Payback is awesome

The prospect of paying back your student debt might be overwhelming now, but if you create a solid money plan and stick with it, you’ll be celebrating the payoff in no time. Here are some things to help you get organized.

Understanding Your Student Loans

Make a complete list of what loans you have, whether federal or private, the interest rates and grace period. It’s time to get everything in one place!
1. Visit the Federal Student Aid National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) or My Federal Student Aid to access information on your federal student loans.
2. If you’ve taken private loans, they won’t be available on this site, but you may be able to check with RaiderConnect. They can point you in the right direction or give you ideas of how to find all of your private loans.
Research the interest rates – the money you’re being charged for having the loan – on each loan. The higher the rate, the more you’ll pay for the loan in the long run. Variable rates could increase or decrease during the life of your loan. If your rate is fixed, it will stay the same.
Look into your lender’s policies on capitalized interest. There are certain times throughout the life of your student loan when the interest it has accrued may be applied to the original balance, increasing your original principal total and the amount used to charge interest.
Find out how much time you have before repayment begins, or your grace period. This can vary from immediately upon graduation to up to six months after you graduate or stop taking classes, so you’ll want to be prepared.

Try our Student Loan Repayment calculator to get started!

Icon

Repayment Options

Don’t wait! The best way to make sure your road to repayment is smooth and as inexpensive as possible is to start planning for it early. Take a look at your complete financial picture to determine what money you may have available for repayment. Depending on your situation, you may choose to accelerate your student loan payments to pay them off sooner, or lengthen the term and concentrate on paying off higher interest debts first. Private loan repayment options may vary from federal so you will want to review each individually.

click to enlarge image

Considering Consolidation

If you’ve taken several student loans, you may want to consider consolidating them. This can help you lump your loans into one convenient payment, and possibly lower your monthly amount due.

Go to the Federal Student Loans website to see all federal repayment options or consolidation options available.

Federal student loans must be consolidated through the Federal government's program.

There are some private student loan consolidation options available to help with private loan repayment. Here’s a great resource for information on private loan consolidation. WPCU also offers a consolidation option to graduates of Wright State University and several other schools. Click here to learn more.