Office of International Student Services Newsletter

 Volume IV, Number 15

· Spring 2007 Health Insurance Information
· Plan Ahead: OISS & University of St. Thomas closed on Dec 25, 26, 29 & Jan 1
· OISS Newsletter will not be published until Jan 9  

Important Information

· Search for companies who applied for H-1b visas
· Students, are you interested in being a leader on campus?
· Travel Signatures for your I-20

Upcoming Activities

· Dec 14 - OISS/MSS Graduation Reception
· Dec 15 - Commencement Ceremonies and Receptions

Interesting Articles

· Book Buyback starts December 5
· Center for Writing is available to help with final papers
· Food Service lists hours for finals week and Christmas break
· Here's your chance to host a radio show
· Life/Work Center Newsletter
· Undergraduate final grades to be accessible on MURPHY Online
· Want to get A's? Then get some Z's
· 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.