How can my son get his books to study with until his grant money from the government kicks in?

Question

My son is a first year student at Vincennes University. There was a delay from the school for financial aid until I sent in a transcript for my 2006 taxes. However they are sending me another form to fill out to send them for more information. He has already been okayed for the Pell Grant and is staying on campus in his room and going to classes without the necessary books that he needs for his classes. They say they are still waiting on minor details like another form that I need to send in. I am not rich and I am living from paycheck to paycheck. Uncle Sam has my social security number and all other vital information about me and knows that my family is needy. I will send the form in when they send it to me to fill out, but meanwhile my son is struggling to keep up with the rest of his class, but can't because he has no books. Can someone please tell me where and how my son can get the books he needs until the Pell Grant monies come in? I am five hours away and can't do much.

Answer 1

This is so damn frustrating, I know we've been insimilar situation...my college kid says she has gone to library and copied the few pages she would need for the next day or so at a time until her money came in, possibly could get a co student to copy a few pages from or study with.Used used book online to order books with credit card if possible(any relative or friend or anyone who could help out also could be called upon if possible) -make sure when doing this you have the ISBN# of each book and not just the name /author or you end up with some kind of different edition of the sam ebook which can mess u up apparently. IN the future, get very savvy at filling outhese forms EARLY and COMPLETELY(even if you did it before it still pays to rememebr to do it w/precision) and accurately. Doing your taxes EARLY is your best bet for getting him the most financial aid I believe. Try to use FAX'ing (you can ask a friend if u dont have noe or go to an office supply store and pay to have one sent/received. DONt wait for the SNAIL MAIL.Ask for help from his college offices and explain you need to have ideas of how to speed up the process, if you dont get help call at a different time and or ask for someone else. Also have yr son get involved. He will need to learn to do these things also in order ot survive so its a good learning experience for him if he can struggle a little and go the financial aid office every day and ask how is the progress on y situation. He can't expect you to do it all from 5 hrs away.

Current US administration ahs been cutting back aid and making it more and more difficult, so also stay involved politically and let your rep's know how this affects yr family and vote for those who are pro-higher education aid.
They are HOPING you will get too frustrated and give up so dont give them that satisfaction! Sometimes you learn little by littel how to do this financial aid thing by trial and error. If you find the universoty is too expensive there are times when its better to find a more reasonable one so your son doesn't have to be face w/these issues-though I hope that doesn't happen if he's happy w the school now. good luck to yr son

Answer 2

See if there is a mechanism at his school whereby if he proves that the money is granted to him and on it's way, they can possibly "front" him or loan him the book money. What he's experiencing is very common at universities, and they are well aware that many students aid doesn't arrive on time. He might also mention his plight to his professor's, and if all else fails, he'll need to study with a friend. He's gotten this far, he'll just have to be very creative and not let these minor setbacks hold him back.

Answer 3

The bookstore may be able to let them "buy" them, if he can prove he will be getting the financial aid to cover the cost. If that is not the case, the school's library should have at least one copy of the books he needs. He just needs to keep checking them out and reserving them so that he actually gets them when he needs them. Good luck.

Answer 4

If the book store won't grant credit against the loan, there may be copies in the library. Worst case scenario, the instructors may have an extra copy.

Answer 5

tell your son to apply for an additional student loan in the financial aid office or apply for a capital one student credit card, either one of these solutions are possible because I went through the exact same thing this semester and I'm a sophmore!!

Answer 6

perhaps a scholarship?

http://www.daylon.com/scholarship/