More than half of undergraduates will be dealing with the burden of student loans when they graduate, according to Auburn Financial Aid Services.
Charles Markle, manager for Auburn Financial Aid Services, recommends a step-by-step process for graduates seeking to pay off student loans.
"No. 1, go to National Student Loan Data System to review your loan history," Markle said. "No. 2, then go to the direct loan site, www.studentloans.gov, to review the exit counseling. No. 3, contact their lender with questions--specific questions about repayment."
According to Financial Aid Services, the average individual debt reported at Auburn for 2008-2009 was $17,013.
"I feel like it's a lot more of a common thing than people realize," said Megan Chard, sophomore in production horticulture.
Chard said she received a loan to supplement a scholarship.
"Really, for me, it was just a way to take that burden off my parents," she said.
Graduate Brian Dennig said he is in the process of looking for a job in order to pay off his student loans.
"Preferably in my field," he said, "but it's turning out I'm going to have to find a job in anything."
Markle said he advises students to review several websites at the beginning of the repayment process.
"The main resource I would say is the website for the direct loan program," Markle said. "This is the horse's mouth, as it were. At this site, for a student who's taking loans who has not borrowed before, there's an entrance counseling. For a person with student loans who is now thinking about payment, they would probably want to review the entrance counseling."
Markle also recommended www.finaid.org.
"That site talks about federal student aid and has a section on loans and has loan calculators of different types," he said. "In terms of loan debt, that would be an additional site to look at."
The NSLDS is another resource recommended by Markle.
"It tells on that site what kind of loans they (students) have, who holds the loans, contact information," Markle said.
The time it takes to pay off student loans differs for each student.
"I got two Perkins loans, and those are supposed to get paid off in a few years because they're small," Dennig said.
Markle said the federal government recently opted to do away with subsidies for private lending.
"This summer the Congress voted to do away with the loan program where the lender was a private bank," he said. "So now, the lender is the U.S. Department of Education."
Federal loans have a limit on their interest rates, which is a benefit over private loans, according to Markle.
"If you're really passionate about going to college and you really have no other way to afford it, then yes, (it is worth it)," Markle said.
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