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Graduating from college is a great step toward a strong financial future. College graduates tend to make significantly more money over the course of their careers than do those only holding a high school education.

However, for most people, college graduation comes with a price ? student loans. Most people leave college with at least some amount of student loan debt, which can be tough when you are living on a modest salary to start your adult life.

So, is there a way to pay off student loans faster?in order to free yourself from this debt? While you might not be able to pay them down as quickly as you would like, the following tips should help you cut into this debt faster than your friends.

1. Make Extra Payments

Okay ? so this might be a somewhat obvious point, but it is important because some people do not know that they can make extra payments each month. When submitting your payment, consider adding even a small amount to cut down on your principal. The extra money you submit will be applied to the principal of the loan, so it will go directly to pay off student loans faster.

2. Live Modestly

While you are still under the pressure of student loan debt, resist the temptation to spend beyond your means. Start out of college by living somewhere affordable and taking on as few other debts as possible. As the years go by, your earning potential should increase and you should be able to afford more and more luxuries in life without jeopardizing your financial well-being.

3. Side Work

These days, it is easy to find a ?side hustle?. While it used to be difficult to take on a part-time job in addition to your full-time employment, the story has changed in the modern world. Look for a part-time job online or at a location near you to make it as convenient as possible. If you dedicate this extra money to your student loans, you can pay off student loans faster than you thought possible.

4. Stick with the Payment Schedule

Most student loans will allow you to restructure the payment schedule in order to extend the life of the loan ? and reduce the monthly payment amount. This is a good option if you simply can?t make the monthly obligation, but do your best to avoid going down this road. It is preferable to stick with the payment schedule in order to get rid of the loan as quickly as you can.

5. Create a Budget

If you fall behind on your finances overall, you might wind up having to delay your student loan payment schedule ? meaning you will be making payments for longer overall. By living on a budget, and sticking to that budget, you can avoid getting into trouble down the line. Be consistent with your budget from month to month and prioritize debt payments over other expenditures.

There are ways to pay off student loans faster so you don’t have to be stuck with them for years to come.

What are you doing to pay off student loans faster??When will your student loans be paid off?

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Graduation is not far away, and it?s past time to begin thinking about how you are going to pay for college in the fall. Which, might mean one thing – student loans.

If you waited until now to start thinking about saving for college, or if you haven?t saved as much as you thought you would, you may have to take out student loans to help pay for it. Even though taking out loans generally offers a pretty good return on your investment, because you can can earn?more with a bachelor?s degree than you would with only a high school diploma, you should still try to take out the smallest amount possible in student loans to get your degree.

When I was getting ready to attend college and was contemplating taking out student loans, there were a lot of things I didn?t know about taking out student loans. If that?s the case for you too, here are three things you should know before signing on the dotted line and taking on the debt.

Federal vs Private Student Loans

There are two main types of student loans, federal student loans and private student loans. Federal student loans are made by the government and come with a lot of benefits that may not be available via private student loans. For instance, federal student loans offer a fixed interest rate for the life of your loan, the option to delay repayment until six months after graduation, and the option to restructure your loan repayment plan based on your income or delay payment if you lose your job.

That said, private student loans taken out through a bank or credit union may offer a lower interest rate. Even though that may look attractive, federal student loans are usually the better option.

A Longer Repayment Term Isn?t Necessarily Better

When you first graduate from college and your student loan payments kick in, it can be tempting to stretch the repayment term out as far as possible to help lower your monthly payment. Sometimes this is necessary because your budget is tight, but if you can afford to pay more by giving up something else from your budget, like cable or eating out, you?ll save money in the long run. Paying larger monthly payments will shorten your repayment term and can help you save a significant amount of money on interest.

Reduce Your Need for Student Loans

Rather than depending on student loans to entirely finance your education, you?ll save a lot of money by finding ways to take out less in loans. One idea is to work during the summers between high school. It can be tempting to spend that money on movie nights, eating out and new clothes, but your future self will thank you if you save at least some of it to help pay for college.

Another option is to work during college. Most students can find a way to fit in a few hours of work each week during the semester, and you can once again take on a job with more hours during the summer. This money can help you pay for your living expenses so you don?t have to use student loan money to help pay for those things.

Overall, I?m not of the opinion that student loans are the worst thing out there. In fact, I took out student loans to help pay for some of my college education too. But it?s important to keep in mind that student loans are still debt that has to be repaid at some point.

Have you taken out student loans? Were you aware of all of these things before you took out student loans?

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Taking on $8,000 of debt doesn?t sound like a good thing, especially when you don?t have much to show for it other than a piece of paper and a funny looking hat. But when you consider that most students come away from college with much more debt?than that for the same piece and paper and same funny looking hat, I suppose I did ok.

There are several reasons why I was able to escape with such a comparatively low amount of student loan debt and I wanted to share them with you today in case you or someone you know is headed off to college soon.

Utilize Community College

Although I never went to the community college in my hometown as a full-time student, I still took advantage of it being so near to me. I took several classes at the community college during high school for dual credit. Additionally, I took two classes right after my senior year of high school before heading off to an in-state university in the fall. This allowed me to build up 30 hours of transferrable credits before I even went away to college. I was able to start as an incoming sophomore and I graduated with my bachelor?s degree in only three years.

Do Your Research

A lot of students from my community went to the local college before transferring to the same in-state university that I attended. However they weren?t so lucky when it came to transferring their credits. In fact, a lot of them that graduated our community college with an Associate?s degree were only able to transfer about half of their classes to the university.

The morale of this story is to do your research to cut the cost of going to college. If you think there?s a possibility you might go on to a certain university, you better make sure the classes you are taking at your community college are eligible to be transferred in. Otherwise you wasted your time and money taking community college classes that you?ll have to repeat at the university later.

Take a Full-Load

After you get to your university, make sure you are taking a full-load of classes each semester. Some student advisors will recommend that you only take the minimum number of credit hours per semester, but in my experience most diligent students can take more than that and still earn good grades.

I took between 15-20 credit hours each semester and I still graduated with a 3.7 GPA. Taking extra classes each semester allowed me to stay on-track to graduate in 3 years and saved money on tuition as my school charged a flat rate for full-time students no matter if you were taking 12 credit hours or 15 credit hours. That might have changed at some schools now, but you?ll still save on college living expenses if you don?t have to take an extra year of classes due to not having a full-load each semester.

Work Part-Time

Speaking of living expenses, I was able to send back a portion of my student loan money each time it was disbursed because I chose to work part-time during college. My part-time job, along with a side hustle writing for my college paper, was enough to pay most of my living expenses during school and I earned extra by working full-time during the summers and school breaks. This meant that I never had to rely on money from my student loans to pay for my living expenses.

Family Support

This last one is something that I was blessed to have and I know not every student has the luxury of family financial support. My parents were generous enough to help me pay for school tuition during part of my time in college.

This family support combined with the scholarships I received and the money I earned working helped me graduate with just about $8,000 of student loan debt from my three years of attending a university. Getting a college education doesn?t has to be as costly as some students make it out to be if you go in with a clear plan and a goal to keep your costs to a minimum.

Did you take out students loans? How did you keep them to a minimum? Did you work during college? What other options can be used to keep college costs as low as possible?

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