Graduated, Working, Deep in Debt

Biddeford Savings on How to Get out of College Debt

Today many young people come out of school with significant amounts of student debt.  In fact, 70% of the class of 2015 left school with student loans averaging $35,000 per student.  Ouch!  To repay that amount of debt will require a monthly payment of $354 for 10 years.  That will make it difficult for those young working folks to buy a car, a house, even to take a vacation.

Interestingly, the Google search for “paying student loans” only returned 666,000 hits.  But those sites provide good information – start at www.studentloans.gov.

  • The first step is to be sure you understand the terms of the loans you owe.
  • Don’t ignore your loans – they won’t go away and if they become delinquent it will negatively affect your credit and make it even more difficult to qualify for a car loan, a credit card, or a mortgage.
  • If you can, make extra payments to reduce the loans faster – you will pay less interest this way as well.

Some graduates end up with loans having different interest rates.  A good approach is to repay the ones with the highest rates first – a simple but effective strategy.  The key is to be an informed consumer – it will pay big dividends.