FAFSA Federal Aid, How do I pay for classes ?
I will be attending Long Beach City College in Jan 2012, First year student, and I'm not sure how to pay for my classes, On LBCC site it states "If you do not pay your fees at the time of registration, you will not be allowed to add any classes to your schedule." Registration starts on Jan, 3 and classes starts Jan,9...And my brother told me, you don't get FAFSA until a week or 2 after school starts...I thought the point of FAFSA was to help you pay for classes and books.? I don't have $600 to pay out of pocket till I get FAFSA It's $36 per unit and I'm going fulltime..
Or is it something I'm missing..?
I can never get hold of a college counselor appointments are always full..Thanks..
Comments
Colleges will know if you have federal student aid and will not cancel your classes even if they have not received the money yet. Sometimes a late fee will pop up, but usually it will disappear without having to mess with it. Anyway, you won't need to do any out of pocket money unless you didn't get enough aid to cover it. The thing I have found about college cashier's offices is that they are slow, but the job eventually gets done.
If the $600 is for your books, then that is crazy. Check the college library to see if they have any of the books. I haven't paid for books in years because I check them out from the college's library.
if your classes are 36 dollars per unit and you are going full time, this means your bill will be a whopping 36 X 12 units = 432 dollars. Perhaps you could work between now and jan 9th to earn that money? LOL
Registration for Spring classes at Long Beech started back on Nov 7th. If you wait until Jan 3 (not a good idea) and all the classes will be FULL and you won't need fin aid because you won't won't get any classes!
Enroll in classes TODAY! You can do it online right from their website.. unless you just WANT to get stuck taking classes you don't want (underwater nuclear basket weaving) at crappy hours (6 am anyone)? LOL
Yes, the point of fafsa is to help folks pay for school. And those who are going to school in Jan did THEIR fafsa back in Feb of 2011...10 months ago. When they did this, the school gathered all their info and the student turned in all the nec documents so their fin aid would be READY before they even registered for classes. All they needed to do was apply for admission and turn in certain financial documents. If you didn't do your fafsa back in feb, then your aid may not be processed even by the second week of class (some schools are VERY SLOW in processing, esp those who don't apply 10 months early!) and this means your balance won't be paid for much later than 2 weeks after school starts.
It sounds like you aren't planning ahead very well and may not be ready to actually start school in January (Nothing stinks worse than starting school and no books). It is YOUR responsibility to get your own books, no matter what the status of your fin aid is. The teachers aren't going to care, but they will notice you aren't particularly good at planning or being a college student.
This means if you want to be successful you need to GET A JOB NOW and save your money to pay off that tuition and so you can buy your books.
Again, if you can come up with the money you need to enroll in your classes TODAY!
Federal Financial aid consists of both loans and grants. If you receive a grant, it is free money that does not have to be paid back. If you receive a loan, you will have to pay it back; though the repayment does not begin until 6 months after you graduate or drop below half time enrollment. Federal financial aid is first paid to the school, typically in at least two payments. If you are eligible to receive more aid than you need for your tuition and fees, you can ask the school to refund you the money to be used for living expenses. When you sign the FAFSA, you are attesting to the fact that you will only use financial aid for educational purposes (which can include living expenses). Schools are not required to request proof of what you spend your excess financial aid on, but that doesn't mean they won't. Good luck!
Lbcc Financial Aid
have you ever met with their Fin Aid office? do you even have your award letter from them for your Fin Aid?
if you haven't done those things, then now is probably to late & you won't have Fin Aid in place to help you pay for school, but go ahead & get to Fin Aid office first thing Monday morning to see if you have any options
You might have to wait until Summer
FAFSA doesn't hold they money (around here, it is in place the day before registration & it pays immediately for tuition, fees, and books).... some schools will hold the money because of people who are called PellRunners (they get FAFSA aid including student loans & then don't come to class)
None of that matters --- if you haven't finished the Fin Aid process all the way to your award letter from your school, then there is no way of knowing it is in place for this semester
Please go talk to your Fin Aid office
for Aves: that is an interesting idea to get books from college library - around here, that is not an option, you either buy books new or used (if you can find a used copy)...there is no such thing around here as not paying for books -- also adding, around here, your fees must be paid in full or you will be dropped by the school prior to the first day of class
Lbcc Classes
He is right....first you have to find someone to let u borrow money to pay for ur classes and books/ or get a perents credit card. The FAFSA does pay for it, but it kind of reinburst you in the money u spent...
The reason they send you money like 3 weeks or 4 weeks later is because in the past a lot of students took advantage of the free money. They would get there checks the first day and basically drop all there classes and not go to school and get paid out.
So FAFSA sends checks basically a month out so they no serious students get it.
solution is to borrow money and pay yourself or who ever lend you money back. Keep I mind once you get your money save some of it for next semester so you won't have the same problem.
mr. kyle busch is wrong there, i filled out my fafsa for the 2011-2012 year 3 weeks ago enrolled and registered for community college classes 2 weeks ago for starting in january and i got my pell grant award letter on friday, go talk to your financial aid office asap u might still be able to get in.
am on fafsa . what happen is that at the time of regestrion they will ask if u are on financial aid then they will direct u down to the finacial aid office for deferment. that all.