Hi! So I’m a first year college student (literally nobody in my family has been to college before me so we’re all pretty new to this) anyway, my family is in the upper middle class and so I’m getting no federal aid in terms of grants or scholarship money or anything like that. I have to pay the full cost for college which is about $30,000 my first year. Anyway, with FAFSA, I was able to get loans to cover all of it. Now what I’m confused about is how do I use these loans to pay off things for college? For example, I have a housing payment of $650 coming up in a few months and my parents won’t be able to pay that out of pocket which is why I want to use the money from my loans (I mean isn’t that what they’re for?) but I don’t know how to obtain that money. Now I realize that this may sound like the dumbest question of all time especially for a college student, but nobody in my family has ever taken out student loans so we really don’t know how this works. Any kind of help would be kindly appreciated. Thanks so much 
Hi, I will explain what I can for you. Is 30k for tuition and room/board and books?
First, loans in your name only is limited to 5,500 freshman year. Are you saying your parents are doing a federal parent Plus loan to cover all the rest of the 30k price? If so you will owe 27,000 when you graduate, which isn’t horrible for a college education, but your parents will owe almost 100,000. That seems crazy. That will be a huge loan payment for someone who can’t come up with 650 now.
Now when students enroll in school they are going to have to pay some things up front. Usually that is an enrollment deposit and a housing deposit. If this is a regular housing payment ‘in a few months’ does that mean after school starts?
You won’t get your loan money until later. Federal regulations state that Title IV federal financial aid funds cannot be disbursed to you until ten days prior to the start of classes each term. Any funds will be applied to your student account to cover fixed costs like tuition, fees, room and board. Then if there are any excess funds they can be given to you for books and other expenses. You will have to check the disbursement schedule from the Bursar’s office to find out when excess loan funds are released to you and how. You might find it online. Some colleges will give you a check or direct deposit it to your bank account. Check with your financial aid office or the Bursar. Did you sign the loan promissory note yet?
Are you looking for a job? It seems you may very much need a summer job so you will have some money to pay for a few upfront items you will need.