Financial aid helps students cover tuition, room and board, travel expenses to the school, textbooks, school supplies, and even laptops. That's right!  You can actually use your financial aid to buy a laptop if it's something you need for school.

 Let's take a look at how you might be able to buy a laptop with your financial aid.

Financial Aid Money Uses

Federal Pell Grants and federal student loans are paid directly to your school to cover tuition costs. If there is money left over, then your school will issue you a refund check. With those funds, you are free to use them as you see fit, including purchasing a laptop.

Did you File FAFSA® Yet

Most financial aid helps you with the cost of college and expenses that directly affect your education — such as housing, supplies, and textbooks. You'll want to check with your financial aid office if you plan to use the funds for something other than those things.

Consider Laptop Scholarships

Believe it or not, there are actually scholarships available for students that are meant specifically for laptops. In fact, Dell, one of the world's largest computer manufacturers, has a laptop scholarship that students can apply to receive laptops, financial aid, and textbook credits.

You can also use different scholarship search engines like Scholly, Fastweb, and Scholarships.com.

Review Your Financial Aid Terms

Make sure you review all terms of financial aid awards you receive to ensure there aren't any terms that would prevent you from buying a laptop. Most forms of financial aid consider a laptop a necessary school expense.

The most important thing to do is to complete your FAFSA®. Once file FAFSA®, be sure to search for extra resources to cover a laptop at no cost to you. If not, you can always look into renting, borrowing, or finding a refurbished laptop at a lower cost.