It's no secret that trade-in programs at on-campus bookstores are not exactly loved by students. After paying exorbitant amounts of money for a text in August, students often find themselves being given pennies on the dollar when they sell that same book back in April.

While I can't vouch for how much better (if at all) Amazon.com's new textbook trade-in program is, I can announce that now there's at least another option to consider. You can go to Amazon.com's trade-in site, enter your (in good condition) books, and see what they are worth. Amazon.com will then provide you with a shipping label (key fact to note: shipping is FREE), and then you are given an Amazon.com gift card as payment for what you send in.

It might be worth bookmarking their page to see what you can do with your books when this semester ends! Let me know how the process goes by emailing me or by writing about your experience in the comments section for this blog post.

InsideHigherEd.com reported on December 7 that major changes are coming to the GRE in early fall of 2011. Obviously, the changes are still a ways off, but they're good to know about if you plan to start studying next year; you'll need to make sure you're studying for the right test!

Some of the changes include:

• Don't have to answer one question on the computer before being allowed to go to the next one
• Change of the grading scale (will be from 130-170 instead of 200-800)
• No more analogies and antonyms (woot!)
• Use of a calculator is now permitted (double woot!)
• Longer test time (moving from 3 hours to 3 hours, 45 minutes)

I came across this vase while reading something totally unrelated to my work here on About.com, and thought it might be a great idea for college students in tight residence hall rooms (or small apartments). After completing a product review, I can honestly say that they make great gifts, are cheap, and just may be that perfect gift you've been looking for. You can go directly to the manufacturer's website or read my review for more information.

A recent study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research came to an interesting conclusion: while declaring your major early may mean you get more specialized training and education while in college, it may also mean that you are less likely to stay in that field of study as a long-term career. Declaring your major later may allow you to explore more options and, consequently, make a better long-term decision about what you'd like to do for the rest of your life. (Who knew?!)