<prompt> Human: My Dad helped me apply for student loans last night. I will be a freshman this fall and want to know if I got a good interest rate. My Dad cosigned with me and he has a very good credit history. We got a 15 year loan at 8.5 fixed interest rate. We chose this above a variable rate that started at 5.5. Was this the best choice? Will I drown in interest payments after school? Am I setting myself up for failure? TL;DR is a fixed 8.5 interest rate a reasonable or average interest rate for student loans?Update: The principle on the loan is for 18,000- which covers half of tuition. The other half is paid for through financial aid from my school. It is an unsubsidized loan through Discover.  <response>: Private loans, or dept of education loans? 8.5 sounds higher than what I thought dept of ed was charging currently, unless Im just that out of the loopEDIT: Yeah just checked, undegrad DoE loans are currently at 4.29 sourceI assume this is a private loan you applied for, then. Have you already exhausted all of the government loans available to you? Have your parents borrowed the maximum from parent plus loans that they have available? 