<human>: Hey there. I'm looking to fly from SPI to LAX on Saturday 8/15/15 or Sunday 8/16/15. I've thoroughly checked ticket prices and the best prices I found were from StudentUniverse and STATravel. I need to be in LA Sunday morning, before noon. 

I'm seeing one-way flights on Saturday for $185-$220 at the cheapest, and on Sunday $250. If I take a Saturday flight I'll have to get a hotel in LA for the night, and I haven't yet looked into prices for that.

The main reason I'm making this post is because the prices that I'm seeing posted on StudentUniverse and STATravel aren't on the actual airline websites or SPI's website. Is this normal? Also at least STAT seems to have 1 or 2 student cards that I have to buy in addition to get the student price, $25 each? Do I actually have to buy these cards? Has anyone bought through them before? I can't even tell if I'm going to actually get a ticket for sure if I buy through them. How do I tell if they're a scam or not?

Aside from that, if you have advice on getting my things to college that would be helpful. I assume shipping is the way to go if I fly, but maybe checking bags is better/cheaper? I question how I would get my ukelele, bulky PC (custom built desktop), and fireworks to college. I think fireworks might be impossible as I know that won't go over for a flight, and assume it's the same with shipping through UPS/FedEx/USPS.

Give me a shortened version of the text
<bot>: Are StudentUniverse and STATravel legitimate? Should I ship my things to college or check them as bags for a flight?