Answer: After 15years have passed, the loan will be at a total of $49K, which is 2.8 times the original price of the loan.
Step-by-step explanation: The first step in "considering" the price of a loan after a certain number of years is to multiply the original price of the loan by the Annual Percentage Rate (APR), and then multiply <em>that </em>number by the number of years that the student loan is growing. This gives a number that we then need to add to the original price of the loan, to give us the final price of the new loan.
<em>In this problem the original price of the loan is $17,500, and the APR is 12%, which is equal to (0.12). We are trying to find the price of the loan after 15 years, which gives us the following equations.</em>
(17,500) (0.12) = 2,100
(2,100) (15) = 31,500
17,500 + 31,500 = 49,000
49,000 ÷ 17,500 = 2.8 times the original
In this problem, multiplying the original price of $17,500 by the APR equals $2,100. Multiplying $2,100 by 15 years equals $31,500. Adding $31,500 to the original price of $17,500 equals the final price of $49,000.