1) What are 'Credit Hours' (CR)? Each class is worth some number of credits. It's a measure of the amount of time and effort it takes to complete the class and also its value in completing your degree. Your school probably has a minimum amount of credits you need to take each semester to qualify as "full time"; under that it's "part time". Your student aid may be dependent on being a "full time" student.
Also the price of your tuition is based on your total credits per semester. Credits tend to be expensive when you take few, inexpensive when you take many. For example, at one college you might pay $600 for 6 credits, or $1100 for 12 credits, or $1400 for 18 credits. Taking more credits in a semester will mean you end up spending less on your tuition. The down side is that you might not be able to keep up with all your class work, and getting classes that schedule together well is more challenging the more you add.
2) Is there some kind of 'checklist' of things or materials (aside from textbooks) that any College student should know to do, or know to have on hand? As for textbooks, try to get the list of books as early as possible. Visit online and used booksellers to get the same edition cheaper than at the student bookstore. Ask the teacher if you can get away with using the previous edition, which is generally much more available. Don't count on it though. Many students try to sell each other books - look for those resources. Finally if you can't get your books otherwise, hit the student bookstore and try to get used books there. Only pay for new books at the bookstore as a last resort.
You will need to make absolutely certain you can get to college on time. You need to be able to complete your homework, which at the point probably requires your own computer if you don't want to spend all your days in the student computer center. You will be hauling around books, so you need a good two-strap backpack to ease the strain on your flesh and nerves.
Check the syllabus for each class for other materials you'll need. Every single class will have a syllabus. For example, some classes will give you tests which you need a preprinted sheet with bubbles called a Scan-Tron which is fed into a grading machine. They come in different colors but it's honestly the simplest thing you'll need to overcome in college.
Get enough sleep. Get enough nutrition. Have fun but don't let your partying ruin your academics.
3) Is there a set of things that I need to do every so often? Like, re-registering at the end of every semester, or something? I need to know so I won't be surprised by some procedure or whatever.Every year you need to re-apply for federal student aid. You can also apply for scholarships which come up periodically, which is nice because it's just free money, usually tied to an essay or something. But don't count on getting it. You also need to sign up for classes.
Do everything as soon as you can do it. This is the most important thing in college; do not wait one moment to get something done.
Let's say you sign up for classes online using the school website. You will talk with registration and they will give you the PIN needed to get in, and a day and time that is the earliest you can sign up. You need to have the list of classes you want ready to go, and alternates just in case those are taken. You need to be logged in and ready to click "submit". And, try to do it a day earlier - maybe it will let you get away with it! The point is, you MUST get those classes and if you wait a day you might miss out.
Different groups of students are allowed to sign up at different times. At one college I attended, the very first people to sign up were the ones with a lot of credits already (so it would be harder for them to accept an alternate class if it were full), then students who were still in high school, then veterans / disabled, then everyone else in order of how many credits they had already taken. A fresh adult student would register last, finding everything quite full.
If you see your class is full, and the "wait list" is only a few students long, register anyway. Show up on DAY 1 and attend every class. Make it clear that you want this class, you NEED this class. Invariably a couple students will drop the class a week in and people from the waitlist bump in, in order they signed up. But some of the people who signed up ahead of you will have dropped also in favor of getting into some other class. I'd say if the class holds 30, register as long as the waitlist is no more than 4 people already.
As for scheduling classes, your criteria is as follows: (1) the class must be in your degree program, (2) take your electives only if you have to, preferably taking them last, (3) take prerequisite classes early on (like if you know you'll need English 101 and 102, get 101 out of the way soon), (4) try to take classes that come in a series sequentially (so take Math 101 in Fall, Math 103 in Winter, Math 107 in Spring), (5) only retake a class if you must, a perfect GPA is less important than your finances and your standing with financial aid, which may require something like a 2.5 average to maintain your eligibility.
Remember that some classes have strange prerequisites - for example, you may need a certain math class before your hard science. Try to have this planned out as much as possible, but be willing to change your plan if you need to, just to get through this. You're getting a transferable associates' degree, which is a great idea, but don't be too worried if you had your heart set on Astronomy but you ended up having to take Chemistry instead.
To explain why you want to schedule your classes this way, imagine what you might be looking at when you're one semester away from graduating and you didn't listen. You need five classes, two of which have to be taken one after the other, and one of the others isn't even offered this semester. It's been forever since you did Math and now you're rusty, so one of these classes is gonna be a bitch to get through. And they're all 5-credit "big" classes, ones everyone else wants, because you spent all your electives early on. You need at least one extra semester to graduate. You also need to take 15 credits now and 10 credits next semester - but that puts you in "part time" for student loans. Either you take another 3-credit class to put you over, which doesn't matter to you and represents extra work and maybe $300 more in student loan debt, or you get a reduced student loan award and need to come up with the rest of the tuition money yourself.
Contrast with someone who does it right: you're at the end of your degree with one semester to go. You need 12 credits, which ends up being two 5-credit "big" classes and one 3-credit "easy" one. But your two big classes are Astronomy and Creative Writing, and your easy class is Technology in the Modern World, an elective. The reading for Creative Writing is enjoyable, you just did a Math 107 so the piddly math in Astronomy is a breeze, and the elective is a Mickey Mouse class altogether. You spend most of your time in leisure enjoying fine whiskey and blowjobs.
4) Regarding the FAFSA/Pell Grant for students; can it only be given to students starting in the Spring semester? When it processes, where does the money actually go, and how quickly? Does it wind up in credit form somewhere, that I can use to pay for my tuition expenses? Get a solid explanation from your financial aid department. You need to sign up as soon as possible, because there's a processing wait before you are eligible to receive funds. After that wait, and you are eligible, there's a delay before funds for any college semester are disbursed.
You will get a letter from FAFSA called a Master Promissory Note. Follow its instructions. You may be eligible for additional funds for living expenses in addition to tuition: it's a good loan, for a lot of reasons, but if you're gonna spend the money frivolously don't take the extra to do it. Just take enough for your tuition, fees, textbooks and supplies, etc. But don't be afraid to accept the extra; again, it's probably the best loan terms you'll ever receive. And it's better to have that extra couple hundred bucks in the bank for emergencies and then have more to pay off later.
You generally get an award letter for each semester in the mail. Follow its instructions to accept the award. After a delay, the bank will pay your college for tuition and fees, and the remainder gets deposited in your bank account. I think you might be able to get the remainder mailed as a check? Just get a bank account and have it auto-deposit if you can.
The college knows how tough it is to get your funding to come through on time. It's a huge hassle every semester. So there's a grace period before they demand payment. It usually won't come up unless you applied for funding too late, but even then there's some leeway. Again, talk with your financial aid counselor.
If your financial aid has a problem (your GPA is below C average or whatever they want, or you have too few credits that semester, or you have taken too many credits (possibly because you took classes outside your degree program or had to retake classes), you will be given a warning and/or put on suspension. You can wriggle your way out of this but it's tough and you can only get away with it a limited number of times.
Also, and I assume you did this already, you will need to apply for enrollment at your college. On your FAFSA you list which colleges you might attend; list any you're the least bit interested in just in case you don't get into your first pick. Apply for college early; you should be able to apply for enrollment during the previous year and explain that you want to start next Fall.
5) When and how do I pay for all this? Do I need to pay for each class immediately (or at least soon after)? Or can I simply accumulate them all, and pay the whole sum at the end of the semester?As I described above, there is a date by which you must pay. You need to pay for all your classes and fees at the same time, each semester. Try to pay as soon as you can.
The college probably has a schedule of refunds, so if you attend the class for X days you can still drop the class and get your tuition refunded. This is dangerous because you need to remain above your "full time" credit load to maintain financial aid.
As for how you pay your loans: some of your loans will be subsidized, which means they have 0% interest rate. Others are unsubsidized, meaning they have the full, but very low, interest rate of like 2%. This interest is added to your loans while you're in deferment (which means you aren't paying them off yet) which is that compound interest. You take some of each; don't worry about the interest.
You remain in deferment as long as you are in school - possibly only as long as you're full-time. After you leave school you will try to get a job. Maybe you can't! You can apply for another deferment from the lender or whoever is servicing the loan. There is a limit to how many deferments you can get though. Don't let your loan slip into default by ignoring it and not apply for those deferments. Just make the calls, tell them you can't pay because you're unemployed or underemployed, whatever, and pay once you get a good job and you have your feet under you.
And don't worry about paying it off ASAP. Just pay the minimum unless you're flush with cash, at which point pay the amount they suggest and hope you pay. As debt goes, student loans are really friendly.
However, DO NOT REFINANCE. DO NOT GET A BANK LOAN. Refinancing a student loan changes it from a friendly, low-interest, deferable, student loan to a nasty, variable-interest, must-pay-now, standard loan. Like you get directly from a bank. Refinancing is never a good choice, I don't care what anybody says. Those re-fi places are just out to make money off of you, to your detriment.
//General Advice
Generally you want to get your books ASAP because the cheapest ones sell first. However sometimes a teacher has a different book than was used last semester, or even changes his mind after the syllabus is printed and scanned online. Talk with your teacher early on before classes begin and find out what the books will be. You usually can't return your books to the bookstore, although their policy may allow it very early on and if you haven't broken open the wrapping or separated any extra components. The book buyback at the end of the semester is a joke, they give you a pittance, so try to sell your books to other students. In fact, GIVE your books away rather than letting the bookstore profit more; hopefully there's a climate of mutual support and students will be willing to give you books to.
For that reason, and many others, get together with other students who are also in your program. This is more important for programs like nursing or paralegal because they're more focused and have more rigid class requirements. For example, a required class for them may be offered only once per year, and if you don't plan your whole degree program out you're screwed. As a generalist you're spared that, although certain bottleneck classes like English 101 and Math 101 are required by so many people that they fill up quickly. I've covered that under prerequisites above.
Congregating with students is also a good way to find out about bad professors and tough classes, and hear news about changes in the school. And it's just a fundamental part of college life to make a ton of friends and acquaintances. It may be helpful to set up an agreement with a classmate that if one of you is absent, the other will type up and email his notes.
Don't take classes of the same type concurrently. For example, don't take two PE classes in the same semester. You'll be tired and unable to perform well in either. Taking Math 101 and Math 103 at the same time, even if you can get the allowance to do it, is a bad idea because Math 103 assumes you know all the stuff from Math 101.
You can challenge classes, which means you just take a special final exam and get the credit without buying the book or spending the in-class time. Do this only if you absolutely know the material. And I mean, if you browse through the appendix and none of the terminology is unknown to you, and you skim the chapter intros and you could lecture on those topics. I've never challenged a class. Also look at it this way: you're still paying full tuition for the class, so you might as well get the instruction and writing practice out of it. Then again, if it really is just a boneheaded class for you, and attendance would be a waste of your time, challenging may be a good thing.
Look over your syllabi and see what the scoring method is. You generally get point for attendance, maybe 10%, so it's very worth your while to attend every single day. Attendance also means you're listening to lecture and taking notes actively, which helps you learn. Couple that with doing all you assigned reading, which improves your reading speed and comprehension, and you will be a rockstar and ace that bastard.
Another thing that will maximize your grades (and keep you in good standing with financial aid) is doing your homework as early as possible. If you have free time, get started on the next set of reading or test yourself with the end-of-chapter questions and terminology your teacher probably isn't using. You need to be able to turn in your work before your teacher expects it, so that when you flub it and skip a couple days of homework, you're just turning it in on time. If you shoot for the actual due date, when you flub it, you'll turn it in late and get docked points.
When writing, make sure you completely finish a whole day before it's due at minimum. You're going to write that night, go to sleep, and in the morning print out the work. Read it and correct it during the day. Then when you get home, revise and print again to turn in tomorrow. The fresh eyes on the work will prevent you from making some hilarious mistakes in your writing. I've done some crazy stuff - repeated whole paragraphs, said ridiculous things that make no sense, change from one argument position to another midway, forget parts of the paper, etc. And of course, printing it the night before heads off problems you will encounter with printer jams, running out of ink or paper, etc. If it won't print that night, you can still run out to a print shop right away or early in the morning. Also the campus almost certainly has print facilities though they charge just as much so it's more about convenience.
If you take online or hybrid classes, it's important to keep up with your work. Post as soon as you can, after finishing your reading. You probably have to post responses to others which makes it look like a discussion is going on: reply ASAP. Generally the people who post first have the greatest range of unsaid stuff to post about, and the people who post first say interesting things that are easy to reply to substantively. By shifting your due date for posting one day early you make your life MUCH easier. And you're not doing more work, it's just that the whole semester's due dates are a day early.
If you're lagging in a class, focus down on it. It's better to get three Bs than to get two As and a D. Stop doing your leisure stuff, stop wasting time with whatever, and set aside time to catch up on the reading and do the late work. If you turn in late work your professor will probably give you at least some points. Ask about extra credit you can do. Explain that you know you're lagging behind and you want to turn it around. You don't need to give a sob story to the teacher - they get enough of that from everyone else looking for a break - just make it clear you want to work hard and fix the problem. They will appreciate it!
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Topic: Going to College soon, need help on some core concepts (Read 1134 times)