How to Minimize Student Loan Debt: 2012 The article discusses the following practical tips for minimizing debt and reducing the cost of debt, organized according to a rough timeline: before, during and after college. Here's the complete article, below is the quick summary.
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• Save money in a college savings plan before enrolling in college.
• Search for scholarships on free scholarship-matching sites like Fastweb. • Enroll at a less expensive college, such as an in-state public college. • If you enroll at an out-of-state public college, try to establish residency first so that you can qualify for in-state tuition. • Consider enrolling at a college with a "no loans" financial aid policy. • Compare colleges based on the out-of-pocket cost, the difference between the cost of attendance and gift aid, such as grants, scholarships and other money that does not need to be repaid. • Live at home with your parents. (Curiously, the debt reduction is only significant for students who are at public colleges.) • Borrow federal first. Federal student loans are cheaper, more available and have better repayment terms. • Before buying something with student loan money, ask yourself whether you'd still buy it at twice the price, because that's about what it will cost you after you've repaid the debt. • Pay the interest on unsubsidized loans during the in-school and grace periods to prevent the loan balance from growing larger. This will reduce the debt at graduation by about 20%. • Work part-time during the school year and full-time during the summer to earn money for college. • Graduate with a Bachelor's degree in four years, not five or six. • Don't switch majors or transfer colleges. • After you graduate, accelerate repayment of the highest cost loan first, namely the loan with the highest interest rate. Mark Kantrowitz Publisher of Fastweb.com and FinAid.org Author, Secrets to Winning a Scholarship |
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