I really want to improve my composition ability because I can arrange other songs for piano but I get lost if I try to compose something original. I know there are a few music majors on here so can any of you tell me what thing you studied in college helped you the most with composing? There's alot fo books on different subjects and I was thinking about taking an online high school course for the Ap music theory/ composition exam.

I did suggest you a book in the last PM I sent you: Kostka, Payne: Tonal Harmony with an Introduction to Twentieth-Century Music, 6th Edition. Get the Textbook and a pack of CDs with it at the very least. If you can, also get the workbook (which also comes with more CDs + exercises). This textbook will easily be able to take you through the first four or five semesters of Theory taught in college.

For Form and Analysis (fourth-semester Theory), I used Hearing Form by Matthew Santa.

The course on Wagner's Ring Cycle has remained a huge influence on my music - what I had to do was check out the Met Opera's recording of it (4 CDs, quite expensive...) + a book called Wagner's Ring, by J.K. Holman (which assists very well with understanding of the plot and an analysis of the music). Grab the G. Schirmer vocal scores with the opera, too, if you can.

Oh, sorry, I forgot :(

I can't it's 90 freakin bucks off amazon, I can only pay around 30.00 for a book. : ( Why must college text book authors be so greedy??

I was thinking of getting the Ap music theory book and possibly The Study of Counterpoint.

This is the first book I used to study theory. It's extremely cheap, because it isn't a new edition, but... you don't need new editions unless your college professor is a dick -___-

Ottman: Elementary Harmony, 2nd ed. (http://www.amazon.com/ELEMENTARY-HARMONY-THEORY-PRACTICE-SECOND-Robert/dp/B002J82V62/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1316983968&sr=8-5)

Here's a great book on orchestration:

Rimsky-Korsakov: Principles of Orchestration (http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Orchestration-Nikolay-Rimsky-Korsakov/dp/0486212661/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316984056&sr=8-1)

And here's a great book on Counterpoint:

Walter Piston: Counterpoint (http://www.amazon.com/Counterpoint-Walter-Piston/dp/0393097285/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316984094&sr=1-6)

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You should be able to get all of these books for around, or even under, $30... and each of them are absolutely wonderful.

If money is an issue, you could try getting the 5th edition (which just has a bit of twentieth-century stuff taken out) used via Amazon, eBay, etc.

I found this book which you can get for 10 bucks great condition used:
The Complete Musician: An Integrated Approach to Tonal Theory, Analysis, and Listening

If it good for self study?

Read up a little on it. It looks great... however, it's going to be quite the daunting task for self-study.