I don't know how to proceed with attending college.

Paying for College
1

I would like to apologize first and foremost if this isn’t the right place to post, but I hope it can be overlooked how ridiculous my question might be to readers. To start, I honestly have no idea how student loans work and how to acquire them. For example, do I need a checking account with a bank, if there is a time period where I can apply before the start of a semester and how much should I take out per semester?

To get a better sense on my situation, I might as well just say the odd predicament I’m in. When I graduated high school I didn’t meet certain requirements to get into SF State, my first choice, but a counselor from SFSU offered me a deal where I can get in if I fulfill the missing units which was just one semester of Spanish. So I attended a semester at City College of San Francisco and got the units, and now I’m at State (sort of). When I was at CCSF, it looked like Financial Aid covered my tuition and I honestly thought it would cover me through my transfer to State. So long story short, I have outstanding fees with the Bursar’s Office at SFSU and I don’t know how to get student loans to cover my tuition.

2

Did you fill out FAFSA? If so, did you indicate that you would accept a loan? did you qualify for Cal Grant?

You need to call your school’s FA office to get what you need.

3

You need to talk to the financial aid office. Like said above, indicating on the application that you are applying for financial aid is the first step. If your application was from another season you may need to let the office know. But what they need from you is the completed FAFSA for the 2014-16 season which uses your 2014 tax information. You will need to fill the FAFSA out by the school deadline each year.

Also, are you eligible for Cal Grant?

I don’t know how you thought you were going to proceed without dealing with the financial aid requirements as listed on the website. You need to take care of this right away otherwise when you payment due date passes any classes you sign up for may be cancelled.

And you should have a checking account as a college student. In case there are any financial aid funds left after tuition and fees, you may get money refunded to you and you will need an account to deposit that in.

Are you living at home and commuting?