This document provides guidance for recent graduates on managing their student loans, including payment setups, types of loans, repayment options, and importance of loan management. Graduates are advised to complete exit counseling, know their loan details, and set up online accounts for loan tracking. It also emphasizes the significance of timely payments to avoid negative impacts on credit and offers resources for loan consolidation and forgiveness options.

1. Time to Pay The Piper
La Kesha Landers, Program Director, Office of Financial Literacy 5/2017
Congratulations! It’s official, you are now a graduate. You are now ready to join the other
professionals in the workforce, forge your path to achieve new goals designed for your success
and cheers to new life beginning! First, have you kept up with all the pertinent information
regarding your student loans? If you are not continuing on to graduate school, you should be
preparing for student loan repayment. Second, you should know who you owe, how much you
owe and when to pay. Managing your student loans will effectively shape your financial habits
and money management behavior to prepare you for the demands of greater financial decisions
and post-graduate life.
Lastly, if you are a student loan borrower before you leave school, make sure you have asked,
and have completed or prepared to complete the following:
1. How do I set-up my payments? Who Do I pay?
If you haven’t gone through the student loan exit counseling at school, you need to before you
graduate. This information can be found out my meeting with a financial aid representative at
your institution. The exit counseling can be accessed at www.studentloans.gov, in addition to all
other pertinent information regarding your student loans (You will need your FSAID and
password. to access account information). You may receive correspondence via e-mail or direct
mail from your lender. The information will be listed in detail where and to whom you should
send your payments. Once you know who’s managing your loans, set up an online account to
access all your information.
2. What kind of loans do I have? There are few loans that you may have applied for and all the
more reason as to why keeping up with the information is crucial. Typically, a student loan
borrower has either a private educational loan or federal student loan. You can look up your
federal loans at www.nslds.ed.gov this website is the National Student Loan Data System
(NLDS). You should have the paperwork from your lender or student loan servicer (private and
federal) from when you took out the loan. Private loans generally come from traditional banking
institutions, while federal loans are issued by the government. Common federal loans include
Direct subsidized loans, Direct unsubsidized loans and Perkins loans.
3. What are my repayment options?
Payment options are based on the type of loan(s) used during school. If a private loan was used
the repayment option usually holds to the same repayment structure and schedule as any other
private loan. This means making monthly payments for a fixed loan term. As for federal student
loans there are a host of repayment options. You can learn more about the options at
https://studentloans.gov/myDirectLoan/index.action. The standard repayment options is fixed
monthly payments for 10 years. Usually the standard payments are high for average borrower,
but can be changed at any time for free. The process of changing the plan does not take effect

2. Time to Pay The Piper
La Kesha Landers, Program Director, Office of Financial Literacy 5/2017
instantaneously. Enrolling in any of the other options must be requested through the servicer of
your loans as soon as you can.
4. How much are my monthly payments?
For loans with a set repayment term, the payment will be the same every month if you have a
fixed-interest rate (as all federal loans do), or your monthly payment amount will change if you
have a variable-interest rate (as some private loans do). Monthly payments through income-
driven plans will depend on how much money you make. You should be able to get this
information from your lender or servicer.
5. When’s my first payment due?
As a student loan borrower of federal student loans you are given a grace period of six months.
A grace period is six months of non-attendance, falling below half-time enrollment, or after
graduation. Private loans usually are due 30 days after graduation or non-enrollment, and most
likely does not have a grace-period. In this case you will need to contact the lender as soon as
possible regarding the option of a grace period.
6. What is my interest when I pay back my loans? How do I submit payment?
The correspondence received should list you loan information along with your interest rate. For
federal loans the interest is a fixed, but private loans could be fixed or variable. The lender or
servicer will send correspondence notifying you of the payment schedule with the first payment
due date and methods of payment. If you can start paying on your loans prior to the grace
period you should. Set-up auto pay would be the most responsible way to pay ensuring timely
payments and possible discount on each payment. Not making payments on time will have an
adverse effect on your credit. Student loan repayment activity begins the integration of all other
credit opportunities in your personal finances such as buying a car, a home, banking,
employment etc.
7. What other information should I consider?
Consider consolidating all your federal loans into a direct consolidation loan. By consolidating
your loans you will then only have to make one monthly payment oppose to several as a result of
the multiple federal loans borrowed. Loan forgiveness and other loan repayment options you
may qualify for once you consolidate. Visit www.studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans for more
information.