Forget Travel! You Can Now Use Those Unused Miles to Pay For College!

Are you a Canadian flyer with so many airline miles, you don’t know what to do with them? Air Canada’s frequent-flyer program has a surprising solution to any Aeroplan miles you might not want to redeem for travel — pay for your education!

Air Canada is partnering with HigherEdPoints, a Toronto-based program that allows Canadian citizens to funnel unused miles into education expenses at 70 different Canadian universities and colleges. For every 35,000 miles accumulated, Aeroplan members can earn one $250 voucher, which can then be applied directly to a student’s account.

Since HigherEdPoints began in 2013, founder Suzanne Tyson reports that over $125,000 worth of vouchers have been issued, and the program is hoping to expand to the U.S. With the cost of American higher education rising steadily in the last few decades, it remains unclear how good of a deal $250 per 35,000 miles would be under current market conditions, but ideally this is a monetary conversion that would be resolved by the time the program goes stateside.

[Photo: iStock]