What’s a degree worth? A third of homeowners say they’d borrow against their homes to pay for it

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Homeowners across the country have about $5.8 trillion in equity and–notwithstanding some hesitancy–there’s some surprising ways they plan on using it. Chief among them is to get a degree.

In a recent survey, one of the most common reasons to borrow against a home was to pay off student debt or other education-related costs, according to Bankrate.com as cited by CNBC. Nearly a third of homeowners who responded said they believed that loans to pay for education were a “good” use of their home equity.

About one in six homeowners reported that they felt borrowing against their home to pay bills was a “good” option.

The number of new home-equity lines of credits jumped in the first quarter of 2018–despite expectations that the new tax bill would deter borrowers, and cash-out refinancing is at its highest point in about a decade, as The Real Deal reported. [CNBC]–Erin Hudson