Just over 20 percent of all U.S. students are using federal student aid funds to buy cryptocurrency, a new survey has found.

The number comes from a poll undertaken by Pollfish on behalf of the Student Loan Report, a website for student loan information. Of 1,000 students surveyed, about 21 percent said that they had used their aid money to invest in cryptocurrencies.

“I was definitely surprised,” Drew Cloud, the Student Loan Report’s founder, told CNBC Friday. “Living on a tight budget, one would think students would spend that money on groceries, rent or school supplies rather than bitcoin and Ethereum.”

Students are said to receive about $4,600 in federal loans per academic year, with the funds strictly meant to be applied to living expenses. Cryptocurrencies, not surprisingly, don’t count as a living expense.

“Federal student aid funds are to be used only to help meet the costs of attending an eligible institution of higher education,” a spokesperson from the Department of Education said. “Investing is not considered an appropriate use of federal student aid funds.”

Whether or how that’s enforceable is another matter. Students are given the funds in cash, meaning that there is no accountability. By contrast, a typical U.S. welfare recipient is given a card that can only be used to buy food and other essential items under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

There is an upside to students using federal aid money to buy cryptocurrencies. Should they make a profit. it can help them pay off their student loan debts. “If you end up with extra funds, you can return those through your bursar’s office to cancel out some of your debt,” a spokesperson from The Student Loan Report noted. “That’s the wisest option.” Except, perhaps, for not risking the money on crypto in the first place.

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