I probably have the principle off a bit. It's troublesome to keep track of when each year is two separate loans (one in my name, one in my parents'). All I rec

I probably have the principle off a bit. It's troublesome to keep track of when each year is two separate loans (one in my name, one in my parents'). All I recall for certain is when I refinanced a year after graduation I had to borrow 118k to cover the whole thing. I finish paying it off this year (total of 5.5 years, 4.5 on the refi loan + 1 year of paying before that). At least at the time I went (2011 to 2016), federal loans had two modes - subsidized and unsubsidized. Subsidized loans don't begin to accrue interest until graduation, the unsubsidized ones start accruing on day 1. They only accrue interest on the principle though, it's not compounded. If you don't pay off the accumulated interest within 6 months following graduation, it's capitalized (added to the principle). My parents always told me that their gross income determines whether or not you can get the subsidized loans, even for the fraction of the loans in the student's name. They always complained how it didn't take cost of living, home ownership, or how many children you had into consideration. Sure, they were well enough off that they could have probably afforded to pay for me, but my 2 younger siblings and I were all college bound. I would have never assumed or expected them to pay for my schooling anyways. I wasn't raised that entitled. The first year I attended UC, the Parent Plus loans represented something like 80% of my borrowing. The first year was at 7.8% on my parent plus loan, 5 and something on the ones in my name. I get that I'm in an enviable position to have been able to easily handle that due to tech industry income, but I work with a ton of European expats, all of whom take jabs at me for coming from a country that doesn't cover higher education for their citizens. Always stings a bit.