I have 2,149.00 dollars left on my Pell. This is my last semester and I am a part time student with 8 semester credit hours
Last semester 2014 I had 10 semester credit hours and my tuition was lower than this semester 2015. Less hours more money. I have two questions. One, out of the 2,149.00 my school say they is only using $ 1400. My tuition for 2015 is $849.61 and my book voucher is for $500. I asked the financial aid lady what if my books was more than my voucher, and she said that I would have to pay for the rest of my books out of my pocket. My question is this, why should I have to pay for the rest of my books if I have the money through Pell ? And second question, all the money that I do not use where does it go?
Any money you don’t use should be refunded to you. The Pell money is doled out based on how many credit hours you take. 8 Credit hours, if I remember correctly, will only get you half. When you took 10 hours, you probably got 75%. If you are stretched for money, you should try to schedule 6 hours as a part-time student. You will still get half, but you won’t have to pay for the extra two hours and the extra books associated with it.
You should also look for less expensive books. Some schools allow you to rent books for the semester at about half the price of buying a new book. Maybe you could use an older edition of the book. Ask your professors. Sometimes all that changes are the questions at the end of each chapter. If you can get the questions from the professor or a classmate you can buy an older edition of the book for a lot less than the newest edition.