student loans

I remember the day when I was debt free. It was great while it lasted.

So due to the crap going on in the market recently the sweet deal that we get through our lender has disappeared. No more 0.5% rate reduction for paying on time (or whatever it was that we were getting). Either way, I now have to pay the full so-so 6.8% on my Staffords and the even more so-so 8.5% on my GradPLUS. I'll milk the former for what it's worth (although it's nowhere as nice as the 1-2% rate I had undergrad) and pay off the latter as quickly as possible.

One thing I will do though is pay off my accrued interest before it gets capitalized. (Reminder to self - pay $5,000 since that's what I can afford and still have money to travel and buy furniture before I start getting paid) One thing they still do that's nice is that additional interest doesn't get capitalized (so the interest is interest free, if that makes any sense at all). In normal speak, if you don't pay it before a certain date, it would be like getting an additional loan your interest.

Oh... and for '09ers and '10ers, you get stuck with paying origination fees - another few grand to the cost of education. Blame the bankers.