Getting Back on the Bike

You know, this going back to school thing is getting to be old hat. I've been doing it for so long that it's like riding a bike and the familiar stuff starts coming back, even if it's with a different school who does things differently, things are still the same. And I'm sure by the week of finals, I'll be pulling my hair out and ready to throw-up, praying to just make it to Christmas break at which time I'll gorge on a local buffet, take in a movie, read, and sleep a lot. One friend said he always spent a week in his pajamas playing video games after finals. :-)  He was gorgeous so that is always an awesome visual in my head. LOL

So yesterday I was checking on my financial aid--it's become more of a nervous tick than actually checking--and discovered that the financial aid refunds, i.e., the money I need to buy school supplies and to Live On for as long as possible will start being disbursed the first week of school. That doesn't necessarily mean that I will receive it the first week of school. That made me very, very, very nervous. Why? Because I can't afford to buy school supplies--including some technology and software that I'll need--like textbooks, etc., until I get that money.

Then I remembered:  Every university I've been to (and that's two not including this one) has advances or loans you can get to cover your textbooks.  AND if I buy early, I can get used copies which are generally less expensive.

At USC, your student ID card was also called your "diskresh" short for "discretionary card."  You could add money to it, or your parents could, or, if you were expecting financial aid, you could add any amount to your diskresh card up to the amount of your FA refund. At any time. That's the awesome part about the $42K year private universities. Everything runs real smoothly. And you could use it anywhere on campus including any of the restaurants / cafeterias, bookstore, Starbucks, etc. Oh hell yeah there's a Starbucks on campus. More than one. And you can get Wolfgang Puck pizza and there's a bar below the student union. With Liquor. *uhhuh*

At Chico, you could ask for a "loan," up to $500- and which included a $20- processing fee. I didn't do it every semester, it just depended on my need. I did it perhaps 2 or 3 times. And then they just take the balance right out of your FA.

So I started sniffing around on the financial aid page for my university, and sure enough, there was a form you could fill out and fax to the bursar's office to get a loan for $500-, with the $20- processing fee. So I printed it, filled it out, and faxed it over yesterday. More waiting.

Hopefully it will be here in a few days (??) so I can start getting used textbooks thereby saving some dough. Everything will help especially since tuition just went up 12%. Ow.