How would you like to pay for college using frequent-flyer miles?

Bloomberg reports:

In Canada, You Can Pay for College With Frequent-Flyer Miles

All those frequent-flyer points can pile up, especially now that airlines are making it harder than ever to redeem them for flights.

Why not spend them on something really useful—such as a college education?

Through its partnership with Toronto-based HigherEdPoints, Air Canada’s loyalty program, Aeroplan, lets members use miles for tuition—and sometimes room and board—at 70 colleges and universities in Canada. Aeroplan members can redeem 35,000 miles to buy a $250 certificate that is credited directly to a student’s account.

The miles can also be donated. An anonymous gift of miles to the University of New Brunswick’s financial aid department enabled Jeremy Murray, a 22-year-old junior, to pay the fee for the wheelchair-accessible dormitory he needed during last year’s summer session. “My loans and grants didn’t cover the entire amount,” says Murray, who wants to start a media company that employs people with disabilities when he graduates.

Under a deal with the provincial governments of Alberta and Ontario, some students are also using HigherEdPoints toward their college loans.