Students are using their loan money to buy cryptocurrency: Study

Student loans aren’t just for buying textbooks, No. 2 pencils, and apples for bribing teachers anymore. According to a recent survey, as many as one in five college kids may be using their student loans to cash in on the cryptocurrency craze.

The Student Loan Report surveyed 1,000 current college students with student loan debt about whether they were asked whether they used their student loan money to invest in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and found that 21.2% of them have Sallie Mae to thank for their cryptocurrency investment. Many students borrow a little more money than is necessary to pay for tuition and books, according to Student Loan Report. The leftover cash is typically used for college living expenses, but some wily students think that investing in Ethereum or Ripple may be a better investment than a bachelor’s degree in comparative English literature.

While some school administrators may frown on the practice of using borrowed cash for non-school expenses—and taking out student loans for risky investments seems like a great way to graduate with even more debt— per Student Loan Report there aren’t any rules against it. If these students’ investment pays off, perhaps they can pay back their loans in virtual currency before Sallie Mae tracks them down in the real world.