let's say you're an adult freshman with zero income and your tuition is 3500/year. Pell will pay about 5700. Depending on your home state, you may qualify for 4k in state grant. That's 6200 in refund checks, but ig you take out Stafford loans, you can increase that to 15700 in refund checks. All it costs you is 9500 in debt, which you probably don't plan on repaying anyway.