Financial Literacy Spotlight!
Have questions about student loans?
Confused about repayment?
Need a refresher on financial literacy?
Review the Student Loan Repayment Workshop presentation by downloading the PDF, here!
As always, please contact Student Financial Services for any and all realted questions. You can ask for Amanda Seitz, the Direct Loan Coordinator, for any further specific loan questions.
financialservices@purchase.edu
914-251-7000 ext. 2
The Defeating Debt Series!
Confronting and paying off your debt is not the best part of growing up, but there are options to help make the process easier (and faster) for you! Here’s the next tip that can help all of you!
4. Trim your budget. Decreasing your monthly budget is a good way to find more money when your income is not increasing. It may sound extreme or unrealistic but people have trimmed their budget drastically by moving to a less expensive apartment, skipping happy hours, cooking at home instead of dining out, managing other spending habits and more. You only have to do this in the short term so if you can do it for just a month or so, it will still help your loan repayment!
3. Use surprise money wisely! Sometimes you may get money for your birthday or a holiday, or even from lottery winnings, an inheritance, a lawsuit, insurance or a raise at work. While we all may be tempted to spend the money we get that is unplanned, you should use it to pay off your loans faster. Think about your tax refund too! Put at least some it toward paying down your loan debt, even if you don’t use all of it.
2. Make more than the minimum payment due. This is one of the easiest ways to reduce your debt. Just look at the payments you have due and add, even a little, extra money to the payment. Even if this means just an extra $5, $10 or $20 a month, it’s something! Start there, then gradually work on increasing your extra payments.
1. Be smart about your debt and stay up to date on your financial literacy. Generally, the best decision to make in terms of repayment is to pay off the debt with the highest interest rates first. This could be personal credit cards, student loans, auto loans, and more. When you address the debt with the highest interest rates first, you spend less money on interest which saves you A LOT in the long-run. We can call this the “debt avalanche.” The “debt snowball” approach is paying off the debt with the lowest balances first. In this plan, you won’t save any money on interest, but making consistent monthly payments may keep you driven and feel proud for the monthly “wins.”
(For more extensive information, visit our Financial Literacy webpage here)