Can you use student loans for off campus housing?

Yes, you can use student loan money to pay for off campus housing IF you have any money left over after your tuition and fees are paid. The lender sends the money directly to the school first... and you get the excess after everything is paid.

Be aware that this excess money isn't given out until at LEAST four weeks AFTER the semester has started so you will need to pay for everything yourself for a couple of months if you want to be in location when school starts. This is the law and no way around it.

Just my option but, if you are having to BORROW money to pay for your out of state school then you really can't afford going out-of-state. Your tuition is going to be 4 times more and that means you will not get much (if any) left over after you pay more than you should because you jumped the state line.

"Suppose my tuition is 10k a year, can I ask to borrow 17k to pay for housing?" the school will tell you how much you can borrow. The amount is based on your grade level and dependency status. In your situation, if your tuition is 10K a year and you are an independent freshman, than (since independent freshman can only borrow up to 9,5000 a year in federal Stafford loans) then you will NOT get any money refunded to you. In this situation, you will owe the school 250 a semester, plus have to pay for your books yourself. 10,000 tuition - 9500 = 500 / 2 semesters = 250 a semester you would owe them.

"I know the "extra" money from loans is refunded to the student, at least that's what I've experienced in the past. But I'm just wondering if you can ask for that extra money? Will the loan company give it to you?"

Yes, you can ask for extra money (more than just tuition and fees) but you can't get more than the max total Stafford loans amount allowed, as I stated before. So if you chose another school who's tuition was only 2,000 a year, then you would get refunded the extra 7,500 to help pay for an apartment. (which is why in - state schools and cheap community colleges are so popular.) You would get the 7,500 in TWO installments (half for fall and half for spring). Again, a month AFTER each semester has started.

The max an independent freshman can borrow is only like 9,500 a YEAR in Stafford loans (page 18 attached link). When you take into account our of state tuition (depending on the school) you may get a lot less a semester than you think. That isn't going to go very far if you have other expenses like books and utilities.

Normally, you are eligible for financial aid up to the full cost of attendance at your uni, as determined by the uni. They should list their COA on their website.

However, it's possible that some of the money you'd need might need to be in the form of private student loans. Those, you'd need a co-signer for, which would normally be your parents. Is that an option for you? And of course, you want to be cautious of what you take out in loans - you don't want to graduate $120 in debt - that would be crippling.