The extra job doesn’t have to last forever. You’re just ramping up your work to pay off the loan and once it is paid off you can ditch the side job and have your time back. And you’ll have extra money each month since you won’t have the loan payment! It’s two wins for the price of one!
7. Don’t Bank on Student Loan Forgiveness
When you were looking into student loans I bet someone probably told you that taking out student loans was no big deal because you could just get them forgiven later. I know because I heard that myself when I was looking into paying for college.
But student loan forgiveness isn’t as simple as it sounds. There are lots of requirements that must be met in order to be eligible. For example, one is working in a public service job for 10 years. Even that doesn’t guarantee forgiveness. You’re better off finding a job that pays well and that you enjoy so you can go ahead and pay off the debt as fast as possible. This keeps you from spending years of your life waiting to have your loans forgiven.
8. Refinance if It Makes Sense
First, let me say refinancing student loans is not the right move for everyone. When you refinance, you’re taking your loans (federal, private, often a mix of both) to a lender who pays them off for you. So instead of owing Sallie Mae, now you owe this new lender the money they just fronted you and the hope is that they are letting you pay them at a lower rate of interest.
