8 Student Loan Tips for Recent Graduates

As a recent graduate, there are a number of things on your mind among them being moving out from your parent’s home, getting a job, starting saving, starting a family, advancing your career path and generally, starting a life. One responsibility, which happens to be the most important one, is your finances. Financial obligation is one primary aspect in a young graduate's life that they are out to learn to ensure the success of the other factors and dreams and future plans drawn earlier.

Therefore, realizing that you need to plan for your finances, including how you will pay for the student loans once the invoices start trickling through your mail is the first sign of adult responsibility. Most people get shocked at this prospect. It is that small voice that says duty calls, and you have to go, kind of voice. In this post, we shall look at eight tips to you as a student graduate with loans.

Set a budget

You need to prepare two budgets or rather two in one. Depending on your net income, you need to calculate your expenses. Try as much to eliminate unnecessary expenditure. Then, with the remaining extra amount, split it such that a percentage goes to savings then the rest to go towards loan repayment. At this time, you don't have expenses such as family, mortgage and children's education.

Therefore you are in a position to pull this one-off. However, before going into a spending spree, ensure you have a budget, and it supports that kind of spending. A budget is a prime tool that will help you strategize your payments as well as draw your expenditure structure. Since life moves so quickly, you need to plant to finish the debt in time before you get overwhelmed.

Choose a favourable amount to go towards payments

No one smiles while paying student loans. But since these are the kinds of debts that stay with you for a lifetime, you have no otherwise than to repay them. Therefore, the question that arises is if you want to have the debt forever in your profile or you want it over and done with as fast as possible.

If the latter is your response, then you need to establish a strategy you will use to clear these loans. One is to calculate your income versus the amount and period of the loan. If you were to pay the standard payment amount, then you will end up making loan instalments for up to 10 years after the first deposit. This does not sound that bad, but if you want to rid yourself of the debts to free up your life, then you need to sacrifice and pay at least a higher amount than the one initially set.

Also, if you have no permanent job or have a low income and you are struggling to balance the expenses, then you can apply for the income-driven payment schedule. In the plan, your income and expenses are calculated and offset against the total net revenue. The loan repayment amount is then set from this new revelation. Although this buys you more time, it, however, results in an extended loan repayment period.

Apply for automated payment option

This works well if you have money in your bank account such that you instruct your depositor to make fixed periodical payments to the lender due for the payment of the loan balance. This helps you to forget about worrying about defaulting or being late in submitting the funds.

Pay extra money

Here, you can play this in two ways; one, you will need to pay a little additional amount so that it reduces your loan owed. Secondly, you can pay the same amount but more often than before. So that if your payment schedule is once a month, then you make those payments twice a month. The effect here for both is that it reduces considerably the amount you will need to repay; also, it helps in reducing the rates of accrued interest.

Mind your loans

It isn’t easy to keep in mind that you are in debt. In fact, this is one thing you will never want to remember. However, you will have to if you are to pay it off and have your life back.

Seek forgiveness from the lender

The loan forgiveness program aims at those who have genuinely failed to raise enough cash to service their debts. You can as well explore this idea to your advantage if you are interested. However, to qualify, some specific requirements must be met for consideration.

Don’t postpone

Never postpone a student loan. This should never be on the table unless it is summoned strongly by unrelenting situations. Student loans, although they may take longer to clear, they are by far the easiest forms of financing to repay. Student loans are subsidized, they have low rates of income, and there are options such as forgiveness plans which favour a fresh graduate. If you postpone, the rates still count, meaning, you will end up with a much higher loan balance than you had.

Seek assistance from the federal loan assistant programs.

The federal government, with the department of education, is the state organ in charge of student loans. Therefore, while issuing out loans, they do so and assign services to the students so that they undertake to provide free help to the students financially. They are therefore supposed to collect the payments and offer free customer care services. Those who do so for a fee are not legit so stay clear of them.

The bottom line

The prospect of having to pay the student loans is in itself a dreadful affair. This is why you need to have a plan laid down to ensure that the payments are made and in time. You can further seek help from financial guidance and consultants on the best way to deal with student loans. As earlier stated, these loans are never written off, so you will have them for a lifetime. Budgeting and keeping your head out for any program that could be handy in repayment of your loans may be of great help. In case you need cash, check here some nice deals at Bugis Credit.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes.