Most people underestimate how much they will spend on back-to-school supplies.

School supplies may be costing families more than they think. In a voluntary user poll conducted by USAA, people underestimated how much the average American family spends on back-to-school shopping for children in kindergarten through 12th grade by over $100.00. In fact, families will spend an average of $606.00 this year on back-to-school supplies, shoes, clothing and electronics.

But you don’t need to shell out that much this fall. Here are some ideas to help your family save money on back-to-school products. Not only are these tips good for your bank account, many of them are good for the environment too.

1. Pull out last year’s supplies.

Dig out all those school supplies from last year that are still usable. Test pens and markers to make sure they haven’t dried out. Don’t scorn hand-me-downs and put your clothing budget on a diet.

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Principal Todd Finn of West Bladen High School in North Carolina invites dropouts to finish their high school education. Only 29 percent of original class graduated last year from West Bladen High, reports WECT. Although a few students transferred or moved, many dropped out. “Sometimes you have to take a different road to get to where you want to go, and that’s OK, but we can get you right back on the right track so you can finish,” said Finn.

The principal says he wants anyone who’s motivated to get their diploma, even if that means working out a special schedule. He acknowledges that returning to school can be difficult, but he welcomes all dropouts, regardless of age or their number of missing credits.

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A day after graduation, Eileen Coppola resigned as principal of the prestigious New York City Hunter College High School. She presented a notice of no confidence to the president of Hunter College, who is responsible for the administration of the high school.

The controversy at the school stems from the use of a single test to determine who is accepted to Hunter College High School. The test was written decades ago and has changed little over the years. In order to better their chances of acceptance, affluent families turn to professional test preparation. Many argue that the admissions criteria should be expanded to include interviews or portfolio reviews. In fact, a faculty committee recommended the changes, saying that these measures could increase diversity at the school. Only one percent of Hunter College High School student body is Hispanic, and three percent are black. Seventy percent of the students in the public school system are black and Hispanic. Read the rest of this entry »

If you haven’t packed for college yet, you’re probably stressing over what to bring and what not to bring. Truth is, you probably won’t need to bring half of the stuff that you thought you would. Read through this list and exclude these items so you don’t stuff your already cramped dorm with unnecessary stuff:

High school notes: Sure these notes probably helped you pass geometry, but they’re no match for calculus. You’ll have plenty of time to fill out that empty spiral notebook with new math equations.

High school t-shirts: You will get plenty of free ones if you attend your college’s events. Plus, upperclassmen can spot a newbie by spotting your home-town tees. Not to mention, your closet will really need the extra space. Read the rest of this entry »

Grades are important, but for some overly ambitious students, they are more important than their health.

Adderall is a prescription drug that is prescribed for kids with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Now, the drug is being clandestinely used to improve grades on college campuses. Since the drug is known for its ability to promote concentration and focus, students desperate to get a winning edge in school are popping it in order to enhance their ability to retain knowledge, stay up later and work faster during study sessions.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found 23 percent of young people admitted to abusing prescription drugs, and Adderall was one of the most common. In fact, the drug is so common among college students that on campus it is commonly referred to as the “study drug.”

This medically-unsupervised method for taking this prescription medication has health and medical experts, as well as teachers and parents, extremely concerned over the pressure today’s students face while trying to succeed in school. Read the rest of this entry »

Today’s report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) revealed that 31 high school athletes have died from heat-related injuries in the past 15 years. “One death due to heat-related illness is too many,” says Michael McGeehin, director of the CDC’s Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects. “Heat-related illness is preventable. The more we know about how and when it happens, the better we can prepare people who may be most at risk.”

The study showed that 66.3 percent of heat injuries occur in August, mostly affecting football players. Athletes who play high school football are 10 times more likely to suffer from heat illness than students who play eight other high school sports. Thousands of students suffer from heat illnesses of differing severity each year, particularly during off-season summer conditioning.  Overweight players are at a much higher risk.   Read the rest of this entry »

Tory Bullock (standing) leads a discussion at the Boston Arts Academy. Photo credits: Kayana Szymczak, The Boston Globe

This summer Tory Bullock instructed students at the Boston Arts Academy to participate in the cultural art experiment that has swept the nation over the last few years, PostSecret.

Created by founder Frank Warren, PostSecret is an ongoing community art project/experiment where people around the world mail in secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard and every Sunday Frank uploads a selection of scanned copies of the postcards he receives.

“It was very, very difficult to get kids to really participate in the beginning, though some did open up,” Bullock told the Boston Globe.

Bullock gave her ninth-grade students some blank postcards, some glitter and some glue and asked them to open up about a range of topics including sex, drugs and violence, sharing their most private thoughts. Read the rest of this entry »

High school graduation is a big event and it needs to be celebrated in style. You need the perfect cap, gown, tassels, announcements, and everything else that recognizes you as a high school graduate. That’s where Graduation Source comes in to the picture.

Graduation Source allows you to buy everything you need to walk the graduation stage in style, and to let everyone else know what you have accomplished. Graduation Source sells personalized caps, gowns, tassels, cords, stoles, medals, and so much more!

My high school offered us some very cheap-looking gowns to wear to graduation. As a result, I looked like I was wearing construction paper. Graduation Source is a great resource if you are in a similar, unflattering position, or if your school does not offer gowns to graduates. Read the rest of this entry »

Unsurprisingly, college students still drink. But shockingly, a recent report found that colleges are doing little to stop them.

Toben Nelson, with the University of Minnesota, and his colleagues found that merely two percent of businesses increased alcohol prices in college communities, only 7 percent limited the number of alcohol outlets, only 15 percent mandated server training and only one-third executed compliance checks for underage purchasers.

Nelson studied 351 college administrators’ responses to an online questionnaire. When administrators were asked whether they had followed the U.S.’s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism’s 2002 recommendations on lessening college drinking, the study found that few colleges were in complete compliance.

Nelson found that there was “very little action on the task force recommendations and very little implementation.” He also said in a news release that “very few had even had conversations in the communities.” Read the rest of this entry »

School budgets have been stretched tight with the nation’s recent economic recession. Last year in my hometown, Wichita, KS, several schools were forced to give up yearly field trips. And this year, the school district is proposing to do away with driver’s education. Hopefully with Obama’s Race to the Top competition, some states will be able to lessen this financial strain.

As of July 27, eighteen states and the District of Columbia could win part of the $3.4 billion in education grants to assist in an overhaul of education policies.

In this second round of the competition, federal officials say they anticipate 10 to 15 winners that will receive federal financing. The winning states will be revealed in September.

Here are the 19 finalists: Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Carolina. Read the rest of this entry »