Student loan debt is a real problem in the United States — reaching a balance of $1 trillion. Plenty of young people graduate from school with thousands and thousands of dollars in unpaid student loans.
While the interest rates are low, people still struggle to make the minimum payments. While this is a real problem, there are solutions.
Here are six tips to help 20-somethings pay off student debt.
1. Find a Side Hustle
With extra income, a young person can make a serious dent in his or her loans. One way to do so is to buy a massage table and start giving massages. Luckily, with online classifieds and word-of-mouth advertising, one can make some serious income within weeks of getting started.
To learn how to do this, one does not have to go through hundreds of hours of school. Instead, with instructional videos, a young man or woman can learn how to give massages people truly enjoy. Without a doubt, with this, a young graduate can pay off his or her loans in no time.
2. Live at Home
While this is a drastic measure, many young people move back home after finding their first job out of school. Think about it: if a person owes $25,000 to the bank, he or she can pay it off quickly when living at home. Again, while this is not fun, it is a quick way to knock out the debt for good.
3. Look for Student Loan Forgiveness Programs
When working as a public servant in certain fields, one can see their loans forgiven. For example, a lawyer can work for the local public defender’s office and have some of his or her loans paid for by the state.
Other times, one can work as a teacher in a poor district. Either way, this is an easy way to cut the student loans down quickly. Our Definitive Guide to Student Loan Debt has more information on these programs.
4. Become a Tutor
If a young person has a useful degree, he or she can tutor. By giving short lessons or helping people with a hard subject, a young graduate can easily command rates of over $20 per hour. Since it is a simple way to make tax-free money, one can make enough to put a serious dent in their student loan debt.
To do this, a person should post flyers near a campus or go on sites like Craigslist and make a simple advertisement.
5. Get a Second Job
After school, people have more free time than they realize. When working at a corporate office, most will come home from work at five in the evening.
To take advantage of this free time, one should try to work as a waiter or bartender. When doing so, a young person can easily make a few hundred dollars per week. With this money, one can pay off their debts and quickly knock out the loans.
6. Focus on Frugality
It is hard for some recent graduates to take it easy and avoid overspending. But, if one can practice living a frugal and simple life, they can avoid wasting their money. With this, a young person can pay off debt without much trouble. So, remember, after graduation, it is wise to live a simple life and avoid overspending.
With these six tips, a young person can pay off his or her debt in a quick fashion. Otherwise, when taking too long to pay off student loan debts, one will have financial problems for years to come.
Do you have any other tips to help young adults get out of student loan debt?
Robert Farrington is America’s Millennial Money Expert® and America’s Student Loan Debt Expert™, and the founder of The College Investor, a personal finance site dedicated to helping millennials escape student loan debt to start investing and building wealth for the future. You can learn more about him on the About Page, or on his personal site RobertFarrington.com.
He regularly writes about investing, student loan debt, and general personal finance topics geared towards anyone wanting to earn more, get out of debt, and start building wealth for the future.
He has been quoted in major publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Fox, ABC, NBC, and more. He is also a regular contributor to Forbes.