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If you are a US citizen attending graduate school then you may find this advice helpful.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and/or CPA therefore they should be contacted before following any of this advice.

At the beginning of each year you have the ability to fill out a FAFSA, which essentially allows the government to determine whether you are eligible to receive financial aid. If you are eligible then you can receive a loan up to $8500 that can be subsidized. Subsidized meaning the loan does not accrue interest until 6 months after you graduate. My guess is that most graduate students are at least partially eligible who are not supported by their parents.

The numbers will vary depending by school, but let’s say a graduate student is making $25,000 a year. If it takes 5 years to complete your degree then you would be eligible to take out $42,500 (minus universities fees of ~1.5 percent on the loan).

A couple of years ago, savings accounts were paying about 5 percent interest, which on $42,500 is $2,125 (minus taxes) during your last year. If you are making ~$25 k a year then this is a significant amount of money. However, at the moment saving accounts and CDs are yielding about the same as the university fee so you could argue that it is not really worth the effort, fair enough.

The crowd that I think can really benefit are those that are planning on taking out loans (or currently have a loan). I have a number of colleagues that have taken out relatively high interest rate loans on vehicles or to attend medical school. The interest rates on these loans can be more than 12 percent. Currently, subsidized loans after the grace period are at 5.6 percent (ref).

Don’t forget this is a loan and must be paid back. You have to decide for yourself whether taking the additional risk is worth it.