From Final Fantasy Wiki

The Study Panel is a computer terminal in Final Fantasy VIII that is used for school purposes. Students can access these terminals for information about their Garden and/or their studies. The system is garden-wide and also provides forums for chats or even public home-pages depending on the faculty's say-so.

Balamb Garden Study Panels

Tutorial

The tutorial in the Study Panel is almost exactly the same as the help option in the main menu. It explains the game controls, terms and symbols encountered during the game. As a reward for looking at the GF page, the player will receive two GFs—Quetzalcoatl and Shiva, and an explanation regarding GF powers.

The Basics

A more basic overview of some common terms the player would find in the game, such as Magic (and Para-Magic), Guardian Forces and Sorceress and Magic.

About Garden

It features the rules in Garden as well as info on the three Garden institutions around the world and the basics of the SeeD mercanary program.

A Message From Garden

Garden Events: It contains a chronograms indicating the Garden's major events during the year. It also contains announcements by the Cafeteria and the Disciplinary and Library committees.

Garden Square

Functions as a sort of public message board for the students. After Squall is appointed commander, it features messages from students cheering him on.

The School Festival Commitee

A section for the School Festival Commitee to post announcements and student related material. Selphie Tilmitt, after becoming the Commitee's sole member, revamps the page to become a kind of public diary and narration on game events.

Garden Festival Commitee

Selphie writes about the current state of the festival, requesting new members and expresses her hopes for future festivals.

My Friends

Selphie gets the main characters (except for Squall) to each write a little meassage on this page, featuring her own comments at the end of each message:

My Diary

Selphie writes about the story and events of the game as it progresses from her perspective, sharing her outlook on them, opinions, worries, concerns, thoughts and feelings, effectively creating a chronicle of the game's events.

Sir Laguna's Page

Selphie's homage page to Laguna Loire, or "Sir Laguna", as she calls him. She posts reviews of Laguna's articles found in Timber Maniacs magazines during their travels.

Other Study Panels

• In the remnants of Trabia Garden a partially working computer panel and screen can be turned on to access Selphie's personal information. She will quickly arrive to turn it off, however.
• The dorm rooms in Galbadia Garden all feature personal Study Panels.