You’ve got the college degree, and now you’re stressed about the debt.

“Even if your student loans exceed your annual salary — which is, unfortunately, a common phenomenon these days — you can knock down those debts and start to regain control of your financial life,” Lynnette Khalfani writes in her new book, “Zero Debt for College Grads” (Kaplan, $14.95).

Those aren’t just words coming from someone who doesn’t understand your financial pain. Khalfani, a former Wall Street Journal reporter and CNBC correspondent, knows what it’s like to climb out of a debt hole. She paid $100,000 in credit-card debt in three years by negotiating lower interest rates, doubling and tripling her minimum payments, and using every windfall she received — tax refunds and year-end bonuses — to pay down debt.

“I realize that the situation may seem bleak, if not downright impossible,” Khalfani writes. “But trust me when I say that it is possible to dig yourself out from your debts.”

Some of the best advice comes from people who have gone through something and managed to overcome their troubles.

The book’s release is timely. Lenders are bombarding graduates with offers to consolidate student loans. Those considering consolidation might want to make that decision this month. The federal government has announced that as of July 1, students and parents with variable-rate Stafford and PLUS loans will see their interest rates rise slightly.

Variable-rate Stafford loans will increase 0.08 percent to 7.22 percent. Parents will see an increase of 0.08 percent to 8.02 percent.

Graduates still in their grace period (six months after graduation) can get a lower interest rate. But Khalfani cautions that borrowers need to consider the pros and cons of consolidation.

Her book gives graduates and parents some general money-management advice. After all, you won’t be able to pay off those student loans within a decade unless you have a handle on the basics — how to budget, save and cut expenses.

Most of the book focuses on student loans, both private and federally backed. Not surprisingly, many graduates don’t know the terms of their loans.

Khalfani worked with AOL Coaches, a section on America Online’s Web site that provides videotaped tips from experts, to learn what people think about their student loans.

In an AOL online survey of 400 respondents, 78 percent said they spent less than a day researching their financing options.

But “a lapse in judgment when it comes to educational loans can prove near-fatal to your financial life,” she writes.

Khalfani lays out some strategies for getting rid of this debt, including explaining various options that allow borrowers to lower monthly payments. She provides guidance and warnings for parents considering co-signing for a student loan.

Khalfani said it took her 12 years to pay off her $40,000 in student loans because she made only the minimum payment.

“The lesson I learned was that even if you consolidate and have an easy, low, fixed monthly payment, don’t just forget about your student loans like I did. If you later start to make more money and can afford to pay more toward the school debt, I think you should do so.”

While Michelle Singletary welcomes comments, she cannot offer personal financial advice. Write her at The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071.

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Information from: www.courier-journal.com

This entry was posted by Taman Siswa on Sunday, June 24, 2007 at 11:51 pm and is filed under College Loans, Education News, Student Loan. Tags: College, Education News, Loans, Student, Student Loan, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.