OK, so I've begun my final attempt to finish my degree. It will take me a better part of a decade but I want/need to do it.

So, I know that I can write off the tuition and fees. But what about the cost of the books?

I'm currently taking one class per semester/session at the community college (which comes out to about 3-4 classes per year. Once I get re-acclimated to homework, studying, etc. I will likely bump some semesters to 2 classes. That's a pretty decent chunk of change on books alone.

I think so.
I use Turbo tax which guides you through these sorts of things. It's pretty helpful with a daughter in college.

Yes. I am currently going to school part time as well. I was able to deduct Tuition, and Books. There is also a credit available, I think it was called the Lifetime Learner Credit. That is only able to be claimed a maximum of 4 times.

Good luck with school. When I finally graduate in 2020 I will have been working on this for 10 years as well. It has been a long road, but I am coming to the end.

Thanks.
I'm figuring 3-4 years at the community college and then probably 5-6 at a four year school. So far the only place I've found that I can get a part time engineering degree is at Drexel.

Just with the three classes so far this year I'll be at about $2k in expenses for the year. Is there a max income that can claim these deductions?

The max decution is $4k/yr.

Regarding books: From 2016 IRS Pub 17: "Student activity fees and expenses for course-related books, supplies, and equipment are included in qualified education expenses only if the fees and expenses must be paid to the institution as a condition of enrollment or attendance.

quote:

Originally posted by kx90:

Just with the three classes so far this year I'll be at about $2k in expenses for the year. Is there a max income that can claim these deductions?

$80,000 for individual, $160K for married filing jointly, as I recall.

Some forms of tuition deduction also require more than half-time attendance (which one class per semester would not qualify for), but my memory's too foggy to remember exactly how that worked.

There's a worksheet.

-Rob

quote:

Originally posted by at-home-daddy:

quote:

Originally posted by kx90:

Just with the three classes so far this year I'll be at about $2k in expenses for the year. Is there a max income that can claim these deductions?

$80,000 for individual, $160K for married filing jointly, as I recall.

Some forms of tuition deduction also require more than half-time attendance (which one class per semester would not qualify for), but my memory's too foggy to remember exactly how that worked.

Is that $80k AGI?

Also, is the max tuition deduction per person or per household?

Do you need this degree for your current job?

Lets say you are in sales and have been with the company 10 years and you don't have a degree, but the new hires in your department a degree is a requirement. In order for you to be competitive with the new hires and get promoted in your department you need a degree. This would be one of many ways you could also deduct your tuition and books as professional development. Have your accountant look into that if this is your case.

There is more than one way to skin a cat.

Everyone has the tax stuff pretty much covered. As far as school goes have you checked out online classes from your university? They have a tendency to be a little harder but cheaper. I noticed that a lot of big name schools are offering master degree programs online.

quote:

Originally posted by dusty3030:
Do you need this degree for your current job?

No, however if something happens here then I will not move laterally to another job. I'd have to drop down and climb back up again.

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:
Everyone has the tax stuff pretty much covered. As far as school goes have you checked out online classes from your university? They have a tendency to be a little harder but cheaper. I noticed that a lot of big name schools are offering master degree programs online.

I'm doing online courses right now at the community college. Costs per credit are the same as if I were going to a physical class. Right now books are about $200 give or take because you need the access code to MyMathLab for each class.

According to my STEM advisor, I'll be able to take almost every class online if I so choose. Even Physics and Chem labs.

To finish my degree I need to transfer to a 4 year school. I have not been able to find a school that I can complete an ME degree on a part time/ online basis.

I did find that Drexel U offers Engineering Technology degrees on a part time basis, I will have to drive into the city for 6pm classes.

Good luck pursuing your degree.

quote:

Originally posted by kx90:
I did find that Drexel U offers Engineering Technology degrees on a part time basis, I will have to drive into the city for 6pm classes.

Though it's often not important with ME degrees, if you plan to pursue professional engineering licensure, check to be sure that the state(s) in question accepts Engineering Technology degrees for licensure. I had to get my PE license in South Carolina years ago when my supervisor could not become licensed there to do structural work because he had an Engineering Technology degree. There were several states with that prohibition at the time, but it may have changed since then.

quote:

Originally posted by StarTraveler:
Good luck pursuing your degree.

quote:

Originally posted by kx90:
I did find that Drexel U offers Engineering Technology degrees on a part time basis, I will have to drive into the city for 6pm classes.

Though it's often not important with ME degrees, if you plan to pursue professional engineering licensure, check to be sure that the state(s) in question accepts Engineering Technology degrees for licensure. I had to get my PE license in South Carolina years ago when my supervisor could not become licensed there to do structural work because he had an Engineering Technology degree. There were several states with that prohibition at the time, but it may have changed since then.

When I was searching for schools that had part time/online ME degree programs, all I came across was MET programs.

Then when I searched for the differences I found that most states no longer allow ET's to get a PE license. In my industry I would have no need for it so I'm OK with not being able to get it.

The other difference was that some companies don't treat MET's as "Engineers". Talking with one of our engineering managers here, he said that majority of companies will treat MET's the same as ME's. He said it's some of the bigger corporations that will differentiate between them.

I had begun to search between the educational differences, I found that MET's weren't required to take Calc 3 and Diff Equations (although I will be taking those classes to finish the Associates degree at the community college. I haven't searched much for the differences in the 3-4 year classes.

See Pub 970 at IRS.GOV
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p970/ch06.html

Credits may also be available depending on your circumstances: https://www.irs.gov/uac/tax-be...n-information-center

Thanks for the links.

quote:

Originally posted by kx90:

quote:

Originally posted by dusty3030:
Do you need this degree for your current job?

No, however if something happens here then I will not move laterally to another job. I'd have to drop down and climb back up again.

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:
Everyone has the tax stuff pretty much covered. As far as school goes have you checked out online classes from your university? They have a tendency to be a little harder but cheaper. I noticed that a lot of big name schools are offering master degree programs online.

I'm doing online courses right now at the community college. Costs per credit are the same as if I were going to a physical class. Right now books are about $200 give or take because you need the access code to MyMathLab for each class.

According to my STEM advisor, I'll be able to take almost every class online if I so choose. Even Physics and Chem labs.

To finish my degree I need to transfer to a 4 year school. I have not been able to find a school that I can complete an ME degree on a part time/ online basis.

I did find that Drexel U offers Engineering Technology degrees on a part time basis, I will have to drive into the city for 6pm classes.

It sounds like you are going through the same journey that I am. I am working on my BSME part time as well. I graduated last May from the Community College of Baltimore County with my AAS in Engineering and started going the University of Alabama this past fall to finish my degree. They offer a completely online BSME degree with the exception of two required lab courses which are offered on campus on Saturdays for distance students (3-4 Sat for 8hrs/semester). So I will have to fly to Alabama ~8 times over the next 3 years, other than that it is completely online.

I explored local options but I also had a really hard time finding a school that would be accommodating to my desire to work full time while going to my school. All the 4 year engineering schools in my area only offer their Undergrad courses during the day so it would have required a lot of commuting and not being at work during normal hours which would have been difficult to manage. That is what led me to look into online.

Now that I have almost 2 semesters behind me, I find that I really like the flexibility that taking my classes online has offered. They have been tough, but that was expected.

My email is in my profile if you have any questions. I can definitely recommend UA as an alternate option.

FYI their online tuition is the same as what they charge for in state students which made it comprable to UMD.