School funding questions.

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Anyone know much about how student aid works in the US(Besides being ass backwards) and can help me figure out a plan.

How do grants versus just general fafsa aid work if say my course for the 2 years will cost 15k roughly but I think last time I did fafsa my grants each semester would not cover all of it. So the rest would be loans.

I also work at UPS and get 1500 reimbursement each semester so 6k total if I pass my classes for that semester.

I also have living expenses that wont be covered fully by working.

How does paying the tuition and book cost work do I do it all at the end and just build up a tab or is it per semester? Can the money even be used for other stuff because I might need to take out a loan for a new vehicle and it would be cool to pay that off with the school loan money since I don't need to pay that off right away. Also money for food would be good too.

Sounds confusing I know but if anyone understands it and can explain a rough idea on what to do that would be great.

1. Grants & scholarships generally do not have to be paid back. Loans do have to be paid back. It's rare to have enough in grants and scholarships to cover all costs.

2. Employer reimbursement is either to the school or you...depending on if there's an outstanding balance with the school and so forth. If the reimbursement exceeds what is owed, normally the school cuts you a check for the difference (if the full amount is to be submitted to the school no matter what).

3. Tuition and books go on your school account. Generally, it's all due when posted, but each school has deadlines of when stuff must be paid. If you don't have every penny paid off, you can't "graduate" until it is paid.

4. Student loans can be used on anything school related, and you can be somewhat liberal in how you define that (e.g., getting a new PC or laptop for school), but buying or paying off a car loan...dicey.

Grants and scholarships don't have to be paid back, loans do.

You can attend college with a combo of grants and loans.

Employer paid tuition varies by employer. Some pay you up front, some reimburse once you complete the class. In the case of the later, you pay up front.

Books again vary. Your college book store is rarely a good value on textbooks (amazon and other sites are much better) so you'll prob need to pay those out of pocket.

Also, most textbooks ARE NOT needed for classes. A decent professor will tell you which ones you really don't need to get, and often an older edition is good enough for the class (cheaper).

The whole college textbook scam is proof there is no environmental crisis and is the biggest financial ripoff perpetrated on people in America.