zyBooks are steeply discounted for students, so most financial aid students initially subscribe directly using a credit card at zybooks.com, then "reimburse themselves" when their aid is disbursed several weeks into the term.
You might check whether your bookstore sells zyBooks prepaid access keys, in which case you might use your school financial aid account to purchase a key from the bookstore (Info about prepaid access keys / Info for bookstore representatives). Note that most financial aid students pay directly at zybooks.com, which may have a lower price, enable future discounts, and save time too, and thus most schools using zyBooks do not set up such prepaid access keys.
In rare hardship cases, we may defer payment for a few weeks.
- EMAIL: Some zyBooks have a built-in deferral request form. See below. If your zyBook does NOT have the built-in form, don't panic! You can still request a deferral by emailing support@zybooks.com! Make sure to include your zyBook code so we know which zyBook you need.
- BUILT-IN FORM: Some zyBooks have a built-in deferral form directly on the subscribe page. If your zyBook is participating in our beta trial of this new feature, you will see a text button on the subscribe page that says "Have payment questions?"
Clicking this button will pop up a modal that includes many common questions including how to obtain a deferral.
To request a deferral, you will need to expand the last question and fill out the provided form.
For either email or built-in deferral form, you will need to provide a valid reason for requesting a deferral. Someone from the zyBooks team will review your request and may then manually approve.
By the way, the first chapter is free, so you can immediately start reading and doing activities even before paying or requesting deferment. When in the chapter but unsubscribed, your activity will be recorded, but not visible to your instructor. After you subscribe, you will appear on that zyBook's roster, and activities you've already completed will become visible to your instructor. So you can get started learning right away.