Yes, I mean trying to pay down the principal faster. IIRC, I did that on my student loans. We do that for our mortgage.
If D16 would be eligible for a subsidized loan, she definitely wouldn’t start payments until it comes due, but at that point might want to pay off the principal more aggressively than the payment plan requires (if her income can support that). And, perhaps we could help.
…I think.
OP- don’t get ahead of yourself with grad school. Social Work is a high burn-out field- your D may decide she wants an MBA to work in management at a large non-profit or NGO, or a master’s in Public Health to work at a foundation or large hospital system.
I think you need to make a financial decision based on undergrad and how to manage those costs. The probability that your D ends up doing exactly what her 17 year old self thinks she’s going to do is pretty small. And there may be another grad program out there that gets her where she wants to go. I know a LOT of former social workers who end up in different sectors of the human services/not-for-profit field- some of which are much more lucrative- so I don’t think you need to solve the undergrad/grad puzzle now.
Figure out undergrad.