When you graduate from college and land that first good job, you probably will be making more money than you have before. For the last four or more years you have been living on the cheap, eating Ramen noodles, living in a cheap apartment and driving a clunker. It has been anything but glamorous, but you made it through.
Although your first instinct may be to spend some of that money, upgrading your lifestyle, resist the temptation. You will never be more accustomed to living like a broke college student than when you just finished being one. Dedicate yourself to continuing to live that way--just for a few years. Make a budget and figure out what you absolutely must have to survive in a minimal way. Then take all of your new-found earnings and pour them into extra payments on your student loans. What might have taken you decades to pay off could be gone in a matter of a few years.
Not everyone knows that you can deduct some or all of the interest you pay on a student loan from your income taxes. Former students are allowed to deduct up to $2,500 per year in student loan interest paid.
The trick to making this work for you is to pretend that you had to pay that extra amount. As soon as the cash comes back in the form of a tax refund, take the amount you deducted and pay it back on the loan. You'll be surprised at how much difference a couple of thousand dollars each year will reduce the term of your loan.
The last thing you probably wanted to do when you finished college was to work for free. However, this might be a smart move in the long run. Volunteering or working in a low-paying public service job in low-income communities may qualify you for a loan-forgiveness program, according to MSN Money Central's website.
Doctors, nurses, Peace Corps volunteers, teachers and attorneys often qualify for jobs that will wipe away some of all of their student loan debt.