There are many ways to pay off your student loans, but the best way for you may not be the cheapest at first glance. Three doctors’ stories show how income-driven repayment plans and loan forgiveness programs can play key roles in the decision.

Anyone who graduates with a massive pile of student debt has some tough choices to make. Refinance to a seemingly cheaper private loan? Keep your federal student loan and pay it off in the standard way? Take advantage of forbearance to put payments off? A look at three new doctors, each facing $250,000 in debt, highlights some shocking differences between each choice.

As their cases illustrate, oftentimes the best option isn’t the most obvious, and one repayment method could save almost $200,000 over the life of the loan.

Sarah Was Tempted to Go Private, But Then …

In my previous article about private student loans, I stressed that students should consider taking out federal student loans before taking out any private loans. Federal student loans have protections and benefits that private student loans most likely don’t. Federal loans can be discharged if the borrower dies or becomes totally and permanently disabled. Continuar leyendo →

My research tracking the career development of 3,700 part-time undergraduate students from their first year at university until two years after graduation demonstrates the benefits of part-time study. Four out of five of current students were working, mostly in full-time jobs in the public sector whilst 91% were employed two years after finishing their studies. The vast majority were using the skills they had learnt on their course in their jobs, so their studies were highly relevant to their working lives, and benefitted their employers too. In addition, over two-thirds of students, and four in five who had finished studying, believed that their ability to do their work had improved as a direct result of their course. Over a half of students in their first year and two-thirds of graduates had taken on more responsibility at work. This shows that those taking part-time courses start to profit from their learning well before they complete their studies. However, these positive outcomes were not always rewarded by employers. In fact, only 29% of students and about a half of graduates had a pay rise as a direct result of taking their course.

Both students’ and graduates’ non-working lives also were enriched by their studies. Continuar leyendo →