<prompt> Human: I graduated college last May and have subsequently been paying my student loans since December. I have a federal loan serviced by Nelnet with an interest rate of 3.86, and a private loan through Sallie Mae with an interest rate of 8.25. So far, the payment has not been the same for either two months in a row, and they seem to be going up. As a bit of a noob to student loans but not to credit payments, why is this? Are the payments just going to keep going up indefinitely? Thanks!  <response>: When you pay more than the real minimum, which looks like it is probably around 165 the minimum for the next month will go down. When you pay less, it will go back up towards the true minimum. 