FREMONT, Ohio — For anyone who's paid for college, you know all the little things can add up big time.
This is why Terra State Community College in Fremont is using federal funding to help its students start the spring semester.
New and returning students at Terra State will have fewer things to pay for in the upcoming spring semester.
Terra administration decided to use about $700,000 of their federal CARES Act funding to pay for any physical or digital textbooks purchased from their Titan Shop bookstore.
As financial instability is still a major problem for many as the pandemic continues, Terra president Ron Schumacher says they wanted to make sure at least a few financial hurdles were removed for their students.
"We wanted to make sure that students didn't have to make a choice on buying food or getting their books. So, this is one way that we're able to help them and help them through to completion," said Schumacher.
And if students have already purchased their textbooks, they can fill out a form in the bookstore to be reimbursed.
Schumacher says on average, 72% of students don't have textbooks on the first day of classes.
Now with the college paying for the books, these students can be better prepared financially and mentally for their next round of classes.
"It's a huge blessing. I'm not going to have to work as much. I can focus more on family, focus more on my schooling, rather than find a way to pay for the textbooks," said Trent Goatee, a freshmen business management student.
"It definitely saves time, because you don't have to look around for the best price or anything like that. And it's all taken care of and you don't have to worry about getting the money together or anything like that," said Anna Ewing, who is in her second year as an interactive media student.
Schumacher says the offer has begun to draw in students who may have dropped college due to the pandemic as well.
"We actually went back and looked back at some of the students who stopped out maybe right around COVID. And now some of those students are coming back and trying to take advantage of what we're pulling together for them," said Schumacher.
For students to be eligible to have their spring semester textbooks free, they are required to have registered for their classes by Friday, Dec. 17.