By Aniya Wells
There are few things more terrifying than entering the world of financial responsibility for the first time. Many of us truly enter this adult world after graduating college and earning a degree towards our career. Of course, upon graduating from college and entering the world of financial responsibility, we are also faced with paying off student loan debt and landing a job in the most challenging job market in decades. It can be an extremely overwhelming time for any individual. While debt is always a stressful thing to cope with, it can be especially so for those who are completely new to the process. Use these tips and guidelines to better manage your student debt right out of college and become a fully functioning "real world" citizen.
Do Your Research
Before you can fully tackle difficult student debt it is essential that you educate yourself on your debt situation and how student loan repayment works. Yes, this may mean spending sometime outside of your college campus looking through documents and studying papers, but it's well worth it. Do your research some. Figure out what the terms of your student loan or loans are. When is the grace period of your loan over? Just how much are you going to have to pay each month? What do your interest rates look like? These are all essential questions that you need to be able to answer before you start paying off your loan. Take the time to look through your loan agreement. There may be some things in the print that surprise you and most loan agreements work to provide a general explanation of how loan repayment works.
Meet that Minimum
Once you've done your research on when you need to start paying your loan and what your minimum balance should be, the next step is actually making the payments. You should be sure to always meet that minimum balance. While this can feel completely impossible at times, try to take a close look at your finances and see where you can improve your budgeting. Many people put loan repayment as a last factor in their budgeting plans—this is the wrong way to go about things. Try to get yourself out of debt first, spend and get where you want to be in other financial matters later. It is recommended to try to meet that minimum payment amount each month along with as much extra as you're willing to spare. Even just five or ten dollars more a payment can make a huge difference in the long run.
Stay Current
Be sure that you are staying up to date and current with the news and policies concerning student loan debt. With so many young Americans finding themselves head under water the day after graduation, the government and many loan agencies are working to help the young generation. There are new government pardons and subsidies that are put in place to help out current "real world" adults dealing with student loan debt. Things can change in legislation that may affect your payments, so try to stay up to date on all things student debt.
Author Bio:
Aniya Wells particularly loves reading and writing about online education, although her interests span different niches as well, including personal finance, parenting, sustainable living, and more. Accredited online degree programs are hard to find in the online morass of scams, so Aniya's ultimate goal is to help her readers figure out the maze of online education. She can be reached for questions or comments at aniyawells@gmail.com.
Showing posts with label college. Show all posts
Showing posts with label college. Show all posts
Friday
My College Credit Card Debt Mistake
Guest Post by Christine Kane
I have not had a credit card in over 10 years. I have chosen this path because I learned an important lesson at a young age. I was a freshman in College learning the ins and outs like how to sleep with your eyes open during lecture. When I wasn’t mastering this art form I was enjoying living the fine life with weekend road trips, new clothes, fine dining, parties and concerts.
Like most Colleges that first week of school when doe eyed freshman arrive, there are lot of on campus things to attend. Most colleges have a meeting where students can find new clubs, organizations and programs to become a part of. Roaming these halls are bankers and credit card givers.
I was approached by a charming fellow just a few years older than me. He offered me a credit card and I declined because I had heard from my family that is what I needed to do. After I said no, he persisted with his sales pitch of the credit card. Except, I didn’t realize it was sales pitch. These words that flowed from his mouth were music to my ears. Promises of low interest rate (what’s that? I had no idea), easy to use, use it for beer, books and gas. SOLD. I signed up and signed my credit score life away.
This little piece of plastic became my study, party and shopping buddy. I didn’t really know the limit or what would happen if the limit was exceeded. I didn’t know understand that paying the minimum wasn’t good. I had no idea, because no one told me.
6 months past and before I knew it I had accumulated almost 4,000 dollars of debt. Oops. What now? I panicked and when the card stopped working and the calls started coming, I did what any 18 year old girl does, I cried. I knew had to make that dreaded phone call home to explain that their scholarly daughter had in fact made a very uneducated financial move.
After a few lectures and a few ‘pull you out of school’ threats, we all calmed down. Thank goodness I was lucky to have parents that could afford to help me out of my mistake. They took the card and paid it off. I got job and to pay them back, plus interest, of course.
My advice to parents or young college students. Educate yourself on credit cards. Parents sit down with your child and explain the basics behind it. Students avoid the smooth talking men and pretty woman with shiny cards. Don’t ruin your credit like I did. And if you are in debt, don’t be afraid to ask for help from anyone whether they are your financial adviser or parent.
Author Bio:
Christine Kane from internet service providers, she is a graduate of Communication and Journalism. She enjoys writing about a wide-variety of subjects for different blogs. She can be reached via email at: Christi.Kane00 @ gmail.com.
I have not had a credit card in over 10 years. I have chosen this path because I learned an important lesson at a young age. I was a freshman in College learning the ins and outs like how to sleep with your eyes open during lecture. When I wasn’t mastering this art form I was enjoying living the fine life with weekend road trips, new clothes, fine dining, parties and concerts.
Like most Colleges that first week of school when doe eyed freshman arrive, there are lot of on campus things to attend. Most colleges have a meeting where students can find new clubs, organizations and programs to become a part of. Roaming these halls are bankers and credit card givers.
I was approached by a charming fellow just a few years older than me. He offered me a credit card and I declined because I had heard from my family that is what I needed to do. After I said no, he persisted with his sales pitch of the credit card. Except, I didn’t realize it was sales pitch. These words that flowed from his mouth were music to my ears. Promises of low interest rate (what’s that? I had no idea), easy to use, use it for beer, books and gas. SOLD. I signed up and signed my credit score life away.
This little piece of plastic became my study, party and shopping buddy. I didn’t really know the limit or what would happen if the limit was exceeded. I didn’t know understand that paying the minimum wasn’t good. I had no idea, because no one told me.
6 months past and before I knew it I had accumulated almost 4,000 dollars of debt. Oops. What now? I panicked and when the card stopped working and the calls started coming, I did what any 18 year old girl does, I cried. I knew had to make that dreaded phone call home to explain that their scholarly daughter had in fact made a very uneducated financial move.
After a few lectures and a few ‘pull you out of school’ threats, we all calmed down. Thank goodness I was lucky to have parents that could afford to help me out of my mistake. They took the card and paid it off. I got job and to pay them back, plus interest, of course.
My advice to parents or young college students. Educate yourself on credit cards. Parents sit down with your child and explain the basics behind it. Students avoid the smooth talking men and pretty woman with shiny cards. Don’t ruin your credit like I did. And if you are in debt, don’t be afraid to ask for help from anyone whether they are your financial adviser or parent.
Author Bio:
Christine Kane from internet service providers, she is a graduate of Communication and Journalism. She enjoys writing about a wide-variety of subjects for different blogs. She can be reached via email at: Christi.Kane00 @ gmail.com.
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