Financing an education can be extremely expensive these days and it is more common to have a student leave school in debt than not in debt. In most cases this debt runs into the tens of thousands of dollars, and when it is private student loans the interest will accrue while you are in school and get added on to the loan after you graduate. The good news is that you have six months after graduation to get a job and decide to start consolidating private student loans, or paying them back one at a time. There is a lot to consider when you are thinking about consolidating student loans, and you will find a few different ways to consolidate your loans that you may want to take advantage of.

With tuition fees and other fees the colleges and universities charge their students, it's no wonder that the percentage of those who've graduated from high school only is increasing. And no it's not due to their unwillingness to study, but their incapability to pay. However, you still can get into college or a university even if you don't have the cash to shell out for the expenses. One way would be to study real hard – what you aim to do here is maintain good grades as to pass for a scholarship program sponsored by the school or an external organization.

The government has rolled out a new program that pegs repayment of college loans to income: the Income Based Repayment Plan, or IBR. IBR applies only to direct federal loans or private loans subsidized by the government.

In other good news, new federal Stafford loans now have a lower interest rate of 5.6 percent, down from 6 percent. Congress has mandated that the rate drop to 3.4 percent by 2012.

Given the economic climate, when so many college graduates are struggling to find jobs before that first payment comes due, the launch of the Income-Based Repayment Plan (IBR) is especially welcome. It is meant to make monthly payments affordable by bringing them in line with your income and family size.

If you're a modest wager earner, then IBR will adjust your monthly payment to no more than 15% of your income. For some, it could be less, even nothing.