400-a-month student loan payments -- assessing the "value" of graduate education is not a crass or pointless exercise.

It's well and good to love learning for learning's sake and so to feel that the graduate school experience is irrelevant to one's vocational prospects. However, once that graduate school experience ends, you still have to pay for it. You still have to keep a roof over your head, put food on your table, and foot the considerable cost of raising a family. When young people are saddled with five- and six-figure student loan debt, they should reasonably expect the financial investment in graduate education to pay off with jobs that will support them.

That, unfortunately, is too often not the case.

In our current economy, there simply aren't enough decent jobs (or jobs at all) to accommodate the rafts of M.A.s and Ph.D.s that learning factories like the Great Desert University crank out each year. Certain degrees make for more-employable graduates than others, and some degrees, such as the M.B.A., need to come from a top-tier (read "wildly expensive") school even to get the holder hired, to say nothing of commanding an upper-middle-class starting salary. And some degrees, to be blunt about it, are simply fraudulent: they're moneymaking scams perpetrated by administrators solely to extract as much cash as possible from as many suckers as will bite.

For example, GDU has a much-ballyhooed interdisciplinary master's degree that has virtually no entrance requirements and virtually no substance. Students in this program, which the university advertises as something that will help working adults get ahead in their careers, pay a $200-per-credit surcharge, on top of the regular graduate tuition and various extra charges (all GDU students, for example, pay an extra fee to support the athletic program). Because a standard graduate course carries three credits, every single course you take in this program costs you $600 more than any other student on the campus would pay for it. Students enrolled in the program take a few core courses taught by the program's director and then fill out their card with electives in regular departments. One elective is U.S.-Mexican border history. A student in this exotic interdisciplinary program may sit next to a History Department graduate student who pays a full $600 less to be in that classroom. Because the program is pretty fluffy and leaves one with a master's degree in nothing recognizable by another university or by an employer, its value is highly questionable. IMHO, it's a scam.

That's not to say you shouldn't pursue a master's degree. Or a doctorate, or a J.D., or degrees in nursing, public health, history, English, library science, whatever is your bliss. To the contrary. Graduate education has -- or should have -- real financial value in addition to the intellectual adventure and polish that students rightly expect to gain from it.

After altogether too many years in the ivied halls of academe, I would advise those who are thinking that now is the time to go back to school for a master's degree, a professional degree, or a doctorate to plan very carefully. You need to develop a two-pronged planning scheme:

Intellectual and spiritual planning. The prospective graduate student should ask Why, really, do I want to do this?

Do you want to pursue a subject because you're crazy-passionate about it, so much so that you don't care whether you can ever make a living at it? (There's nothing wrong with this, BTW.)
Do you feel a graduate degree will make you look smarter to people who matter to you? (You'd be amazed at how many people with Ph.D.s wanted, at heart, to prove to someone that they weren't so stupid after all. This is not a good reason to go to graduate school.)
Do you want a graduate degree because you hope it will open the door to an interesting line of work, whose pay doesn't really matter as long as the job doesn't bore the pants off you?
Do you want the degree because you think it will open the door to high-paying occupations, whose remuneration very much does matter?
Is it that, at the grand old age of 28 or 30, you still don't know what you want to do when you grow up and you'd like to take a couple years in graduate school to figure that out? (Chances are you won't figure it out then, either. Precious few of us ever know what we want to do when we grow up.)

The answers to these and similar questions not only bear on your choice of major, they bear on financial issues, too. To make a just-barely-living wage in teaching, journalism, or library science, for example, may require a master's degree, but it doesn't require one from an expensive university. As long as you can put food on your table, a vocation that calls to you need not earn a ton of money. But ... maybe it shouldn't put you in hock for the rest of your life. And surely Tucson, Buffalo, or Austin is as good a place as New Haven to take two years to seek the meaning of your life. On the other hand, if a high-powered corporate career is what you're after, then you probably need a degree from a world-class institution -- a costly program may pay for itself within a few years after you graduate.

Financial planning. Bringing your real motives into sharp focus goes a long way toward deciding how much to spend on a degree and how to finance it. First, of course, you now can decide whether you truly need a degree from a prestigious (i.e., expensive) school or whether an in-state public university will suffice.

Consider that even lukewarm public universities often have one or two first-rate-sometimes world-class programs. The University of Arizona, for example, has one of the premier programs in astrophysics on the planet. Psychology programs at Michigan, Cal-Berkeley, Illinois, UCLA, Minnesota, Indiana, and Washington rank among the top 20 in the U.S. Cal-Berkeley, NYU, North Carolina, Indiana, Washington, and Maryland's MBA programs have shown up among the top 20. Don't discount your home state's public schools, especially if you're in a place in your life where one master's degree is about as good as another. Check university rankings for schools in your state and for public universities whose out-of-state tuition is more or less within reason.
If nothing close to home has a program that suffices, investigate universities in other countries, such as Canada, where costs are far more reasonable than out-of-state fees in the U.S.
Try to get your employer to foot part or all of the bill. Many companies and government employers will underwrite graduate training relevant to the job. Even if you have to agree to stay with the company for a number of years after you finish the degree, that's more than a fair trade to avoid being saddled with student loan debt for years.
Look for research assistantships that waive tuition. Tell the program director or whoever is trying to recruit you that you can't attend unless you get an assistantship or other support that will waive tuition. Remember: Graduate students are the bread and butter of most university departments. They want you.
Failing that, try to get a 50% FTE job on the campus. Most universities waive tuition for employees, and often this applies to half-time as well as full-time workers. GDU, for example, considers a half-time job to be "full time," complete with health insurance and tuition waiver. The waiver is taxed as income, but since you will earn so little, your tax will be minimal, certainly compared with a lifetime of student loan payments. Often this applies only to in-state tuition; bear that in mind if you're looking at out-of-state schools.
Some universities will waive tuition for an employee's spouse. If your husband or wife has a job that's fungible and is willing to work at the desired college or university, this is a strategy that might make sense.
If you're interested in a university in another state, get a job in that state, register your car there, register to vote, and wait a year to enroll. This will establish residency and avoid the outrageous tuition often charged to out-of-state students.

Do everything you can to avoid having to take on student loans, even if it means maintaining your dreary day job and taking coursework online and at night. If you possibly can get by on a part-time income, tighten your belt for the two to four years it will take to complete a program while you work. That's a hard row to hoe, but well worth the goal: completing the degree free of debt.

Finally, I'd add one more bit of advice.

Caveat emptor!

Investigate and think carefully about any degree program before enrolling -- no matter which institution offers it. Some otherwise respectable universities have gone into the diploma mill business. Under pressure from legislators and alumni to compete with outfits like the University of Phoenix, university administrators and boards of regents crave to operate their institutions on a business model, even though education is not and should never be a business.

Any degree program that does not require the GRE, the GMAT, the LSE, or a similar entry exam is suspect. My university, for example, offers a very respectable master of business administration, for which applicants must submit GMAT scores. It also offers several knockoff low-residency and online versions of the MBA, none of which requires an entrance exam of any kind. Savvy employers know the difference.

Any fully online degree program should be regarded with deepest suspicion. Any low-residency program should be approached with caution. Any interdisciplinary program that leaves you with a strangely titled degree ("master of liberal studies," for example) should be avoided. These degrees may get you a perfectly fine job. Maybe not, too.

If higher education is a business, then students are consumers, and they should use as much care in buying the "product" as they do in buying a refrigerator or a dishwasher.

Postscript: One other strategy for underwriting a master's degree without going into permanent hock is to join the military. I didn't think about this as I wrote the post, first because it's such a huge commitment and second because IMHO, you should join the military because you want to serve your country, not because you want to extract a lagniappe. If your main motive for signing up is to have the taxpayer cover the cost of your graduate tuition, you really ought to ask yourself whether a master's degree is worth risking your life. There are higher reasons for serving America.

Related reading at Funny about Money:

Student loans: Whither young college graduates?

Are college degrees overrated?

Legislators propose to shoot us all in the foot

Big savings now on school supplies

Teresa Mears — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:22:00 GMT

You may not be thinking about school supplies yet, but retailers are. The school supplies deals have already started. Even if your state has a sales tax holiday week, you might want to start shopping now instead of waiting.

Before you head out, take inventory of the supplies left from last year. Leah Ingram of Suddenly Frugal spent only 13 cents on school supplies for her two daughters last year, after finding lots of leftover supplies in the house and taking advantage of some Staples deals.

Dollar stores are another good source of school supplies.

Here are some of the deals advertised in Sunday's paper. Most are good through Saturday, July 18:

Staples: 500 sheets of copy paper or an 8-pack of pencils for 1 cent. Copy paper requires rebate. Good through Wednesday, July 15. The rest of the deals are good through Saturday, July 18: $1 for a two-pack of junior scissors, pencil box, three-pack of erasers, six-pack of highlighters, five-pack of Bic pens, Scotch tape, two-pack of Wite-Out or a mini-stapler. There's also a whole slew of "buy 1, get 1 free" deals: Paper Mate pens, Crayola markers, notebooks, paper clips, Sharpies. And, backpacks are 25 to 50 percent off. Plus, there's a coupon for $5 off a $20 purchase, good through July 18.

Walgreens: 39 cents for 10-pack sheet protectors, 10-pack Paper Mate mechanical pencils; 59 cents for Elmer's Glue two-pack, Penway eight-pack mechanical pencils, 12-pack colored pencils; 79 cents for Fiskars scissors, 80-sheet composition notebook, 24-pack yellow pencils; 99 cents for Pilot EasyTouch Pens or 10-pack of Crayola markers. Pick up the flyer and check the coupons, too, which include mini-highlighters for 19 cents, filler paper two for $1, one-subject notebooks three for $1, two-pocket folders 8 for $1. Walgreens Take Care Clinics also are offering back-to-school and sports physicals for $30.

Office Depot: Buy two, get one free on reams of paper, storage boxes, Avery labels, Pilot pens, Wilson Jones Lite Touch binders, Expo dry erase markers, manila file folders and corrugated file boxes.

Office Max: Buy two, get one free deals on envelopes, Sharpie markers, highlighters and dry erase markers, Scotch tape, Avery EZD binders, file storage boxes, Paper Mate erasers, pencils or pens and some types of folders. Office Max has more Back to School for Pennies deals online: "buy one get one for 1 cent" on various Post-It notes and pens.

Target: 50 cents each for RoseArt colored pencils, RoseArt washable markers, vinyl binders, Mead notebooks, vinyl pencil pouches, 10-pack of Bic Cristal ballpoint pens, 24-pack of pencils, pencil boxes. Plus, if you buy one of the selected Artic Zone backpacks, you can get a free Arctic Zone lunch kit.

Kmart: $1 each for 12 Crayola colored pencils, 10 markers or eight watercolors; 2 for $1 for fashion portfolios and theme books and 150-count filler paper; 3 for $1 for Paper Mate 10-pack of stick pens or five-pack of mechanical pencils.

CVS: 5 cents for two-pocket portfolio, "buy one get one free" for Pilot EastTouch pens and Caliber mechanical pencils. There are other deals where you can buy a notebook or pens for 99 cents and get 99 cents in Extra Buck rewards. Back to school sale is only through Tuesday, July 14.

Wal-Mart: Not a big week for back-to-school deals (lots of off-to-college deals) but they have 70-page notebooks for 15 cents each, Avery 1-inch binders or 500 sheets of copy paper for $2.50 and 100-sheet Five Star notebooks and packs of Sharpie highlighters or markers for $1.50 each.

Big Lots: 50 cents each for Paper Mate five-pack of mechanical pencils, two-pack erasers, Bic 10-pack pens, 12 colored pencils and more items not listed in the flyer. You know how Big Lots is; selection varies considerably by store.

Related reading:

Ways to save on back-to-school supplies

5-cent school supplies: Share the love

Start thinking about back-to-school stocks now

Free photo-editing class offered online

Joan Melcher — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:53:00 GMT

How many times have you wished you could wipe that telephone pole out of the picture? Or crop away an empty space to put your subject front and center?

Round up all those wayward photos. A free photo-editing class is available online this summer, taught by a professional photographer.

Thanks to Christina at Northern Cheapskate for the heads-up on this.

Here are the details:

Jessica Sprague, a contributing editor at Creating Keepsakes magazine, is the instructor. You can register and sign up here for the two-week class.
You’ll need to have a copy of Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. (If you don’t, you can download Photoshop Elements for Windows for a 30-day free trial by going to this site and clicking on Photoshop Elements 7. You'll be given a chance to register and then download the software for a trial.)
Each day you’ll get an e-mail from Jessica that introduces new techniques. You won’t need to be online at a set time; lessons can be accessed anytime.
Instructional help will include content in a video format, an online forum and a gallery to share your work.
Free registration runs through June 28; the first class is July 6.

Christina said she's taken an online class from Jessica and termed it "phenomenal," adding, "I learned lots of neat new tricks in Photoshop Elements, and I loved how well Jessica presented all the information and made it easy to go back and review."

Passport to Adventure offers free incentives to kids

Joan Melcher — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:16:00 GMT

Outdoor gear retailer REI wants kids to explore the outdoors and it’s providing incentives with its Passport to Adventure program.

Kids ages 5-12 can win prizes (and not just some trinkets -- we’re talking cool REI kids’ gear) when they keep an adventure journal, documenting hikes, biking and other outdoor adventures.

First, parents need to pick up a journal at an REI outlet or download one from the cooperative’s site. Next, it’s time to pick an activity. REI provides an interactive map to locate parks and other outdoor adventure sites in your area.

The maps appear to be quite comprehensive. We checked the map for our town and found all the usual outdoor haunts, as well as a conservation area we haven’t visited. All directions are given from the nearest REI store.

After your child finishes the outdoor adventure, you send a filled-in tear-off postcard from the adventure journal or fill out an online form to get a certificate of completion for a prize.

Prizes available include a whistle and binoculars that incorporate other functions in their designs, including a compass, thermometer and magnifying glass.

Want to learn more about what sorts of activities may be in store for your kids? Read about the adventures of Elise and Amara Hachfeld, who have participated in the program since it was launched in the summer of 2007.