Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Paying Back Student Loans


By Sarah Reilly

With the rising cost of college tuition and expense combined with the slowing economy many students are forced to have to take out student loans to afford to pay for college. However after four years of college life, students have to come to the harsh reality that now they have to pay back all the thousands of dollars in loans that they took out to pay for their education. The problem is a matter of how that is going to happen.

For some they have the option of joining the military, Peace Corps, VISTA, AmeriCorps, social services, or teacher payback programs to help offset their payments. For others who would rather not choose this path there are some simple things that must first be dealt with.
1) How much do you do you and who do you owe. It is important to know what type of loans you are dealing with, how many lenders, and how much in total is owed.
2) Figure out what happens if you don’t pay, what your payment options are (Standard, Graduated, Income-based, long-term).
3) Find ways to delay your payments through consolidation, deferment, and forbearance.
4) Find ways to survive defaulting on your loans because this could lead to potential bankruptcy

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