We’ve all got money on our minds these days, so that’s why it’s so important that you are well-informed about the process of applying for and paying off your student loans. CampusCompare wants to fill you in on the basic details of the student loan procedure!

You can apply for two federal student loans—the Perkins Loan and the Stafford Loan. Both loans offer a six to nine month grace period after graduation for you to have time to get a job before you begin full loan repayment.

You will be approved for either a subsidized or unsubsidized loan. The difference between subsidized and unsubsidized lies in who pays the interest while you are in school. For a subsidized loan, your interest is paid by the government until you graduate. Subsidized loans are usually given to lower-income students. With an unsubsidized loan, the student is responsible to pay the interest during school.

Remember, it is absolutely essential that you begin paying off your loans on time—not doing so can be detrimental to your financial future! So you must be prepared, and finding yourself a good financial aid calculator is a good start. Also, take the time to consider going to a public college rather than a private. For example, the cost of going to the public school University of Massachusetts at Amherst is less than half that of going to Boston University, a private college.

But don’t let your dreams die over the dollar—there is still hope yet that you can afford your dream school. To learn more about the student loan process, check out sites like the College Loan Corporation, a top 10 private student loan provider who has helps students and families pay for college with their expert loan advice. Hope that helps you on your way to your ideal fiscal future!

If you have racked up or plan to rack up a serious debt in college, all can be forgiven and forgotten.

The loan forgiveness program is a little different than being forgiven for hurting someone else’s feelings.

Individual states, the federal government, or specific industries attempt to recruit students for professions that may experience a sudden surge in job openings. This can happen because of an unexpected industry growth or a sudden large percentage of retirements.

In these cases, you might be eligible for loan forgiveness which encourages up and coming professionals (like you!) to pursue study in a certain area by helping you pay off your debt.

Nursing, teaching, child care and serving in the Armed forces are all careers that have loan forgiveness programs either through the federal government or state agencies. Basically, if you fulfill certain work-related requirements, like service in a low-income area or work for a certain period of time, the state or government  the makes payments towards your loan balance.

We are not saying you should choose your career based on whether it has a loan forgiveness option. But it’s definitely good to know about. And hey, you everyone likes to be forgiven, especially for doing something right for a change.

Student loan consolidation is a repayment tool that bundles all your school loans into one loan. So instead of having to pay off two or three loans to different loan providers you can lump them and pay back one provider. For example, you can put your Stafford, PLUS loans, and your federal perkins loans into one single debt.

But is it worth it?

Well, with a student loan consolidation you get reduced monthly payments.

Unlike the other loans, consolidation loans have a fixed interest rate for the life of the loan. The fixed  interest rate is calculated as the weighted average of the interest rates of the loans being consolidated and capped at 8.25%.

But consolidation loans have longer terms than other loans and you can choose to pay your loan back over 10 to 30 years. (If we do the math that means, you may still be paying off your college education when you’re in the 50s. And by then you are bound to have a mortgage too!)

Although the monthly repayments are lower, the total amount paid over the term of the loan is higher than what you would pay with other loans.

Some features of the original consolidated loans, such as postgraduation grace periods and special forgiveness circumstances, are not carried over into the consolidation loan and you have to consolidate during your grace period to avoid an interest rate increase of 0.60%. If you wait until your grace period ends, your interest rate will automatically be 0.60% higher.

So you have to figure out if loan consolidation works for your needs. If you want to pay less each month but extend payments over a longer period of time then, go for it. If you don’t want to pay more in the long run and have debt hanging over your head for decades, then the student loan consolidation program might not be the way to go.

Either way, it looks like there’s a price to pay for a good college education.