What’s your next step and what’s holding you back? If you are like most who have graduated college and started a new career, you probably have dreams of getting your own place, traveling or maybe getting married. And it’s also likely that student loan debt is interfering with those plans.

When prospective college students don’t qualify for enough federal funding, a supportive parent may step in to cover the financing gap. The Department of Education’s Direct PLUS Loan program allows parents to take out a federal student loan on their child’s behalf to cover any remaining education expenses.

If you are like most college graduates with student loans, you probably have two goals that seem to cancel each other out: pay off your student loans and save money.

As a recent grad with student loans, you probably already know your repayment is just around the corner. I encourage you to take advantage of your grace period and not wait to get your first bill before making plans for repayment. Here are a few tips I thought I’d share to help you tackle your student loan debt head on.