belleidee

I'm not sure how books and supplies are purchased for science courses, but the IRS restrictions on these deductions make them impossible to claim for the students I know in history and humanities. The following is from the Tax Benefits for Education page of www.IRS.gov: Student-activity fees and expenses for course-related books, supplies and equipment are included in qualified education expenses only if the fees and expenses must be paid to the institution as a condition of enrollment or attendance. ... Qualified education expenses do not include the cost of: Room and board. Travel. Research. Clerical help. Equipment and other expenses that are not required for enrollment in or attendance at an eligible educational institution. This is true even if the fee must be paid to the institution as a condition of enrollment or attendance. Scholarship or fellowship amounts used to pay these costs are taxable. So, costs that are required to succeed in a PhD program (and have some possibility of a job at the end), but are not tax-deductible include: Books purchased from Amazon, where they're generally at least 20% cheaper (And it's not clear to me that books purchased from the student book store are eligible either.) Books purchased for individual research -- for class projects, conference papers, a dissertation or a thesis Travel expenses for research Travel expenses for conferences Copies of research materials