If you’re like most college graduates, you probably have some student loans that you’ll need to repay. Depending on the size of the loans, they can hang over your head for many years, especially if you struggle to find a job that can support you and also afford repayments. It might feel like forever until you’re free of your student loan and that you’re not making any progress on paying down the balance. If you’re serious about paying them down and getting out of student loan debt faster, consider these couple of options to help!

Keep living the student life!

Just because you’ve graduated and gotten a real job, it doesn’t mean that your lifestyle has to drastically change. If you carry on living as if you’re a student, meaning cutting back on expenditure, eating in every night, and not buying expensive items, you should save plenty of money that you can contribute towards your student loan. Frugal living is a good habit to get into, and you may find that you continue to do so even when money isn’t an issue!

Sell your annuity

For some young professionals, we may have an annuity that we received in one way or another, perhaps from a family member, or perhaps from a settlement of some sort. An annuity is a fantastic safety blanket for anyone who’s not great at handling money. If you’ve had money left to you and you’re receiving small amounts every month, consider looking for annuity buyers to leave you with a large lump sum rather than smaller monthly payments. This will allow you to pay off some (if not all) of your student loan and begin building up your finances! Of course consider it carefully but it might be the right move!

Take on a side hustle

So you’ve graduated and you’re now in a position that could lead to your dream job, and that’s amazing. However, it’s likely you’re not in your dream job making tons of money just yet, which might make it harder to pay off your student loan. How about taking on a side hustle? Getting a part-time job and contributing the money you earn from that to your loan will help pay it off much faster. Side hustles are great – often they can be fun small side gigs that we take on, we do them on our schedule and make a little extra cash. Perhaps live off your regular income and use your side hustle money as extra payments. There’s a variety of options for side hustles – driving for Uber/Lyft, babysitting, freelancing or just doing odd jobs for neighbors!

Pay more than the minimum

It’s likely that you’ve set up a repayment plan with a minimum amount to pay each month, and people usually do this to ensure they’ve got enough money for everything else in their lives. If you find yourself with a little extra money, pay more than the minimum to help knock down that final balance that little bit faster. Whether it’s extra money from side hustles or keeping your expenses lower than expected (i.e. living like a college student), hopefully you’ll have some extra cash and put that towards your monthly payments!

Ask your boss for help with repayments

Finally, if you attended college or university to help progress further in your job, or at the request of your boss, then you could ask them for help with repaying your student loans. It’s not as out there as you might think! For example, some government employees can receive up to $10,000 a year towards student debt repayment by accessing the federal government’s Student Loan Repayment Program. Some large employers offer student loan assistance as part of the compensation plan. Or maybe they’ll just help you out just because! You never know until you ask!

Disclosure: Some links are affiliate links that may earn me a commission.