Florida International University

1. 1 $330 for textbooks. Billed automatically

   The Panther Book Pack is FIU's course-materials rental programme, and the part most freshmen miss is that it is opt-OUT, not opt-in. OneStop: "Upon registering for courses, you will be automatically enrolled into the program" and "A charge of $22 per credit hour will be applied to your FIU student account along with your tuition." The FAQ does the maths: "$22 per undergraduate credit hour, or $330 for a 15-credit course load." For that you get every required text by the first day of class — as a rental, e-book or hard copy "depends on the instructor's preference", returned "in reusable condition at the end of the semester" or you are "charged the cost of these materials". For a lot of schedules that is a good deal. For a schedule where one class uses a free open textbook and another uses the same book you already own, it is not. So do the sum before the deadline: "you can opt out at any point from the day you receive your Panther Book Pack email until three days after the add/ drop date" — in MyFIU, the Panther Book Pack tile, the opt-out toggle. You can opt back in the same way. Charges follow your registration "in the same way tuition is when you add and drop a class."

   OneStop — Panther Book Pack OneStop — Panther Book Pack FAQs (opt out, returns)
2. 2 One class you cannot test out of

   From the catalog's University Core Curriculum page: "First-Year Experience Graduation Requirement: All students entering the University with fewer than 30 semester hours are required to take this one-credit course during their first or second year at FIU. High-school-earned college credit does not exempt students from this requirement." That last sentence is the one to read twice. Thirty hours of AP, IB or dual-enrolment credit does not count toward the thirty — the rule is about how you entered, not how many credits you carry. SLS 1501 is one credit, described in the catalog as "a review of basic skills and competencies necessary to college success including time management, study skills, and academic policies/procedures. Includes mandated information." It is a graduation requirement, so the students who find out too late are the ones who find out from a degree audit in year four. Take it in the first year; it is one credit and it is designed to be easy.

   Catalog — University Core Curriculum (First-Year Experience requirement) Catalog — SLS 1501
3. 3 Register late? $100. Pay late? $100 more

   Two different fees, two different deadlines, both $100, and neither one cares that you are new. Late registration: "A student who initiates registration during the Add/Drop period for the session is assessed a $100.00 late registration fee." So registering for the first time during add/drop week — which is what "I'll sort my schedule out when I get there" turns into — costs $100 before you have sat in a class. Waivers are considered "only if a student registers late due to circumstances determined by the University to be exceptional and beyond the control of the student." Late payment: "Students who do not pay their tuition and fees by the tuition payment deadline or installment payment deadline will be assessed a $100 late payment fee." It is charged once per semester, and: "Late payment fee will not be waived unless it is a university error." Financial aid that has not disbursed yet is the usual way a freshman lands here — the deadline is the deadline whether or not the aid has arrived, so check the balance in MyFIU the week before. Both dates are on the OneStop academic calendar for every session. Put them in your phone in week one.

   OneStop — late registration fee OneStop — late payment fee OneStop — academic calendar (the deadlines)
4. 4 There is free food in the Graham Center

   The Student Food Pantry, in the Division of Academic and Student Affairs' words: "The pantry is available to all currently enrolled FIU students. Proof of need is not required." It is on the third floor of the Graham Center at MMC (GC 319) and in the Wolfe University Center at BBC (WUC 256). What is there: "non-perishable food items including canned proteins, fruits, dairy, vegetables, and soups, along with grains, oils and condiments. Toiletry items are also provided." How often: "students can visit once a week, taking 8 pounds of food per visit." Hours at MMC are Monday to Thursday, noon to 5; BBC runs Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. It is stocked by donations from staff, faculty and the community, and it exists precisely so that the week the money runs out does not become the week you stop eating. Nobody asks why you are there.

   DASA — Student Food Pantry (locations, hours)
5. 5 Upload your textbook. Then ask it questions.

   Attach a PDF — a textbook chapter, a lecture deck, a reading, a problem set — and ask Gus about it in plain language. It reads the file, indexes it against the rest of that course's materials, and answers from the page rather than from the internet. It is not only a lookup tool. Ask it to tutor you through something that has not clicked, to quiz you on the key concepts, or to read your draft and tell you what is weak. Because it is scoped to one course, "what is actually on our reading list" is a question it can answer. And it is still the same app that pulls every deadline out of your syllabi and records your lectures. The chat just knows about all of it.

   Try Gus free

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