So, you’ve graduated. You’ve said goodbye to your campus and ivy halls. You’ve auf wiedersehen’d classes at ungodly hours and au revoir’d writing term papers at even ungodlier hours. You and/or your family are finished worrying about how to cope with college costs, right? Well, not exactly. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the average college graduate has $24,000 in loan debt, and that’s just the average—some graduates might even owe up to $75,000.
What should you do? In a nutshell, don’t dawdle. It’s time for another education: learn the ups and downs of paying off student loans. Find out how long you have to pay them and study interest rates. You might be able to defer paying off a loan, but the interest that accumulates might not be worth it.
The most important thing to do is to look at your situation. Have you found a full-time job? Are you going to grad school? Do you qualify for loan forgiveness? You have a lot of options, but it’s your job to find out which options apply to you.
Check out these tips for paying off student loans from Terry Savage, a registered investment adviser.
