If there’s one debt that you want to pay off as quickly as possible,it’s your private student loans. These financial liabilities could be with you during your entire lifetime and cannot be written off, even when you declare bankruptcy.
One of the primary reasons that people get buried beneath tons of student loan debts is when the job hunting process after graduation takes excessively long. An effective way to avert the long wait to land a job is by taking internships offered by various companies. In a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), 58% of interns were subsequently hired as full-time employees. You can take internships after graduation, but ideally, you should start as early as your freshman year.
Graduates or soon-to-graduate students who took internships have a big edge. Their employability is significantly enhanced because today, employers are not only looking for scholastic achievements, but also for relevant work experience. When companies hire interns, they do not only see them as short-term members of their workforce, but as prospective permanent employees. Between an applicant with soaring grades and an applicant with stellar recommendations from organizations he or she interned for, employers are more inclined to hire someone with a proven track record in a real business environment.
When considering internships, it’s best to take those which offer compensation, even if the pay check is not that enticing. You can use this money to pay off the interest on your private student loan. However, if an internship won’t pay you salary but will look good on your resume, you should still take it. Just make sure that you manage your time well so you can still take a job that will earn you money.
While interning after graduation, you should also start revisiting your loans and explore the most efficient and realistic way to pay off the money you borrowed. This is the perfect period to execute a private student loan consolidation. Since you are not earning that much as an intern, private student loan consolidations can bring down the interest that you need to pay per month by extending your repayment period. Student loan experts such as Cedar Education Lending can give a carefully mapped out repayment scheme using loan consolidation.
In a fiercely competitive job market, a good internship experience can spell the difference between getting buried in student loans and paying them off as soon as possible.