Student Loan Debt Consolidation - Student Loan Payback Strategies To Get Out Of Debt

A recent poll of more than 1,500 college graduates give some insight to the challenges faced by college grads as they struggle to pay back their loans. Because of the burden, 44 percent said they delayed buying a house, 28 percent postponed having children, 27 percent skipped medical or dental procedures and 32 percent said their loans forced them to move back into their parents' home.

It's important to take an inventory of all of your loans to know when you must begin repayment. Usually a student ends up with five to seven loans at graduation. Each loan can be for a different amount and carry a different interest rate.

You will also need to keep or get current contact information with the lenders. Often loans are sold to other companies. You will need the amount of each loan, the address for the payment, when it should begin, the interest rate and if it is a Federal or private loan.

Next you should contact a consolidation company. They can help you go from having many payments to a single payment. Also, you replace your variable rate loans with one single loan with a fixed interest rate.

Next is to set up a repayment plan for your student loans on a schedule that you can manage; since you will be living with these payments for ten years or more, you need to make sure you can afford to make them on-time.

Since loan consolidation is allowed only once, you have to consider your options carefully. Choosing your consolidation company will be important also for they offer different benefits. Some will offer to reduce your interest rate, others will offer cash rebates and still others will offer additional benefits.

Those students with federally subsidized Perkins loans should think hard before consolidating their loan due to the terrific benefits provided to them such as loan-forgiveness or partial forgiveness for entering into teaching, law enforcement, or the military.

There are still other loan payback strategies such as Uncle Sam. You can always count on the military to provide some of the best educational benefits around.

If you join the U.S. Peace Corps and have a Perkins loan you receive a 15 percent cancellation off your loan per year of service. After two years of service 30 percent off your loan and so on.

Now more than ever, teachers are in high demand. To help fill the need many states are offering incentives for teachers that include loan payback or cancellation.

Government programs have great ways of paying off your loan debt. Some companies and state government have payback programs of their own. Check with your school's career and recruiting office.