Today I learned about Capitalized Interest....

So I log into my Sallie Mae account to see just how much principle is paid off on my student loan per month. I assumed it was atleast $100 per month. Well, over the past year only $9 has been posted to principle (and that entire $9 was this month). WTF! Something must be wrong. I looked closer and apparently I've been paying something called capitalized interest. This is the definition from Sallie Mae:

What does it mean when interest is capitalized? When does it occur?

During periods when a payment is not required to be made on a loan, interest continues to accrue or build up on the principal balance of your loan. When this unpaid, accrued interest is “capitalized” it is added to the principal balance of your loan, which increases the total outstanding balance due. Because interest continues to accrue on the outstanding principal balance if a payment is not made, any future interest that accrues will be based on the new outstanding principal amount (previous principal balance plus capitalized interest). Therefore, capitalization increases the total cost of your loan. You can avoid this cost of capitalization by making interest payments while in school.For certain Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) loans (i.e. unsubsidized Stafford, Parent PLUS and Grad PLUS), federal law permits unpaid interest to be added (“capitalized”) to your principal balance at certain points or milestones during your loan term.

I am speechless...... Oh wait I have something to say afterall... WTF!