Are you paying for part or all of your college tuition with student loans? If so, you are not alone. With the cost of college increasing more and more students are relying on loans. That being said, you need to realize one thing: you have to repay any and all student loans in the future. There is no way around this; not even if you declare bankruptcy. For this reason, it is very important to not only realize how much money you are borrowing but also the actual cost of these loans.

First things first, if you need student loans there is nothing wrong with this. In fact, you should feel good that you are willing to take on debt in order to get an education. This is a big step in your life, and is sure to make things better for you down the road.

The actual cost of repaying a student loan is much more than what you initially see. For instance, consider a student who receives $10k in loans for four years. Upon graduation this student will have a total of $40k in student loan debt to repay. This sounds like a lot, right? Unfortunately, this is not the end all. You will also have to pay interest on top of this amount.

Your interest rate will be based on the type of loan you received. Tip: don’t overlook the benefits of consolidating if you have more than one loan. This can save you a lot of money.

Let’s go back to the student with a loan balance of $40k. For the sake of this example, let’s take a look at what a five percent interest rate would do to a $40k loan with a term of 10 years. In this case, the monthly payment will be $424.26. But I thought this number would be lower? You are not alone. But again, you probably forgot about interest. Over the course of 10 years, this student would end up paying $10,911.44 in interest. As you can see, this is one-fourth the total loan amount.

If you want to save money you should consider paying down your loan faster. Just because the term of your loan is 10 years does not mean you have to wait this long to pay off your debt. In fact, by speeding things up you can save a lot of money on interest. Simply put, if you have disposable income you will want to pay extra on your student loans every month. This may hurt right now, but in the long run it will save you thousands of dollars.

Many students need student loans in order to get through college. If you are in this position make sure you are aware of how much you are borrowing, as well as how much you will have to repay when your loans come due shortly after receiving your diploma.