Since HELOCs are excellent tools for handling irregular expenses, it makes sense that lots of people are turning to them to provide additional cash for college. Usually a student applies for as much scholarship, grant or student loan money as he/she is eligible, then the parent will make up the difference, if needed, by accessing home equity with a HELOC. This arrangement works well for many reasons: 1) The HELOC allows the parent to pull out only as much money as needed at a time without having to borrow (and make payments on) a large lump sum; 2) As the payments are interest only for up to 15 years, repayment is easier on the parent