(ThySistas.com) The thought of going off to college can be really exciting. There are many different things to look forward to, as well as some more daunting things like possibly moving far from home and the tests that you will do. There may also be some daunting thoughts about the cost of it all. We all know that there are certain costs involved. But do those have to be so high? Can you come out of college relatively debt-free? There are ways to eliminate how much debt you have when you graduate. So read on to find out more.
Pay Off Debt When Still at College
The tricky thing is when it comes to graduation and you’re thinking of where to live and where to work. But then the requests to start paying your debt start coming in. So being able to pay off your debt as early as possible is a great idea. So if you can work alongside 
studying, then it can make a massive difference to how much you can pay off early. That all helps to working towards reducing how much interest you pay. Which is what you want when you’re out in the world looking for a job.
Consolidate Your Debt
It can be easy to have debt here there and everywhere when you are a student. You might have credit cards, as well as student loans that you need to pay off. But when you have those loans all over the place, they all have their own interest rates that need to be paid. In order to reduce the amount of interest that you have to pay, you might be thinking can you consolidate student loans and credit card debt? There are ways to do it, with consolidation loans so it could be worth it. Do the calculations, and it will mean paying much less money in interest fees.
Stay In State
Unless there is a dream college for you, that you have always wanted to go to, then it might be worth considering staying in your home state to study. Often this makes the tuition fees much lower as you are already a resident. It can mean possibly living at home too, which is a good way to lower the costs needed for living.
Research Loans and Grants
There are some loans, or grants, like Federal Pell Grants, that you won’t need to pay back. So that is an option looking into as well. Check what the ratio of people graduating with those is at the University of your choice. If you do need to go down a normal student loan route, then make sure that you shop around to get the lowest interest rate. They can all differ, and you don’t want to end up with the highest one.
Look For Scholarships or Grants From the University
If you check your desired college’s website on the financial aid section, it will let you know about scholarships, grants, and work-study programs. They can certainly be worth checking. You might want to look into a work study program as they support you to work full-time, alongside your studies, for example.
Staff Writer; Natasha Jacobs