You've applied for a student loan and, before you know it, you'll be starting school. Most student loans do not require repayment until after graduation. Nonetheless, spending a few minutes learning the basics about loan repayment is important. This section covers these topics:

• Repayment options
• Loan consolidation
• Tax deductions and credits
• Reconciling payment problems
• Postponing repayments

Calculators are also available to help you:

• Estimate your loan repayment amounts.
• Prepare a monthly budget
• Estimate the impact of unpaid accrued interest on your outstanding loan balance.

Cut Costs by Prepaying
All federally sponsored education loans and most private loans let you pay off some of your loan — even the entire amount — before payment is due without penalty.

If you have some money left over each month, instead of spending it, why don't you pay down your student loan? This is a sure way to reduce the total cost of the loan.

Any extra payments you make are applied to the principal of the loan, after the accrued interest and any outstanding fees (if applicable) are satisfied. If you reduce your principal — even by a little — you reduce the amount of interest you have to pay over the life of your loan.