While no one ever wants to be in debt or have a loan, there are many who may have amassed a significant debt during their college or student days. As most people are painfully aware, paying off your student loans may extend even into your adulthood. When you should already be enjoying your salary or saving up for a home or car, you might instead find yourself still struggling to pay off your student loans.

To avoid that kind of situation, it’s critical to look for and develop ways to effectively manage your student loans, especially based on your salary. By doing so, you can prevent your debt from growing and hurting your financial security.

If the loan from your student days now seems overwhelming, here are key tips on how you can effectively manage your loans:

1. Move Somewhere Cheaper

This first tip applies if your current location has a high cost of living, and you know there are other places that can provide promising job opportunities but have a lower cost of living. When you can save on your rent, food, transportation, and utility expense, you’ll be able to direct more of your earnings towards paying your student loan. By minimizing your daily expenses, you’ll have more money to pay your student loan, and you can pay it off faster.

If you don’t want to move to another state or city, then consider downsizing. For instance, if you don’t really need to pay for a two-bedroom apartment at the moment, it’s a good idea to move to a smaller, one-bedroom place. Not only will your rent be lower, but so will your utility bills. You’ll then have extra cash to spend to pay off your student loan.

2. Explore Alternative Plans

Depending on where you’re from and the kind of loan you have, you may be able to successfully apply for an alternative payment plan. Ask around and explore all the options available to you.

Some of the best options for alternative plans include the following:

• Graduated payment. This system allows you to automatically increase your monthly payments every two years for the ten-year duration of the student loan. This is a strategic way to enjoy lower payments during the first few years of earning an entry-level employee’s wage.
• Pay as you earn. With this strategy, your monthly student loan payments are capped at 10% of your monthly income for as long as 20 years. This ensures that you can comfortably manage the amount you’ll have to pay without sacrificing your quality of life. You’ll have enough leeway with your budget to put more funds towards your loan payments.
• Extended repayment. This alternative plan enables you to stretch out your loan over a longer period, thus lowering your monthly payments. This works well, especially for students who already have familial obligations early in their adult life.

3. Take Extra Jobs

Thanks to technology, taking extra jobs now isn’t as difficult as it was in the past. Years ago, taking extra jobs means extra working hours. Today, this is no longer the case. There are many jobs you can do online during your free time, so you can avoid burnout. If you’re strategic about your earning options, you may even be able to find passive income-earning opportunities.

When you earn more without necessarily doing more, physically and time-wise, you have extra money to put towards your student loan debt payment. This allows you to still enjoy some of the few luxuries in life as a young adult while still being diligent with your loan payments.

If you’re keen on taking extra jobs soon, these are two of the best options you can try out:

• Create a blog. If you love writing or aren’t shy about being in front of the camera, you can always join the bandwagon and start your own blog (or vlog). You have to be patient with this approach, though, as overnight success isn’t guaranteed. You need to work towards having more readers and subscribers before you can start monetizing your online content. But, in the long run, it can be a good passive income opportunity.
• Invest in stocks. There are apps and websites that now make it easier, even for beginners, to invest in stocks. As long as you know what you’re doing, investing in stocks can be a very good opportunity.

Conclusion

As you can see, student loan management involves taking care of your student loan in a way that you can settle its repayment as soon as possible. This will allow you to move on with your life and enjoy your adult life. It may not be easy, but it’s doable when you make it your top priority. While not all these tips may apply to you, it’s worth exploring what your options are. The small sacrifices you make today will become worth it in the long run to ensure your financial security.