For college or post-secondary school graduates who finished in May, their six-month grace period for paying back student loans is just about up in November.

For graduate and professional students, the additional debt, ranging from $30,000 to $120,000 or more, is just another bill on top of undergrad loans, rent (or mortgage), car payment, insurance, utilities, child care, dependent care, credit cards, etc. For undergrads, welcome to repayment.

It may not be easy, but if you can afford to start making payments, do it! After all, you are legally bound to the repayment terms you signed off on and there are penalties to your credit if you break your commitment.

The more you pay off now, the less you will end up paying in interest. The standard plan based on a 10-year repayment term is the least expensive plan in the long run. Pay more than your minimum monthly payment, if you can. There are no prepayment penalties for federal student loans. Some borrowers, however, may find it easier to pay less when they enter repayment.

Here are some tips for staying on track with your payments and beginning a healthy financial relationship with your lender:

Plan and Organize

• Make a list of your loans, monthly payment amount, where/how to send the payment, and the first payment due dates. If you’ve been deferring your undergraduate loans while in graduate school, you’ll have to begin repaying them now along with the grad school loans. Visit nslds.ed.gov for a list of all your federal student loans or contact your school’s financial aid office.
• Once you know your monthly payments, make a realistic monthly budget. A formal, written budget plan is vital to helping you understand what money is coming in and going out. And when you’re adding a monthly student loan payment to the mix, or any new recurring payment, it is crucial to helping you organize and avoid missing payments and paying penalties. You should also consider signing up for automatic payments deducted from your checking account each month.

Know Your Options

If the standard repayment doesn’t fit into your budget, there are other options to make your federal student loan debt more manageable:

• If you need a lower monthly payment and you have more than $30,000 in federal student loans, you can choose Extended Repayment. You’ll pay a fixed annual or graduated repayment amount over a period not to exceed 25 years. This will extend the total amount you pay over the life of the loan because of the interest that accumulates during the longer repayment period.
• If you see yourself making more money in the future than you do now, the Graduated Repayment plan may work for you. This plan lets you pay an amount as low as the accruing interest on your loan for up to four years. Payments then increase gradually so that the loan is repaid in the same amount of time as it would under standard repayment. This repayment plan can also be used in conjunction with Extended Repayment, so you will have the longer repayment term and the smaller payment amounts in the beginning of the term. The Graduated Repayment schedule increases the total amount of interest you pay over the life of the loan.
• There are a few different repayment plans that allow your monthly payment to be based on your income. It’s important to note that all income-related plans stretch out your repayment term, increasing the total amount of interest you’ll pay in the long run.  The plans vary slightly, depending on whether you have Direct or Federal Family Education Loans, but in general they base your monthly payment on a combination of your income, family size and total loan amount. The newest of these plans is Income-Based Repayment. To be eligible for this plan, you must show that payments under the standard plan would cause you financial hardship. Under this plan the maximum repayment term is 25 years, after which any remaining debt is discharged. If you work in public service, you may be eligible for cancellation of the remaining balance after 10 years and 120 payments. One catch, though, is that you may have to pay taxes on the amount that is discharged.

Know Your "Plan B"

Despite a well-planned budget, life happens. Whether you are sick, unemployed, underemployed, in the military or have other special circumstances, the federal government has put a few safety nets out to protect you if you truly need it.

• You've been handed your degree, but you may be facing economic hardship or unemployment, be called to qualified military duty, or you may want to continue your education. You may be eligible for a loan deferment to postpone payment for a specified amount of time. For federal student loans based on need (a “subsidized” Stafford Loan), the government pays the interest during deferment.
• If you don’t meet the criteria for a deferment and have no other options, you may qualify for loan forbearance. Like a deferment, forbearance is a temporary suspension of payment. Deferment is usually reserved for cases of financial hardship or illness and is granted solely at the discretion of the lender. Your loan, however, will continue to accrue interest and, at the end of the forbearance period, the interest is capitalized (added to the principal balance of the loan). In other words, forbearance increases the amount you owe, so it should be a last resort.
• Student loan cancellation and/or forgiveness is rare, but it can be granted if you decide to pursue a career that involves certain kinds of public service or teaching. Partial or total loan discharge can be granted in cases of fraud, identity theft, or total and permanent disability. Student loans are generally not dischargeable in bankruptcy.

The key to managing your federal student loan debt is knowing that you have options depending on your situation.

Ignoring a potential payment problem is the worst thing you can do.

Always be proactive about contacting your lender if you anticipate a problem. If you have Federal Family Education Loans, you can also always turn to the guarantor of your loans for neutral advice on payment solutions.