My Panorama of Austin for Module 1 in Thesis / PH680
I may regret this post later in the term but it seems like I have a lot more time to work on classes this term. It is because I’m enrolled in two classes and I don’t have to do as much P/T work to pay for these classes. In am email discussion with Tamara Hubbard (the associate director of online graudate photography) she also doesn’t recommend 3 classes and full-time work. I concur, as I did this in the Spring 2010 semester.
This post is still valid! : – )
Pay the Price
That is the question…here.
I can’t answer that for you. I am thinking about it.
The student loan process is a lot simpler and easier than it was when I started my MBA some 18 years. It seems to be a lot easier to get a lot of money for school and that is very DANGEROUS. That you can get a lot of money for school doesn’t mean that you should take it. I think the best method is to pay cash…that was until I reviewed my tax returns from 2009.
This info applies to me.
I am a struggling professional (full-time) photographer with a part-time job to help pay for grad school. Think of the part-time job as putting food on the table, gas in the car, and rent while I pay for tuition and all my business costs from my business income.
Financially speaking: I am poor
I am not a CPA and I highly recommend you find and use a good one.
Now, looking at my 1040 I see that I have a tuition deduction of $4000 but I paid well over twice that amount and I don’t get credit for doing so. Why not see if I can spread the cost of tuition over a longer period of time and receive the tax credit in the future. Seems reasonable don’t you think?
This brings me to some research to determine how my future student loan payments affect my bottom line on my annual taxes. This is from the IRS:
Publication 970 (2009), Tax Benefits for Education (link here)
Paid with borrowed funds. You can claim a tuition and fees deduction for qualified education expenses paid with the proceeds of a loan. Use the expenses to figure the deduction for the year in which the expenses are paid, not the year in which the loan is repaid. Treat loan payments sent directly to the educational institution as paid on the date the institution credits the student’s account.
Ah ha! So it seem I can reduce my adjusted gross income (AGI) with student loans but I cannot deffer the reduction to my AGI when I actually get around to paying the loan back. Hmmm…so much for cash basis accounting.
Should I take the loans? Should I increase the length of my stay at my institution?
While I have been offered over $32,000 in aid for the coming school year (2010-2011) I may only accept and use about $8,000. I’m probably going to take the direct subsidized loans for at least one semester this year. I have already spent over 4-grand on tuition so I’ll get that deduction for my 2010 taxes. This is a side benefit of why I’m taking a loan. I’m planning a major surgery in early 2011 and I won’t be able to work for about a month. Given that I’m (barely) self-employed I don’t have things like vacation time I can dip into while I’m recovering. Taking out this loan will allow me to pay for immediate tuition expenses, and conserve cash over the next few months for the time when I can’t work…seems to be reasonable financial planning.
As always (and as everyone seems to disclaim – rightfully so) consult a tax professional about your needs.
I strongly recommend that without any disclaimer!
Its’ been a busy Summer, between working (very) full-time for myself and shooting lots, taking on even more work with a busy part-time job, traveling to Midas, Nevada to spend time shooting, teaching and planning more future workshops…whew.
Yes, I need to organize them!
I ordered all my books for my 2 classes last week and 3/5ths of them have arrived. The printer is working great, monitor is calibrated (as usual) and finances are in place for 2 classes. All that is left is to clear off some table space and give the studio a second Spring cleaning!
Here is where I buy my books:
Amazon – they are fabulous for providing textbooks and other photobooks at a very reasonable price. They also offer an extensive network of resellers. I buy used books all the time via Amazon.
Half.com – a great place that offers books on the cheap and also has a good reseller network.
I also use FatWallet and Bing Shopping to add a few pennies to my paypal account by checking for book deals there first.
Locally I find that Half Price Books is quite hit-or-miss for texts but I do try to stop in there first to see if I can find bargains – which I have!
What’s that!? The instructor wants the 34th edition of the book and it costs $200 but the 33rd edition is available for 3 bucks? I’ve found that my instructors are pretty reasonable about using the current or near-current edition. Often the editions don’t change a lot. If the book is updated every 2-3 years then the older edition works for me. If the last edition was 10 years ago then I’ll get the newest version.
Don’t forget about classmates. That’s right! Even if you are doing (most) of this online there is a good chance that your fellow classmates have a book you need and you have a book they need. Media mail is cheap and swapping books is a very effective way to save money and a way to know your classmates.
One more note about photography books. This program is allowing me to add a lot of photo books to an existing collection of art and photography books. I have found that all but a few of my business (MBA) books are outdated or basically worthless and have made there way to the recycle bin or to Goodwill, yet I cherish and re-read photo books periodically and have no desire to get rid of any of them. I wonder if that says anything about studying photography or business? 
Every semester I write about keeping pace and even working ahead, when possible. It seems that AAU is happy to let you work ahead but thay are only going to let me see into the future by one module (week).
From the AAU site:
NEW ACCESS TO CLASS MODULES
Please note the new policy on access to course materials:
You can visit the entire syllabus and course outline at any time during the semester. In addition, students have access to the course materials for their current module, the next module and all past modules.Please contact the Online Help Desk if you have questions regarding the new policy.
BTW: A module typically represents a week’s worth of online class material. It doesn’t contain all the material as there are often assignments using physical books, and additional online media. (Maybe I should write a module post?)
Modules are a great way of seeing what is really involved later in the course. My experience at AAU tells me that some syllabi are weak or incomplete representations of what is really involved in an entire course. Course outlines are slightly better yet they can also be vague. The best instructors provide a detailed outline of deliverables at the start of the course. I hope that AAU is toughening up their standards on outlines and syllabi so fundamental information about course work is well-defined across all classes.
I wonder why this is? Are students downloading the material from all the modules during the first week or so of classes then dropping classes? This new policy makes it more difficult to download content for future personal review and use.
As long as instructors tell me what they expect for mid-terms, projects, and finals I don’t see a problem. Due to work assignments (Read: Austin City Limits Festival) I will have to ask my instructors for homework assignments that are more than a week out, a couple of times this semester.
Just more work for the student and instructor I suppose.
UPDATE: (8/21/2010): I’ve sent a request to the helpdesk at AAU for a comment on this post. More later…
UPDATE: (09/01/2010) I’ve sent another request to the helpdesk at AAU as I have not received a reply yet. More later…
UPDATE: (1/1/2011) BTW: I never got an update but I understand this is a generally unpopular idea withing the photo department.
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No More Time this Term
November 2nd, 2010I thought I would have more time this term, at least it seemed that way at the beginning of the semester. What I didn’t plan on was my moonlighting job adding more hours and later in the evening hours which cuts into my shoot work for clients, nor did I take into account that there is a lot more prep work in creating images for my Thesis Project class tan I expected.
While I’m a big fan of getting work in early I found myself hustling to get some work posted to discussion boards by the submission date of 1-Nov.
It is crazy to do 3 classes and maintain a job, let alone a family. I am planning on an intersession class in January 2011 to help me get through the program a bit faster.
The challenge here is to do the best possible work in the time alloted and to do consistently excellent work.
Tough but doable.
Last minute shooting doesn't always give you the best environment for the shot.
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Posted in Courses, General Comments, PH 645: Experimental Contemporary Photography, PH 680: Thesis Project Seminar
Tags: caption class discussion boards evening hours intersession class job moonlighting job submission term thesis project time work