Paying off student loans is a different experience for all sorts of people.  Some have a couple thousand dollars or less in loans and are able to easily pay it off in a couple years.  Some have almost $100,000 in loans, but they have a very high paying job and also have no problem paying them off.  Others have anywhere from $5,000 to $100,000 or more in debt and have a lot of trouble paying the minimum payments each month.

How do you start paying off student loans if your regular payments are too much to handle?  Fortunately, several options are available to the recent grad with lots of student debt.  The following options are listed in order from most to least desirable. Try the first option, and if it doesn’t work for you, go on to the next.  Hopefully, you will find an idea that works perfectly for you.

The first option is to pay off your debt by paying the minimum payments and using all your extra income each month to speed up the process.  For example, if your minimum monthly payments equal $200 a month and after paying all your bills you have an extra $100, use that $100 to pay off more debt.  Find ways to spend less so that you can put more towards your debt.

If you can’t afford the minimum monthly payment, your next option is to change your situation so that you can.  It is not uncommon for recent college graduates to move back in with their parents.  Even if you have to pay room and board, most likely, it will be considerably less than paying for rent, electricity, water, cable, internet, food, etc. all on your own.  This will help you to better afford your monthly payments and, hopefully, put more than the minimum towards your debt to get it paid off fast.

If you can’t move back in with your parents, you can still look for ways to cut back.  Instead of paying for a luxury apartment, an extra bedroom, or another more expensive place to live, find a less costly living arrangement.  Look for roommates, a cheap room to rent, etc.  On top of that, cut out all expenses that aren’t necessary such as cable, internet, snacks, cell phone, etc.  You don’t have to cut all these out completely, but there are plenty of ways to spend less.

A part time job might be all you need to boost up any of these situations.  If you live on your own, a part time job making an extra $50 to $100 a week might be all you need.  If you want to pay off your loans as fast as possible, you already live with your parents paying next to nothing, and you already cut out any expense that you can, a part time job could be that extra boost you need to shave years off your repayment time.

Finally, if none of these are an option or none are enough for you to even afford you minimum payment, one final solution is to consolidate your loans.  With a consolidation loan, you can get an overall lower interest rate and lower monthly payments.  If you have federal loans, you already have a lower rate, but this can still help to shrink your payments.  If you have private loans, that often have higher rates than federal loans, consolidation can definitely help with that.

Overall, you need to do what you can to start paying off student loans and get the loans paid off once and for all.  If you are considering bankruptcy, think again.  Student loans are exempt from bankruptcy, so you will have to pay them either way.  If you have consumer debt as well and you are in a really bad situation, bankruptcy to discharge your consumer debt might need to be considered.  Either way, do what you can to pay off your loans fast and then learn how to correctly manage your money to prevent debt in the future.