Office of International Student Services Newsletter

 Volume IV, Number 14

· OISS/MSS Graduation Reception
· Vote for 2007 Tommie Award

Important Information

· Search for companies who applied for H-1b visas
· Apply for OPT by Dec 8 if you are graduating this December

Upcoming Activities

· Dec 7 - Dean of Students Holiday Reception
· Dec 8 - Holiday Party at the Wellness House
· Dec 9 - Lunch and Ice Skating in Minneapolis with the mentors
· Dec 14 - OISS/MSS Graduation Reception

Interesting Articles

· Book Buyback starts December 5
· Center for Writing is available to help with final papers
· Here's your chance to host a radio show
· Life/Work Center Newsletter
· Planning to graduate in December?
· Salsa Dancing Organization at the University of Minnesota
· Will a winter storm cancel classes?

Personal Ads

· Free lamp and television available at OISS

Book Buyback starts December 5

St. Thomas' St. Paul campus Bookstore will conduct its annual end-of-semester book buyback starting Wednesday, Dec. 6. A picture ID is required to sell books back. Last year, the UST bookstores purchased more than $500,000 worth of used textbooks back from students.

Buyback hours this week are:

• Noon-6 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 6 and 7
• Noon-4 p.m. Friday, Dec. 8

The finals week schedule is:

• 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Thursday, Dec. 11-14
• 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15

The Minneapolis bookstore will have similar hours and times.

Students wishing to sell their books back can receive up to 50 percent of the new cover price if the bookstores have received a firm book adoption for the next semester. As the bookstores can only purchase limited quantities of some titles and the quotas are filled daily, students should sell their books daily after finishing their classes.

If the quota on a book to be resold in the UST bookstores has been met, most likely the title will have a wholesale value. Books not ordered for the next semester, in many cases, also will have a wholesale value. Books purchased wholesale will be shipped to a nationwide used-book distributor, which in turn will sell them to other schools for their students' needs.

As more and more books have compact discs included in them, books being sold back must have the CDs with them to receive the best price.

Please check the list of books that the stores will not be purchasing at this time due to new editions or no book orders. There will be an opportunity to donate books not being purchased by the bookstores to Books for Africa. Donated books will be put to good use by other students where even a used out-of-date textbook is a treasured commodity.

The end of the semester is a time that book thefts increase substantially. Watch your books and mark your books so you can identify them in case they are lost or stolen.