If you’ve been reading the paper or watching the news lately, you’ve noticed that the country is in a rather critical mortgage crisis. To help ease the pressure, the federal government has stepped in to take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the first and second largest mortgage buyers, respectively. You might not have to worry about a mortgage, but there’s a good chance your parents might, particularly if they are also going to help you finance your education.

The gal you do have to worry about is Sallie Mae.

Sallie Mae is the largest student loan provider in the country and for now, she seems to be hanging in there. In fact, her stock just went up today, although the market did experience an overall upswing in the wake of the news that the government would be helping Fannie and Freddie.

So despite the fact that Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Sallie Mae sound like rejects from The Beverly Hillbillies, they are forces to be reckoned with when it comes to your finances. The good news is that the government will assure that Fannie and Freddie will stay afloat, which also portends good news for your student loans.

In July, Reisa Resource blogged about loan forgiveness. Here’s a recap: Depending on your chosen career path after college, you might be able to get some of your federal student loans cancelled, or in financial parlance, “forgiven.” Here are some specific ways in which you can shave a few thousand dollars off your college debt:

Volunteer. AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, and Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) give their volunteers a considerable break on their student loans. Considerable effort is also required on your part, though, as these organizations require a time commitment of one or two years to achieve eligibility for loan cancellation.

Serve your country. Members of the Army National Guard can receive up to $10,000 towards their student loans through the Student Loan Repayment Program.

Teach. If you have a Perkins loan and are teaching in a school located in a low-income community, you can have a percentage of your loan forgiven through the National Defense Education Act. You are eligible to have 15% of your loan cancelled for the first and second years of employment, 20% for the third and fourth years, and 30% for the fifth year. (You don’t have to be a math teacher to figure out that it all adds to up to the 100% cancellation of your Perkins loan.)

There are other ways of having your loans forgiven, particularly if your work involves underserved communities. It never hurts to ask a financial aid officer about your options.

It pays to save.

That was always the case with the 529 plan, a savings plan for college that was tax deductible.

And now the colleges are on-board too—using the 529 savings plan as a recruiting tool.

According to the Wall Street Journal, hundreds of colleges, including Stanford and Duke University are offering tuition discounts, prepaid plans with extra incentives and even scholarships for families that put money aside for college in 529 plans.

“The 529 plans are available in nearly every state and are named for the section of the Internal Revenue Code under which they were created. One perk associated with 529 plans is a tuition-rewards program from SAGE Scholars, an education finance company, that is available to participants in the Pennsylvania and Wisconsin 529 plans. Similar to a frequent-flier program, reward points are tallied quarterly at 1.25% of the total account value. Each point — which can come from select CDs, annuities and 401(k)s in addition to 529s — equals a dollar toward tuition at 213 member schools. Families can rack up as much as a full year’s tuition, if spread over four years.”

The average discount for students entering in fall 2007 was $6,192, or $1,548 a year. Participating schools range from Drexel University in Philadelphia to lesser-known institutions such as Augustana College in South Dakota, and 10 more schools joined in the past 12 weeks.

By signing up, colleges gain access (with account-holders’ permission) to the mailing addresses of 115,266 high school students mulling their higher-education options. SAGE Scholars says it is in talks with three other states about offering rewards to their 529 account-holders.

So looks like the 529 plan is a good investment for higher education.

Just don’t forget, a 529 plan doesn’t guarantee admission. Just good rates if you get in.