You have finished school and graduated. Now it is time to proceed with your career of choice and also time to pay off student loans! It is no fun to be embarking on the wonderful future you have planned when you owe thousands of dollars in student loan money. But there are ways you can pay off your student loans without too much grief. Read on.
Choosing not to pay off your student loans is not an option. You have a responsibility to pay back the money you borrowed to get your education. One option you have that is appealing to many is paying them off by way of performing some type of service. This is referred to as loan forgiveness. What happens in this case is that the government will pay all or part of your debt for you provided that you put your time into one or more than one program. There are a variety of types of loan forgiveness. These include:
· Volunteering loan forgiveness
· Medical school loan forgiveness
· Law school loan forgiveness
· Occupational therapy (or physical therapy) education loan forgiveness
Let us take a look at what volunteering loan forgiveness is all about. If you can see yourself volunteering for a year with AmeriCorps then in exchange they will give you some money to put towards paying off your student loans and they will also provide you with a stipend that is in the area of $7,400.
Or perhaps the Peace Corps is more to your liking. If you decide to travel with them then you will be able to defer the majority of your student loan debt until after your time with them has come to a close. There is also the chance that your debt loan could be reduced due to your service.
If you decide that military service is for you then you may be delighted to learn that complete loan forgiveness may be in your future! If you decide to join either the Army Reserve or the National Guard once your school days are behind you then you can be granted as much as $10,000 to put towards paying off your student loans.
If you are a teacher then signing on to teach full-time provided certain conditions are met could mean that your student loans will be totally forgiven. The conditions include either teaching special education, teaching in an area that is designated as one with a teacher shortage or teaching in a school that is for kids who come from low income homes.
Another option to look at is to consolidate your student loans. If you have only one then this will not work but for a variety of loans it can be a worthwhile option to look at. If all of your student loans are with one lender then in order to consolidate them you must stay with that lender. However if your loans are spread around at a variety of financial institutions then you have more alternatives at your fingertips. An excellent resource for further information about consolidating student loans is the Federal Direct Consolidation Information Center which can be accessed online.
