At the beginning of each of her four years in college, Miranda took out a new Stafford loan. Each loan had a principal of $5,500, an interest rate of 7.5% compounded monthly, and a duration of ten years. Miranda paid off each loan by making constant monthly payments, starting with when she graduated. All of the loans were subsidized. What is the total lifetime cost for Miranda to pay off her 4 loans? Round each loan's calculation to the nearest cent.

Because the loans are subsidized, no interest accrues while Miranda is in college. For each loan, use the monthly rate 0.075/12 = 0.00625 and 120 monthly payments in the loan-payment formula; the total repaid per loan is about $7,834.32. For four loans, that is about $31,337.27, so the best answer is $31,337.27. The one-cent difference that can arise from multiplying already-rounded loan totals is due to rounding.

AI-written and checked against the verified answer.