<p>Im going to be a college freshman this month, kinda sucks to have to go back to school, on August 25th. Ive began looking into the books i will need by looking at my professors' websites. All my expenses this year should be covered, books, tuition, fees, and with a lot left over to be refunded, by Pell Grant, BoG fee waiver, Cal Grant. So I was browsing books, and then i realized, how am i going to pay for these? So I check the disbursement dates for my college and August 29th is the day we get the first 25% of our Pell Grant, which will be about 1.4k for me, and I chose direct deposit for refunds, so it will take a couple extra days after that to have the money. This is where my problem is. I have to wait until around August 31st to get enough Pell Grant money to pay for books, but classes start on August 25th. So do I need to buy the books before classes start or is it normal to wait a few days after the start before needing to have our books? I really have no idea.
Also, in the situation where I would need to buy the books before classes start and before i get federal aid money, I would obviously need to pay out of pocket for books and first semester tuition. The thing with that is, my parents dont have any money to help me out with, nor do I have near enough, so I would need a short term loan. Do banks like Chase offer very short term loans, like less than a month?</p>
<p>Im going to call my college tomorrow and ask them this and explain my situation, hopefully I will get it all cleared out then.</p>
<p>Any help at all is greatly appreciated. Thank you!</p>
<p>Usually I wait a bit after classes start before buying books to see whether I can do well in my various classes without actually buying the textbooks. If I feel like I’ll be needing the books regularly I’ll go buy them. My university library has copies of all of the class textbooks so if I need the books occasionally I’ll just check them out when I need them.</p>
<p>Do you use the books or need the books the first week of classes beginning? Is it normal to need them the first week, like for homework, studying, reading, or how does that go?</p>
<p>Sometimes you do. I assess how much I need them in the first week. If you really need it and you don’t have the book yet then try to borrow one from a friend.</p>
<p>I would assume you do need them for the first week. Definitely call the college and ask how this is usually handled. Like others mention, often the library has them on reserve so you can use them in the library.
Do you or your parents have a credit card? Can they put the books on the credit and then pay for them later?
Also if you can’t get this resolved, then talk to your professors to see if they have any thoughts.</p>
<p>At my community college, you get to swipe your student ID at the bookstore. It bills the books to your account and then you simply get a smaller refund. I usually only buy a couple books at the bookstore though, and the rest online. If you go earlier they may have more used books. One thing to mention is that they don’t tell you anywhere on their website that you bill books to the account, I didn’t know until I was checking out the first time. </p>
<p>I seriously doubt you will get a refund by the 31st. I don’t get my refunds until 4-5 weeks after classes start, they have to verify attendance. You should not have to pay tuition out of your pocket, you should be able to defer the payment, and then your aid covers it automatically. My school uses Nelnet, see if you have the same thing. </p>
<p>Edit: I see that you just get a partial refund that early. That makes sense, we just get it later all at once.</p>
<p>@Numbersz When you buy books online, you have to pay out of pocket, right?
I believe I have already paid my tuition for this semester. I registered for my classes online a couple weeks ago, and paid for the “registration fees” which was $500+, but was paid for by the Board of Governors Fee Waiver, so that seems the right amount of tuition for a semester for my Community College.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone else for the help. I just keep getting more questions, so I’ll have to call today when I get a chance. I dont know about the book situation, if the disbursement dates are the days we get our refunds or when the school just gets the money, when we get our actual money, if they take the money they need first, if we get all the money and pay the school manually, how should I pay for books before classes start, can I buy books at the campus bookstore and get credited against my schools account, etc. Big mess. </p>
<p>Yes, anywhere else you have to pay out of pocket. If you are nearby your campus you could just stop by the bookstore or administrative offices and get all the specific info for your school, or call… </p>
<p>So I called and what I got was that I will have to pay for books with my own money out of pocket if I want to buy them before I get my money on the days of disbursement, the first day of disbursement being a few days after the first days of class. Some professors may want the students to be ready on day one, others may not, it depends on the professor, so I would rather buy my books before classes start. Disbursement dates are the exact days we get our FA money, but since I chose direct deposit to my bank account, it will take up to 3 days extra after the disbursement day to have the money. Tuition is basically just registration fees (adds up to more than $500/semester for 12 credits/4 classes) and other small campus fees. We check on our online accounts if we have costs due and pay them online too from our bank accounts with what should be the money we get from financial aid. So basically for financial aid disbursements, we get our money directly to us by method of choice (HigherOne account, direct bank deposit, paper check), and then we use that money to pay tuition, books, supplies, whatever else we want… so we have to pay them manually as we need and we just keep whatever is left obviously. For books, we print out our class schedule that we registered for, take it to the campus bookstore and they tell us what we need and we can check out if we want to rent or buy from them or buy on amazon or somewhere else. Also, if I buy the books from them at the bookstore, they cant charge them against my school account to pay later, I have to pay out of pocket, so whatever way I go, if i want to buy the books before we get disbursement, we have to pay with our own money.</p>
<p>Idk why I typed that all out, doesnt matter to you guys anyways lol. Guess just in case I forget, I have it here.</p>
<p>You can always ask your professors if you will need the book at the beginning of the course. In my experience, very few professors expect students to have their books at the very beginning of class (the only professors who did were in math classes where you needed to book to do the homework assignments). Many students don’t get the book until classes start because they want to know if the book is required, if an old edition is acceptable, what book to get, etc. Some books may only be used later in the course (which is common for literature classes or other courses that require multiple smaller books). Some books may only be references but not be required (which can be common in some science classes). You may have a week or two before you really need the book. It doesn’t hurt to ask.</p>
<p>If you don’t have the money to buy the books beforehand, then you don’t have the money. It is what it is. It’s likely that it won’t be a problem if you buy them after the classes started (this is what I did for all of my classes, and what most of the other students I knew did, if they bought the books at all). I don’t think it’s worth taking a loan out. You may be able to borrow a copy from the library, another student, a TA, or a professor if you absolutely need it before you can get it. What might help in the future is if you can work some extra hours to help build up a bit of a cushion for expenses like this that may occur before you get your aid (or any emergency situation). </p>
<p>Thanks. Im thinking of emailing my future professors to nicely ask if they expect us to have our textbooks on the first day or week of class. Im hesitant because, a.) i dont want to bother them on vacation 2.) make myself sound lazy and like a slacker for asking if I need the materials for class and III.) Im just scared ill give them a wrong impression or get off on the wrong foot with them somehow even before we start.</p>
<p>The reason I want to get the books before classes start is because I’ll probably get them all or most online, and shipping can take like a week, so at the beginning of week 2 of school Ill get my first disbursement to buy books, then Ill have to wait another week to actually receive my books… meaning 2-3 weeks of not having my books, or 4-6 classes not having my books for each class. So if I were to order my books on Friday next week, I would just need probably $700 max for 2½ weeks until I get my financial aid, I would have the books before school starts, and I would be able to pay back the money all at once so I dont get hit with interest. Maybe I can work something out with my bank for a loan like that and my parents can co-sign or something… or I could get a credit card and hope it has a high enough limit. Idk, ill ask my parents i guess about that. First I need to go to the campus bookstore with my schedule so they can tell me exactly what Ill need, hopefully this weekend.</p>
<p>Explain the situation. Tell them you are expecting book money, but don’t have much money to purchase them out of pocket. Ask which books they may have on reserve in the library and which are crucial to have right away. Some may be “good to have” and some might be used later in the semester. </p>
<p>it depends on the class you take if you will need the book the first week. I usually get my books after the first week. but my history class needed books the first day so i was behind because they did a chapter each day and the chapters were long.</p>