<p>I'm pretty sure my financial aid (including loans) covers everything, but I don't know how to use my financial aid to purchase books. I've tried looking on Google for a solution, but I couldn't find anything.</p>
<p>they won’t pay for your books directly. you should wait for your financial aid check to come in the mail (or via direct deposit) and buy books using those funds. otherwise, buy them in advance with your own money and then, in a way, you’ll be “reimbursed” with whatever aid is leftover after they apply your aid to registration fees. </p>
<p>anyone can correct me if i’m wrong, but i’ve never had them pay for my books directly.</p>
<p>Thank you for your response!
I have a few more questions if you don’t mind answering them. :)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If we chose to have the leftover aid sent to us through the mail, which address would we use? Dorm address or home address?</p></li>
<li><p>I’m leaning towards using direct deposit for a variety of reasons. Which bank would you recommend opening an account with?</p></li>
<li><p>When the money is directly deposited to my account, do I basically just draw out some money via the ATM to purchase books?</p></li>
<li><p>In terms of being “reimbursed”, do you ever get less leftover aid than what you spent to purchase books?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I apologize for sounding so clueless.
Thank you in advance! :)</p>
<p>Here’s how it works:</p>
<p>Usually when you accept Financial aid, you have to decide whether you want the school to pay off whatever fees (tuition or fees, housing fees (dorms) and etc.), OR you can decide to just have it deposited into your bank acc.</p>
<p>If you wish to have it sent via mail, it depends on where you will be physically when the check arrives. But I would just opt for direct deposit…</p>
<p>If you don’t have a checking account by now, get one asap. Which bank does not really matter, but I would recommend BofA or Chase. Get one of the student accounts, and you won’t need to pay to open up an account.</p>
<p>For #3, once the funds are dispersed into your account, you can just use your debit card (you receive a debit card when you open a checking account) to purchase books. You don’t need to use the ATM… only use the ATM if you need some petty cash or if you wish to deposit checks or etc.</p>
<ol>
<li>I don’t understand this Q… leftover funds from after the fees and whatever housing/tuition fees are paid should be used for books and other expenses related to school.</li>
</ol>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>KTShepherd, junshik has answered most of your questions so i won’t repeat what he said, but i think for the last question you’re trying to ask if we ever get less than what is necessary to buy books? sorry if that’s not your question, but either way, that’s never been the case for me. however, everyone’s financial needs are different and it really depends how much they’ve offered you. i believe you can check to see how they divide your aid up by quarter ([UCIrvine</a> Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships Home](<a href=“http://www.ofas.uci.edu/content/]UCIrvine”>Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships | UCI)). compare how much you’re getting by quarter and subtract registration fees and what’s leftover is what you’ll receive via check or direct deposit. personally, i’ve always done direct deposit so i can’t say much about check. like junshik said, i would send it to where you’ll physically be (which is most likely school since checks will be coming first week). there are ATMs on campus for Chase, school first, BoA, and wells fargo so i guess any of those are fine if you ever want to withdraw money or something. there’s a Chase branch close by campus as well. </p>
<p>i have no idea if they’ve applied financial aid to your student billing account but you might want to check there as well to see if you have any credit (after your financial aid’s been applied to bills), and that CR amount is what’s leftover. </p>
<p>hope this helps!</p>
<p>Thank you, junshik and phamous!
Those were really helpful responses. :)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Junshik, you said students don’t need to pay to open an account. However, I was looking to open a Chase college checking account, but it says the minimum deposit to open one is $25 [<a href=“https://www.chase.com/online/Checking/chase-checking-account.htm][/url”>Chase Checking Accounts: Compare & Apply Today | Chase][/url</a>]. This is the same for Bank of America. Is there a way to waive that fee? If not, that’s okay. I can pay the $25.</p></li>
<li><p>So, once the leftover aid is deposited into our checking account, will we need to do anything to transfer the money from the account to the card itself or is the balance on the card always the same as the balance in our account? Sorry, I have never used a debit card before. haha.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes, phamous. That’s what my last question meant. Sorry for wording it strangely, haha.
So, you’re saying you always had enough leftover aid to pay for your books, right? Also, do students typically purchase books during Welcome Week? I read somewhere the leftover aid is deposited around the 20th.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you again, guys!
I genuinely appreciate your assistance. :)</p>
<p>^ yep, i’ve always had enough. students will buy their books during welcome week, during the 1st or 2nd week, it all depends. a lot of people like to buy their books online on sites like amazon or ebay so once they know what books are required, they’ll buy them online. on [Welcome</a> to the UCI Bookstore](<a href=“http://www.book.uci.edu%5DWelcome”>http://www.book.uci.edu) under “coursebooks” they’ll give you an option to search for your coursebooks once classes get closer to starting. the bookstore always has used options so that’s a good way to go as well. UCI also does rentals as well as chegg.com and many other sites.</p>
<p>Ah, thank you!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What about you? Where do you typically purchase or rent books?</p></li>
<li><p>I heard at SPOP that the bookstore is going to do price match guarantees now. Do you know anything about that? That would be awfully convenient!</p></li>
<li><p>Is it possible if you can answer the two questions I asked junshik? It’s okay if you don’t want to though.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>:D</p>
<p>no problem.</p>
<p>you can use your card as a debit card where you enter in your pin number at the cashier or you can use it as credit card. either way, the card is connected to your bank account so yes both balances will be the same. when you use your card, it’ll subtract the amount from your bank account.</p>
<p>i signed up with Chase many years ago when i was in HS (still my current bank) and dont remember what i had to deposit or not deposit, but it seems like it’s $25 now. not sure if they can waive it, but no harm in asking. the chase college checking is great though because you don’t have to have the daily minimum amount of $1500 or a direct deposit of $500/monthly.</p>
<p>i usually buy my books online at amazon. i hardly ever buy books at the bookstore unless it’s a UCI edition or something. i haven’t heard anything about the price matching so i can’t say much for that but it seems like a good idea!</p>
<p>Hmmm, is the $25 just to keep the minimum balance (a deposit), or is it an actual fee? If its just a deposit, then the money is still yours so it shouldn’t be a big issue.</p>
<p>Just think of your debit card as your whole bank account in a card. Make sure to never lose the debit card!!!</p>
<p>I almost always buy my books from amazon… always ask your professors if older editions are okay, as they are always VERY much cheaper.</p>
<p>I use Chegg as well sometimes, just check around for prices. I almost never buy from bookstore unless as phamous said its for a UCI edition or something. Good luck!</p>
<p>^ i think you’re right about the $25 deposit. my bad!</p>
<p>Thank you, phamous and junshik!
I have a few more questions for both of you.
Sorry, so many questions! :P</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Do you both purchase books off Amazon using your debit card? I heard leftover aid is deposited into your account around Sept. 20th and classes start on Sept. 27th. If we are able to purchase books off Amazon with a debit card, do you think the books will arrive in time for classes?</p></li>
<li><p>In your opinion, is it better to purchase or rent books?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Yes you purchase books off Amazon using your debit or credit card. Books should be arriving on time-- but occasionally the books will not always arrive when you need them… this is when the library reserves become useful.</p>
<p>Purchasing vs renting-- it depends on the pricing. If its a brand new version of the book, I would probably purchase off amazon, and then resell it for similar amount after the class ends.</p>
<p>Ah, okay.</p>
<p>And do you usually just have the books sent to your dorm when you purchase it off Amazon?</p>
<p>Are you getting enough aid to pay all your fees, room and board and books? Standard UC aid amounts will not pay enough for all of that. Have you double checked your financial aid. The amounts and how they will be applied should be spelled out and also when you can expect to receive any excess (which there might not be an excess).</p>
<p>@engineer:</p>
<p>Hmm, here’s an overview of my financial aid. [<a href=“http://postimage.org/image/6zdeu2xgr/[/url]”>http://postimage.org/image/6zdeu2xgr/</a>]</p>
<p>In the first picture, it states the overall cost to attend UCI and that includes books amongst the others things you posted about. In the second picture, it states all the types of financial aid I’m receiving. The amount of aid I’m receiving is equivalent to the total cost to attend UCI. So, do you think I’ll have enough excess aid to cover my books? If not, I’ll try to contact the office of financial aid about this.</p>