One of the events I look forward to is our almost-annual, sometimes-twice-a-year Sister Retreat. My sisters-in-law and I "retreat" to the college town of whichever niece or nephew is graduating that year to shower that person with a little "auntly" affection.
We have visited Eastern Illinois University ( my alma mater), SIU-Edwardsville, Northwestern ( I had to miss that one. Darn.), Indiana University, and the University of Illinois, several times ( My favorite-Go Illini!).
This year, we were back in Champaign celebrating Tom. And boy did we have a good time!
In a whirlwind-not- quite 48 hours, we.....
.....went to a free Sidewalk Prophets concert (thanks WBGL)
.....ate
.....talked
.....played games
.....talked
.....practiced Holy Yoga
.....talked
.....shopped till we dropped
.....talked
.....ate
.....talked
.....and something we had never done on a college visit before.....
took line dancing lessons and had an absolute fabulous time doing it!
Talk about a workout. Line-dancing definitely qualifies.
All of those college vibes brought me back to our children's college experiences and to my own. Many young people today graduate saddled with leftover college loans. When you add the debt of college expenses with the uncertainty of the job market for college grads, it is a financially scary situation.
One of the huge expenses our boys incurred every year at the University of Illinois was for textbooks. The college had no rental program, so we had to BUY all their books. Every summer they would come home with at least one book on the classlist that hadn't even been opened- that we often paid over $100 for.
Or they would try to resell the books they did use and get pennies on the dollar.
That used to infuriate me.
I have lugged heavy textbooks all over the house trying to figure out where to put them because I wanted to save them for the boys in case they ever needed them.
Guess what? They never wanted them.
Colossal waste of cash.
I learned recently of an online company that might help your family to avoid that financial drain. It is campusbookrentals. I have never worked with them personally, but after looking around their website, I wouldn't be afraid to give them a try. It sounds like a great idea, and from the numbers the business is generating, it looks like all the cool kids are using it.
I love the idea that you can rent the books for all the general coursework, but then when your kids are really studying in their field, buying textbooks might be just the thing to do.
If you know someone who will be hitting the books in the fall, you might want to suggest they check out Campus Book Rentals or their sister site rentback.com, that offers the opportunity for students to sell their books to other students.
That $500 might be better spent on Jimmy Johns, or pizza, or a couple of great pairs of cowboys boots to wear line dancing!
This is my first ever sponsored post. I promise this will not turn into a blog of one advertisement after another. I really thought this might come in handy for someone.
