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Families Are Spending More On Supplies For College Education

Enrollment at colleges and universities throughout the country is up, some resources about online degree programs say and, in some instances, is reaching record numbers. Back to school spending results have yet to come in. When it comes to shopping for college, university and technical school supplies, parents and students might find themselves looking less toward pens and spiral notebooks and more toward products such as the newer iPads, or laptops or netbooks with webcams.  Textbooks can be priced even higher.

Back to school shopping comes in the wake of a Fannie Mae public poll showing that families reported last year having to work more and pull together more financial aid in the form of scholarships and grants as a means of attending college. There’s no getting around the fact that new technologies are becoming more common among college and university campuses. Or that distance learning and enrollment in online courses is becoming more of the norm at the college level. Online courses particularly might involve use of products such as webcams, iPads and other e-readers, as well as smartphones or similar mobile devices.

Americans overall expect to spend some $55.12 billion on back to school shopping, including for students at the K-12 level, according to a report about back to school 2010 from the National Retail Federation Back to School/College survey. Coupons, sales and promotions are this year more a part of back to school shopping, the National Retail Federation notes. While the average family, by the time the federation’s survey results were released in about mid-August, had completed about 43 percent of back to school shopping, those with college aged children were reportedly waiting for the last minute.

Newspapers and magazines have been focusing on ways to save on the back to school needs for college and university students. An article in the Louisville Journal-Courier even recommended products and pointed students and families toward stores where they can be purchased. The article includes everything from USBs to netbooks, with prices ranging up to $350. E-readers, such as the Kindle, Nook and iPad, might be priced higher. Where the latest Kindle could go for around $380, the Apple iPad website shows that iPads start at $499.

In Oklahoma, a university noted that it plans to test e-readers on campus, according to an article about college degree in USA Today. Several other institutions have also employed the use of e-readers. The devices allow students the ability to download textbooks, and digital textbooks on sites such as CourseSmart, CafeScribe and Wikibooks can be found at prices such as $45.75. This particular offering, a kinesiology textbook from CourseSmart, saves students $68.31, the site notes. Students can also purchased used textbooks for as low as $1.30 on sites such as Valore.com, CampusBookRentals.com and chegg.com, or rent them for about $50, give or take.

The National Retail Federation survey announcement, in fact, reports that many parents of college students report plans to shop online and at electronics stores as well as at department stores. Since regulations that are part of a Credit Card Act of 2009 apply to many college-aged students, parents might also play a more hands-on role in back to school shopping than they traditionally have. A recent Market Watch report noted that individuals who are younger than 21, as part of the Credit Card Act, are no longer able to get credit cards unless they have co-signers or can prove income that allows them to pay bills as required.

This might come as a relief to some parents as they plan for back to school shopping for college supplies. Many parents might also be combining the back to school needs of their children with that of themselves. Adults returning to college are contributing to the upward direction of college and university enrollments, reports show. Many are going back to school for an education that can help them land jobs; many also are heading back to school as a means of keeping their existing jobs, according to reports. Still others are taking college and university courses for personal reasons. That was the case among parents of K-12 students who, in a distance learning survey, reported taking online courses.

Many college campuses these days employ video and web conferencing and podcasts as part of their instruction, particularly online school programs. This in itself might help adults enhance workplace required technology skills. College students searching for back to college grants and scholarships most certainly will employ online technology to do so and may just do this on their new netbook or iPad.

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