Many student loan lenders do not have a way for borrowers to pay directly to the principal of their student loans.
The only method of payment available online is applying payments across all of your loans (broken up only by "private" or "direct"). If you have five loans and want to pay an extra $100 it will be divided evenly between all loans; usually only to the interest so the lender makes more.
This compounds the epidemic of student loan debt. Sign this petition if you would like the administration to make it mandatory for lenders to provide an online method to pay principal on individual loans.
The focus should be to help those who have or are trying to better themselves through education. It should not be about milking them for every cent possible.