From time to time, The College Whisperer publishes posts of guest bloggers, whose musings may be of interest and/or benefit to our readers.

Today, a guest post from Maureen (no last name, like Cher and Madonna, just Maureen) on the timely (and costly) topic of paying off college loans.

Enjoy!
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How To Have Someone Else Help Pay Off College Loans
By Maureen

One of the biggest recent changes in college education is the level of debt that many students build up while they get their degrees. ABC News reports that 94% of graduates have some level of debt, and many leave college tens of thousands of dollars of debt. It’s scary. The good news, however, is that if you’re flexible, you can get some serious help in paying off those student loans.

Live in a Specific Place

More and more cities are offering programs designed to attract young graduates to help revitalize their towns. Here are just a couple programs, but they’re working so well that other programs are under consideration in other cities and states:

·         Niagara Falls, New York will pay recent graduates (within the past 2 years) who have either a 2-year or 4-year degree up to $3500/year toward repaying their debts for up to 2 years, if they buy or rent a home in the downtown area.

·         Fifty rural Kansas counties not only offer up to $15,000 in student loan repayments over five years, but also a waiver of income tax for five years for 2-year, 4-year, or post-graduate degree holders with outstanding debts.


Train in a Specific Career

You can also get your loans paid off if you decide to get your degree in certain professions. Consider these options:

·         Become a public school teacher.  If you become a teacher, you’ll find  that economically struggling  areas of the country are desperate for you to come work there. In fact, they’d love you to do that so much, they have government and private programs set up to help you pay for those pesky school loans!  Check out Americorps and Teach For America for a couple specific programs. Teach For America will pay up to $10,700 in student loan costs after only two years of service!

·         Work in the healthcare industry. Most loan forgiveness and loan assistance programs involve working in poor or inner-city areas.  Depending on whether you’re a nurse or a doctor or other medical professional, and on how long you work, you can have up to $30,000 per year of student loans paid off for you.  Check out the National Health Services Corps for more information.  And if you’re still in school and training in a healthcare profession, take a look at the NHSC scholarship program—you can have your tuition, fees, and other educational costs paid via NHSC scholarships and not rack up those loans in the first place!

·         Become a lawyer. It takes longer to pay off the large debts generally racked up in law school, but legal aid societies often include loan repayment programs as a benefit. Also,  cities, states, and towns include loan repayments as part of the compensation for becoming public defenders or community legal advisers.  Check out your state’s bar association for details of programs that might help.

·         Join the military. Yes, you heard me. Not only do those who enter the military without a degree have benefits to help them pay for college, but if you already have a degree—and student loans—when you enter the military, there are programs in the Army, Navy, and Air Force to help you repay those debts. The amounts and restrictions vary by the branch of the military, so you’ll need to check with a recruitment office for details.


Graduating from college doesn’t have to mean being burdened with crippling debt for the rest of your life. If you’re willing to be flexible—and maybe spend a few years helping people in disadvantaged parts of the country—you can get lots of assistance with paying off those school loans. Not to mention that you’ll feel good about helping people who really need your expertise!

Maureen is a skilled freelance writer working for a professional writing and research agency BestEssayHelp.com. When she’s not busy helping people edit and revise their writing pieces, she spends her time joining a team of top article writers in pursuit of completing original and interesting articles on virtually any topic. For more information about the writer or the writing services she’s able to help with, please visit http://www.bestessayhelp.com.

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Of course, the best way to escape the student loan debt trap is to avoid taking out loans (and certainly not to excess) in the first place.

There are literally billions of dollars in scholarship -- that's FREE MONEY, folks -- out there in the grantosphere, ripe for the picking.

Know how to pay for your college education, where the funds are, and how to get your hands on the dough, and you nip the college debt crunch in the bud.

By the way, the appearance of this or any other guest blog is by no means an endorsement of the product or services offered by the guest blogger. Just saying... :-)
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