Happy New Year, and welcome to another wonderful semester of college life! Whether you're enjoying beautiful warm weather or digging your way through mountains of snow, you all have something in common -- it's time once again to plunk down hundreds of dollars for textbooks.

It may be too late for this semester, but for what it's worth I've included below an article about textbook prices and the real cost of textbooks.

The textbook publishing industry has undergone a series of mergers and acquisitions over the past 20 years or so, and it hasn't been to your benefit. (Check out the cost of a new textbook at your local bookstore if you don't believe me...) Bottom line, you do have some alternatives.

The National Association of College Stores has a breakdown of where each dollar goes for a new textbook. A closer look at their logic, though, reveals enough slight-of-hand to make Penn and Teller genuflect in awe.

First, let's take their categories for the non-bookstore portion. (Face it, no matter what the publisher charges the bookstore is going to make their cut - at least they aren't shy about telling you that.)

The start of a new semester is upon us, and I am sure many have made the new year's resolutions about studying harder and doing better this semester. As good as our intentions , though, let's be realistic -- studying harder is not usually the problem. It is more of a question of what you study with - class notes. (Don't get me started on the textbook...) A successful semester starts at the beginning with good note taking. I thought it was time to share a little about note taking, then, before it is too late.

January marks the end of the old year and the start of the new, an chance to review what's happened in the past and an opportunity to learn from it for the future. In accounting, this is the essence of the granddaddy of financial statements, the balance sheet.

Our Balance Sheet Cramlet™ was one of our first, and continues to be popular among students. Most business textbooks contain a balance sheet, but this one is far more useful. Click the To learn more button to get to the interactive part, and see what I mean.