12:45 p.m. — I deposit two cheques at lunch: $25 for participating in a focus group about yogurt, and $79 from federal and provincial student loans. I recently paid off $43,000 in loans and accidentally overpaid a few days' worth of interest. I keep joking about the government needing to pay ME interest now. I racked up my debt when I went back to school to do a Masters degree in 2016. I qualified for the Repayment Assistance Program based on my income, so that lowered my payments. Then my grandmother died and left enough to pay off about 40% of it, and my dad gave me money from his part of the inheritance to clear it completely. I cried when he told me he was doing that.