One of the hidden costs to a college education is the price of textbooks! I’ve heard that you can use financial aid to pay for books, but I want to buy mine off Amazon since its cheaper. Will some universities let me do this? Do I need to wait until after my financial aid has been used on other things like tuition?
At my DD’s UC, all of the aid is released when tuition and housing (if on campus) is due. Once they deduct for tuition and housing the remainder of aid (Cost of attendance- tuition & housing) is refunded to the student and the student buys their textbooks. Note that Cost of Attendance includes an amount for textbooks.
yeah that makes sense… I’m just worried that some universities will force me to use the campus store which is apparently way more expensive.
Thanks!
I doubt there is any way they could force you to use the campus store. My DD was able to get through one course by printing the material off the web and not buying the book at all. I’ve actually been surprised by how little she has spent on books in two years.
Usually you only have to use the university book store if the books are specifically part of your scholarships. Athletes often have books included as part of their awards. Some outside scholarships specifically pay for books, and you’d have to check the terms of the scholarship.
If you are using the overage from other forms of student aid, like the Pell grant or loans, make sure you know when those funds are rebated to you. I have one daughter who attends a school where they are often available about a week before school starts and are direct deposited into a checking account, and I have another daughter where the refund doesn’t happen until after the drop/add date. Even then there is a delay, and it can take 6 weeks! She can’t use those funds for books for that semester. If she had to, the school would allow her to charge the books at the bookstore and pay that charge with the financial aid overage to pay the bill.
@twoinanddone Wow, that seems really lame to me that the school would hold their money that long. Looks like one way they drive the business to the campus store.
I get the sense that this is really common - seems like a lot of bookstores want to prevent students from shopping online for cheaper deals
You should get a part time job now or at the latest this summer. You can open an account at a credit union and deposit your paychecks. You can see if they offer secured credit cards, or you can sign up for a debit card.
Then get an Amazon Prime student account, it’s free for the first 6 month I think.
You should be able to pay for your books with the debit card. Then when you get your financial aid refund, you can have it direct deposited into your account.
My D bought some books, and rented some. The books aren’t the expensive part, often it’s the online access codes that are expensive.
Thanks for the advice mommdc!