Keep in mind that it’s a loan. And a loan is a loan is a loan. That means it needs to be paid back once you graduate.

However, if you’re given a grant, that’s free money. There might be stipulation of how that money can be spent, so you would need to read the provisions associated with that money.

Having said all that. I’ve known students to spend financial aid on expensive clothing, gas, partying, kegs, cigarettes and other things where it definitely shouldn’t have been used. But, that’s their credit history, not mine. Then, these same students end up running back to the financial aid office in need of an emergency loan because they’ve run out of money a little over halfway through the semester. Don’t fall into that trap. Emergency student loans are exceedingly expensive (interest rate wise).

You can get up to $5930 a year ($2965 a semester) for free from the government by filling out a Pell Grant form, but it may have to be repaid if it is used to cover tuition costs and you drop before completing 60% of the course.

If you were a full-time student during your fall and spring semesters, Pell Grant is not offered over the summer, so if you need to complete a certain number of credit hours to keep a scholarship, try your best to do that in your fall/spring semesters, because most scholarships/grants don’t cover summer tuition.

Personal story: I needed to complete 30 credit hours within a year, but only completed 23 (attempted 26) within my first two semesters, so I had to take out a $1750 loan to complete the remaining 7 over the summer to keep my scholarship.