With no job and no salary, some recent college grads are getting an unpleasant holiday present: student-loan repayment bills.

Stephanie Baum of Roslyn, N.Y., is among those whose six-month postschool grace period has just ended. Having graduated from Brandeis University in May with a sociology degree and $14,400 in student loans, Ms. Baum will soon be getting her first repayment bill. But she can pay only if she taps her now-shrinking savings.

"The thing I am battling with right now because I am unemployed is whether I'm going to actually pay them or try to put them off," says the 22-year-old college grad currently living at home with her parents.

She has lots of company. In recent months, Sallie Mae, the nation's largest provider of student loans, has seen a 10% increase in borrowers seeking deferment due to economic hardship or unemployment. That's not surprising, given the recent rise in unemployment, says Patricia M. Scherschel, Sallie Mae's consolidation product manager.

However, recent graduates saddled with thousands of dollars in loans may be able to slash their monthly payments or even postpone them while they find work. Here is an array of payback options:

First, a quick explanation of federally guaranteed student loans. Stafford loans are the most popular form of student borrowing, making up about 90% of all student loans, and about half of all full-time college students get one, says Jerry S. Davis of the Lumina Foundation for Education in Indianapolis. Depending on the family's financial situation, the loan may be subsidized by Uncle Sam. The standard loan has a 10-year repayment period, starting six months after you leave school. You can get Staffords through lenders like Sallie Mae or from many banks, online lenders or in some cases through your college.

Now, the good news. The annually adjusted rate for repaying Stafford loans is now 5.99% for loans issued after July 1, 1998. That is the lowest in the 36-year history of the Stafford loan program. So now might be a good time for borrowers to consider replacing their 10-year school loans -- where rates are typically adjusted each year -- with a consolidation loan that will lock in current rates for the life of the loan.

Consolidation loans are based on the weighted average of a borrower's federal education loans, rounded up to the nearest one eighth of a percentage point. Because different loans have different rates, this weighted average will vary from borrower to borrower.

For example, a recent graduate who borrowed $2,500 for each of four years of college would have a 5.99% repayment rate on the three loans taken after July 1998 and a 6.79% repayment rate for the money borrowed at the start of college in 1997, says Kalman Chany, a New York financial-aid consultant and author of "Paying for College Without Going Broke." Average those rates together and round up, and you've got a consolidation rate of 6.25%.

"But you can only consolidate once," cautions Mr. Chany. "That means people need to consider what's likely to happen July 1 when annual repayment rates are reset based on the last 91-day Treasury bill auction in May. If interest rates stay at current levels, the repayment rate on the most recent Staffords would fall to just above 4%. That means many recent grads have nothing to lose by waiting until June to see if the repayment rate will drop, he says.

Consolidation also can be used to stretch out the duration of the loan, thus slicing the monthly payments. Jonathan Sambur, for example, graduated New York University law school in May with a master's degree in law and $109,000 in debt. "The debt service is about $1,200 a month," says the 26-year-old lawyer who now works for the government. "That's quite a chunk of my salary." He is in the process of consolidating, extending the original 10-year life of his loans to 30 years and cutting the monthly payment on his consolidated loans roughly in half.

"I am mortgaging my life," he concedes.

You don't need to consolidate, however, to cut monthly payments. Some borrowers can extend their payments to either 13 or 15 years, depending on the size of their loans, and reduce payments that way. Others can take advantage of graduated repayment, which reduces payments in the early years.

Sallie Mae borrowers, for example, can get as many as four years of interest-only payments. On a $10,000, 10-year loan with a 5.99% repayment rate, for example, the normal monthly payment would be $111, but under the interest-only plan that payment would be just $50. Assuming unchanged interest rates, someone opting for two years of interest-only payments would see monthly payments jump to $131 in later years.

Emily Dunn, who graduated from the University of Maryland in May with a master's degree in creative writing, considered an option that adjusts payments according to current income. This would cut monthly payments on her $40,000 in loans to about $200 from $442.

But that is really "just putting off the inevitable" loan repayment, says Ms. Dunn, now a fund-raiser for the Harvard School of Public Health. Instead, she has taken a second job to make up the difference.

Such alternative payment plans come at a price. Since you are delaying paying down the principal, you will pay more interest in the end. Just two years of interest-only payments on a $10,000 loan with a 5.99% repayment rate, for example, would increase the overall cost of the loan by about $500.

What if you can't afford any payments at all? Recent grads yet to find a job who can demonstrate that they are actively seeking employment can apply for deferment, which puts off repayment for a maximum of three years. Those who don't qualify for a deferment can seek a payment forebearance, granted at the discretion of the lender for as many as 12 months at a time. In both cases, the interest clock keeps running, unless you have a subsidized Stafford and you qualify for a deferment.

Still that interest cost is a small one when weighed against "the variety of nasty things" that happen if you actually go into default, says Bob Murray, a spokesman for USA Funds, the nation's largest guarantor of student loans. Defaulters, he says, have been known to have their wages garnisheed, their tax refunds withheld, their credit damaged and some even end up in court.

Borrowers interested in exploring their options should first check with their lender. Don't know who your lender is? Try the loan locator at www.studentclearinghouse.org. Other sites, including www.salliemae.com, provide information on repayment options, calculators and even loan applications.

Of course, there's one way recent grads can temporarily escape school-loan payments in these tough economic times. "They can always go back to school," says Mr. Chany, the financial-aid consultant, noting loans can then be deferred.