Recovery threatened by runaway student loan debt

[sybylla]

32. That's a good question.

Student loans subsidized by the government do not start to accrue interest until you start to pay them off.

Unsubsidized loans, which are usually at a higher rate, start accruing interest the minute you get the money.

I've told my sons to avoid these kinds of loans. But some semesters they had no choice. It's all the financial aid office offered them.

OTOH, the unsubsidized loans are at a lower interest rate than some of their U.S. savings bonds (bought a decade or more ago when rates were much nicer), so as long as their unsubsidized loans don't add up to more than their savings bonds, they are probably still ahead.