If you can’t get enough grants or scholarships, and have done all you can to reduce your costs, it may be a wise move to borrow—in moderation and carefully—for your graduate education. Studies show that graduate degrees often help boost career and earnings options. Still, because the economy is unpredictable, it’s prudent to try to limit your debt. Here are some tips to reduce your graduate school debts.
1. Borrow as little as possible. Keep living expenses as low as possible and try not to borrow to fund them. Remember the old saying: If you live like a lawyer when you’re a law student, you’ll have to live like a law student when you’re a lawyer.
2. Check out your future salary, and the earnings records of the graduates of your school, to see how much you can reasonably afford to put toward debt payments when you finish school. Use a loan repayment calculator to estimate how much that means you can afford to borrow now. If there’s a good chance your payments will leave you with very little to live on, or put your debt to income ratio out of whack, rethink your plans by looking for less expensive schools or better financial aid. (more…)
Income-based repayment is a new federal student loan repayment opportunity for students graduating with a large amount of debt and a small income. Income-based repayment helps borrowers keep their loan payments affordable with payment caps based on their income and family size. This plan is particularly beneficial for people graduating from expensive graduate programs, like medical or law school, who could have loan debt of $100,000 or more. It can also help anyone who graduates into a poor job market.