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With all the benefits that come with higher education, there’s one potential pain point that can easily sour the mood—paying for it. With the rising cost of college, more and more students are taking out student loans to finance their educations.

On average, students graduating from undergraduate programs carry approximately $33,310 in student loan debt . And for those students pursuing additional degrees, the student loan burden is even higher. But what options are available to those facing the reality of student debt?

One possible solution is student loan refinancing. At its core, student loan refinancing is the process of taking out a new loan to pay off your existing student loans. This leaves you with just one loan with a new interest rate, monthly payment, and loan terms.

What Does Student Loan Refinancing Do?

If you borrowed federal student loans, they were granted based on the information you filled out in your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®). All federal student loans since July 1, 2006 are fixed-rate loans, and the interest rate is determined by Congress. Those loans could have been either subsidized or unsubsidized, depending on your financial need at the time you filled out your FAFSA.

If you took out private loans, the interest rate was determined based on your or your parents’ credit scores and other financial factors. As a young student, it’s likely you didn’t have a long credit history or employment history (hence getting your parents to cosign). Because of this, most lenders would have considered you a risky borrower, which means you likely either applied with a cosigner or took out a loan with a relatively high interest rate.

Refinancing student loans gives you the opportunity to change that. When you refinance your student loans, you usually do so with a private bank or lender, like SoFi, who will review your credit history and earning potential (among other financial details) to determine your new interest rate.

Since you’ve graduated, you may have significantly improved your finances. And if you took the opportunity to build up some credit in college, you could qualify for a lower interest rate when you refinance.

This is one of the biggest potential benefits of refinancing your student loans. With a lower interest rate, you could stand to reduce the money you spend in interest over the life of the loan, especially if you also shorten your loan term. If, on the other hand, you lengthen your loan term, you’re unlikely to reduce the amount of interest you pay over the course of the loan.

When you originally borrowed your student loans, you likely agreed to a certain repayment term. Refinancing may allow you to adjust your repayment terms, though of course which terms you have access to is up to the lender’s discretion. On the other hand, you could also extend the loan term, which could get you lower monthly payments, but likely means you pay more in interest over time.

If you refinance your student loans, instead of having multiple loans and multiple monthly payments, you’d have one single loan payment.

If you refinance federal student loans, they’ll become private loans, which means you’ll lose access to federal repayment plans . This is especially important to note if you plan on taking advantage of programs like income-driven repayment or Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).

You’ll also lose access to federal borrower protections like deferment and forbearance , which allow you to temporarily pause your monthly payments if you are facing financial or personal hardship.

Choosing a student loan repayment plan and strategy is a personal decision. Take the time to carefully review your current loan terms and benefits before you decide to refinance. There are a variety of refinancing options out there and it’s important to do your research and find a reliable lender or stick with your original federal student loan repayment plan.

How Do You Refinance Your Student Loans?

The student loan refinancing process will vary slightly by lender. Before you make any decisions, you may want to check the rates at multiple lenders to make sure you are getting a competitive rate. Many online lenders and banks will let you check your interest rate online in just a couple of minutes.

If you meet the lender’s eligibility requirements, you’ll most likely see a few different options with varying repayment terms. You’ll also usually get to choose between a variable rate and a fixed rate loan.

After you get the quotes, you can compare the estimates and lenders. You may want to review things like the interest rate, any fees associated with the loan, and the lender’s reputation.

If you decide to continue with a lender, you’ll have to file a formal application to refinance your student loans. When you formally apply, lenders will conduct a hard credit check (which could affect your credit score). To apply, most lenders require the following items:

•  Proof of citizenship

•  Proof of income

•  A valid ID number

•  Official statements for all of your federal and private student loans

If you are applying with a cosigner, you’ll also need to submit their information—your lender should inform you about what you’ll need.

Refinancing Your Student Loans with SoFi

If you’re interested in seeing how refinancing can help you take control of your student loan debt, you can use SoFi’s student loan refinancing calculator. If you decide refinancing is the right choice for you, at SoFi, there are no origination fees or prepayment penalties.

Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.

External Websites: The information and analysis provided through hyperlinks to third-party websites, while believed to be accurate, cannot be guaranteed by SoFi. Links are provided for informational purposes and should not be viewed as an endorsement.

SoFi Student Loan Refinance
SoFi Student Loans are originated by SoFi Bank, N.A. Member FDIC. NMLS #696891. (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org). SoFi Student Loan Refinance Loans are private loans and do not have the same repayment options that the federal loan program offers, or may become available, such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness, Income-Based Repayment, Income-Contingent Repayment, PAYE or SAVE. Additional terms and conditions apply. Lowest rates reserved for the most creditworthy borrowers. For additional product-specific legal and licensing information, see SoFi.com/legal.

You’ve worked very hard to become an exceptional dentist. Through your intense focus in dental school and a relentless dedication to expertise, you now feel ready to take the next giant step toward building your future­—striking out on your own and buying a dental practice.

There are a lot of big questions you need to ask yourself to ensure you are creating the best possible circumstances for success in your new endeavor. Each decision can bear tremendous influence on your future success, your earning potential, and, probably most important, the impact on your overall job satisfaction and quality of life. Are you ready for the challenge? Let’s dig in to the details to help make sure you know what you want to know.

Buying a Dental Practice

When considering how to buy a dental practice, there could be a number of scenarios that would characterize your circumstances. Have you just graduated or are you about to graduate from dental school? Have you worked as an associate for a time and now feel ready to make the big move? Maybe you’re looking to add to your existing practice by buying a second business. Each situation requires a somewhat different approach.

The first decision is usually whether to start a new practice from scratch or to purchase an existing business from another dentist, possibly one nearing retirement. A brand new office with shiny new equipment, just as you’ve always imagined, might sound very appealing, but there could be disadvantages.

Such an investment could cost you a lot more across the board, including hefty loan payments and business expenses right from the start, few patients, limited cash flow, and slower progress growing the business.

An ongoing practice will likely already have equipment and a business infrastructure, a base of paying customers, and a foundation to build upon. To that end, we’ve compiled some essential questions you can ask before buying an ongoing practice.

Questions to Ask When Buying a Dental Practice

When considering buying a dental practice, you might feel compelled to draw upon your best entrepreneurial instincts. And it can also help if you align yourself with experienced professionals who know the ins and outs of purchasing an ongoing practice. They can guide you through the labyrinth of questions and decisions you’ll be facing. You may want to interview several dental practice transition agents to get an understanding of how their methodologies compare.

On a personal level, you’ll want to define the fundamentals of what your vision for a practice should be. What areas of dentistry do you want to focus on? What locations would be best suited to your customer base?

What overall philosophy embodies the values and standards that you aspire to? It could be helpful to write down these principles as a guide to refer back to throughout this process. You might prepare to pace yourself and to take a thorough and patient approach rather than rushing into decisions.

Once you’ve refined a mission as a guide and determined ideal target areas where you would want to be located, you could develop a personal budget for your living expenses, plus any student loans or other major obligations, to help gauge how much income you’ll need to generate from your new situation. Once you’ve identified a practice that you are interested in buying, you’ll also probably want to work out the costs required to maintain that particular business.

Buying a Dental Practice Checklist

Working with a buying agent can help you prioritize the due diligence necessary to make an informed decision. Here is a checklist of some questions to consider asking when buying a dental practice, and some potential issues you might want to understand in order to make an informed decision.

•  Start with getting some insight into the history of the practice and why the dentist is really selling it. Are they simply retiring or are there other driving factors?

•  Determine how many active patients the selling dentist actually has and what are the demographics (age and ZIP code) for the patients, how many of them are new, and how many of them are insurance patients.

•  Review the practice’s fee schedule and consider how the fees compare to industry standards, the competition, and insurance reimbursements.

•  Obtain a practice valuation prepared by a qualified professional (certified valuation analyst).

•  Ascertain the age and condition of the equipment, the software systems, and premises.

•  Review any and all leases and/or real estate valuations and determine benefits or obstacles for renewals, as well as the possibility to expand the space at some point in the future.

•  Review the performance of the staff and the staffing model and identify what team members will be the strongest practitioners to join your new venture.

•  Conduct a thorough review of the hygiene appointments per month and average monthly revenue, as well as the doctor’s and hygienists’ schedules.

•  Develop a thoughtful and comprehensive plan for transitioning. Keep the patient experience front of mind as you introduce changes. How involved will the selling dentist be in helping ensure a smooth and optimum changeover with staff and patients?

•  Consider what opportunities there will be to improve the efficiency of the practice—staff productivity, billing, processing, etc.

•  Evaluate what ongoing marketing efforts exist and develop a plan and a budget for going forward.

•  Connect with dental supply companies, healthcare-focused accounts, and a small business banking specialist to gain additional insights for your practice.

You may also want to enlist an experienced accountant and attorney to help you sift through the layers of financial information related to the business you are hoping to purchase.

Among other things, the accountant will likely want to review several years of business tax returns, the cash flow model, and aged accounts receivables for gauging the competence of the collection policies, collection reports, and procedures. The lawyer can help with evaluating associate agreements, equipment and building lease agreements, or real estate appraisals and the potential for purchase.

It could also be a good idea to take note if a selling dentist pushes you to use a particular professional resource—that could be a potential red flag.

While this is a fairly extensive tips list, things are likely to come into focus once you’ve found a selling dentist with whom you connect.

Your membership in professional organizations such as the American Dental Association or the Academy of General Dentistry can provide extensive additional information regarding specifics related to buying a dental practice.

Getting Your Finances in Order

Finally, you’ll likely want to make sure that you have a reasonable handle on your finances going forward. That may include reviewing your dental school loans and making sure that they are as manageable as possible as you enter this new chapter of your career. Refinancing student loans through SoFi could lower your interest rate or potentially save you thousands of dollars.

Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.

External Websites: The information and analysis provided through hyperlinks to third-party websites, while believed to be accurate, cannot be guaranteed by SoFi. Links are provided for informational purposes and should not be viewed as an endorsement.

SoFi Student Loan Refinance
SoFi Student Loans are originated by SoFi Bank, N.A. Member FDIC. NMLS #696891. (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org). SoFi Student Loan Refinance Loans are private loans and do not have the same repayment options that the federal loan program offers, or may become available, such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness, Income-Based Repayment, Income-Contingent Repayment, PAYE or SAVE. Additional terms and conditions apply. Lowest rates reserved for the most creditworthy borrowers. For additional product-specific legal and licensing information, see SoFi.com/legal.

If you’re facing student loan debt, adding those monthly payments into your budget can be overwhelming—and for some, it can be a serious struggle to meet the monthly minimum on loan payments.

Of course, to simply stop making payments is pretty much the worst thing you can do. Before you go that route, there are several other options to consider—and the sooner you move to get back on track, the better.

One of the more popular alternatives for federal student loans—chosen by thousands of borrowers each year—is to just press pause by requesting deferment or forbearance . But that postponement isn’t necessarily the best choice for everyone.

The appeal is obvious—both deferment and forbearance offer a chance to catch your breath and protect your credit when you feel as though you’re drowning in debt. A recent Brookings Institution analysis found that nearly 40% of borrowers could be in default on their student loans by 2023.

The main difference is that with a student loan deferment, you may not have to pay the interest that accrues on certain types of federal loans during the deferment period. With a forbearance, no matter what type of loan you have, eventually you’ll be responsible for paying the interest that accrues.

Either way, the relief is only temporary: Unless you’re deferring your student loans because you are going back to school, enrolled at least half-time, there are limits on how long you can postpone paying your federal student loans. And in the meantime, there could be consequences to your current and future finances.

For example, when the loan is in deferment or forbearance, interest may accumulate on your loan balance and capitalize on the principal at the end of the deferment or forbearance period. This could ultimately mean paying more in interest over the life of the loan, which could take away from money you’d rather put toward a car or house.

How Does Student Loan Deferment or Forbearance Affect Your Credit

A number of factors determine your FICO® credit score , including payment history, how much you owe, how long you’ve had your debts, what your credit mix looks like and how much new credit you’ve asked for lately. Each factor is weighted differently, with payment history being the most important, making up about 35% of your FICO Score.

Though your loan status will be noted on a credit report , putting your federal student loan into deferment or forbearance shouldn’t directly affect your credit score, unless you miss a payment before your deferral or forbearance is granted.

But your total debt load likely will be reflected on your credit report—and if you aren’t paying it down, it could keep your score lower than you’d like. Just as defaulting can crash your credit, making monthly payments can help you build a positive credit history.

And your credit score isn’t the only thing new lenders look at when they’re deciding if you pass muster. Though education debt may be viewed more favorably than, say, credit card debt, because it can be regarded as an “investment” in your overall earning potential and comes with a lower interest rate that credit card debt, it still affects your debt-to-income ratio (DTI).

And that might determine if a lender will approve your application for a car loan or mortgage, if the jewelry store will sell you that engagement ring on an installment plan, or if a management company will rent you your dream apartment. A lender wants to see that you’re bringing in enough cash to cover your debt payments—hence, looking at your DTI for a sense of how much you’re earning versus paying out to existing debt.

What Are Some Other Alternatives?

Deferment is better than defaulting on your student debt—by a wide margin. But it’s a short-term solution.

Are you certain you’ll be better prepared to make the same payments in six months or a year—even three years? If you expect your economic prospects to improve in a relatively short period, a temporary delay could be the way to go.

A better option may be to check on your eligibility for one of several federal loan repayment programs, such as income-driven repayment . Income-driven repayment plans allow you to pay 10%, 15%, or 20% of your discretionary income to your loans—depending on which specific plan you chose. While this generally means extending your loan term and therefore paying more interest over the life of the loan, it also can lower your monthly payments and make them more manageable.

You also might be able to improve your interest rate—and, therefore, your long-term cost—by consolidating and refinancing all your federal and private student loans into one loan with one payment.

If you haven’t yet missed a beat as a borrower—if you’ve graduated, have a job and still have a solid credit and financial background—you may be able to qualify for a new student loan at a lower rate. Depending on how you restructure your debt, refinancing could help you pay off your student loans at an even faster pace than you planned.

Can Refinancing Affect Your Credit Report?

Every person’s credit story is different, so it’s hard to say exactly how any change might affect it. On the one hand, refinancing your student loans might help get you out of debt sooner, which could lower your overall debt, thus helping your credit score.

Similarly, if you’re currently struggling to make student loan payments on time (which could hinder your score), and refinancing allows you to make on-time payments each month, that could also help your score.

Ultimately, refinancing could have a different impact on every financial situation and credit history. And there are few better recipes for credit report improvement than diligently making your debt repayments on time.

That being said, here are a few other things that may help if you’re considering refinancing:

•  Not waiting until you’re in default to shop for a refinancing loan. If you’re in default when you apply to refinance, it will likely make it more difficult for you to get a refinanced loan with a competitive interest rate

•  Reviewing your credit report for errors—and speaking up if there is any misinformation on your report

•  When looking into pre-qualify, you may want to be sure the lender will only do a soft credit inquiry to determine if you prequalify (which won’t affect your score)

•  Making payments on your current loans until your new loan is in place. And once you start paying your refinanced loan, it’s just as important that you stay up to date on your payments. Some lenders offer hardship assistance in certain circumstances—if you lose your job, for example.

Every lender has its own criteria for determining which borrowers it will do business with. If you opt to check your rates, SoFi will conduct a soft credit pull* to determine the rates and terms for which you qualify and show those to you upfront. The process is done online and takes just a couple of minutes.

If you decide to refinance with SoFi, in addition to potentially getting a lower interest rate, you can take advantage of other perks, including complimentary career counseling.

But remember: The goal of refinancing is to get back on track and then stay on track. That’s a key way you can help build a solid credit record that will make borrowing easier and less expensive in the future.

*To check the rates and terms you may qualify for, SoFi conducts a soft credit pull that will not affect your credit score. A hard credit pull, which may impact your credit score, is required if you apply for a SoFi product after being pre-qualified.
SoFi Student Loan Refinance
SoFi Student Loans are originated by SoFi Bank, N.A. Member FDIC. NMLS #696891. (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org). SoFi Student Loan Refinance Loans are private loans and do not have the same repayment options that the federal loan program offers, or may become available, such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness, Income-Based Repayment, Income-Contingent Repayment, PAYE or SAVE. Additional terms and conditions apply. Lowest rates reserved for the most creditworthy borrowers. For additional product-specific legal and licensing information, see SoFi.com/legal.

Joining the Peace Corps after college or grad school is a noble way to start your career. Volunteers in the government program deploy to more than 60 countries around the world for two-year stints of public service.

That can mean anything from teaching secondary school, to working with farmers, to promoting health awareness. If you’re considering following this path, you’d be joining more than 230,000 American adults who have served since the program was founded almost sixty years ago.

But if you’re like most students these days, you might be graduating with a significant amount of educational debt. Today, 70% of undergraduates finish school with debt, with the average borrower owing more than $37,000, and that’s before interest adds up over the years.

Committing to the Peace Corps, which pays only a local living allowance while you’re enrolled, can be daunting when you’re facing that burden. You may be wondering whether the Peace Corps will even allow you to join with a heavy debt load.

The answer is yes—he Peace Corps and student loans can go together. You’re still responsible for your loans if you become a volunteer, but you could be eligible for additional benefits as a result of your service that can make paying them off easier. If you’re seriously thinking about the Peace Corps, here’s what you need to know about managing your debt during and after your time abroad.

Options for Reducing Loan Payments During Your Service

If you join the Peace Corps right after school, you may not have to start repaying your loans immediately. That’s because anyone who has certain federal loans (Direct Loans and Stafford Loans) gets a six-month grace period before payments are due, although interest will might start accruing.

You don’t qualify for a grace period if you have a PLUS Loan, and with Federal Perkins Loan, you’ll have to check with the school that issued it. If you were enlisted in active duty military service, the grace period can be extended for up to three years. However, that doesn’t apply to the Peace Corps.

Still, like the military, the Peace Corps is considered a form of government service. As a result, if you have federal loans, you may be eligible for certain options to pause or reduce your payments while you’re a volunteer.

First, as a Peace Corps member you may qualify for deferment . This allows you to stop making payments, or reduce the amount you pay, during the time you’re in the field, for up to three years.

During deferment, you are not responsible for paying interest that builds up if you have certain kinds of loans, including Direct Subsidized Loans, Subsidized Federal Stafford Loans, or Perkins Loans. You are responsible for interest, however, if you have unsubsidized federal loans or Direct PLUS loans.

Note that your deferment will not automatically kick in when you join the Peace Corps—you’ll need to submit an application and documentation to your loan servicer.

Your loan servicer may also have you re-apply for deferment after a year, so make sure you turn in the necessary paperwork. If you’re still in the six-month grace period for any of your loans, ask your lender about the right time to apply for deferment.

Another way to reduce your monthly payment on federal loans is to apply for an income-based repayment plan . The government offers four repayment plans designed to make payments affordable if you’re on a limited income. These plans tie how much you pay every month to how much you make, limiting your outlays to between 10% and 20% of your discretionary income.

The specific plan you qualify for depends on the types of loans you have and when you borrowed. If you stick with the plan when you get back, your balance may be forgiven if you continue making minimum payments for 20 or 25 years, depending on the plan.

If you have private loans, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to pause or reduce those payments. But some private lenders do offer flexibility during periods of economic hardship, so approach yours to ask whether they can offer you any options while you’re a volunteer.

How You Can Get Your Loan Partially Cancelled

If you have a federal Perkins Loan, you may qualify for another perk thanks to your Peace Corps service: partial cancellation .

You can get 15% of your loan canceled after your first year of service and another 15% after your second year, then 20% after your third and fourth years, respectively. That adds up to having 70% of your loan canceled after four years!

This also includes the interest that accumulated during that time. All borrowers who have Perkins Loans are eligible, regardless of when you took the loan out, but only service completed after Oct. 7, 1998, qualifies. This benefit can make it easier to sign up for the Peace Corps with student loans, but keep in mind that other types of loans aren’t eligible.

The Peace Corps and Public Service Loan Forgiveness

Since the Peace Corps is clearly a way of doing good in the world, it shouldn’t be too surprising that as a volunteer you may be eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

Under the program, if you make payments for 10 years on your loans under a qualifying income-based repayment plan, you may be able to have the balance on your loans forgiven.

Because you have to make 120 monthly payments to qualify, you would only be eligible if you continue in a public service job full-time at some point after leaving the Peace Corps. Other qualifying fields include government organizations, 501(c)(3) nonprofits, public service agencies such as libraries and police departments, and more.

The payments don’t have to be consecutive, meaning you may qualify if you go back to public service after a few years doing something else. Note that this program applies only to Federal Direct Loans, but not Perkins Loans or loans under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program. If you’re hoping to qualify for this, complete an Employment Certification form every year, starting with your time in the Peace Corps, or when you switch jobs.

When you look into options for student loan forgiveness, beware of the scams out there, some of which target young graduates like you. One prominent example is the Obama Student Loan Forgiveness Plan, which doesn’t exist but sometimes lures borrowers to pay fees for paperwork they could’ve completed themselves or for nothing at all. Stick with the forgiveness options offered directly through the Department of Education .

How Student Loan Refinancing Can Help

If you’re looking for other ways to make payments more affordable while you’re in the Peace Corps, or after you leave, consider refinancing your student loans. You can refinance federal loans, private loans, or both.

When you do so, you take out a new loan from a private lender to pay off your existing loans, which might make sense if you qualify for a better interest rate or lower monthly payments than you previously had. A loan refinancer will take a look at your personal information, income, credit history, and other factors when deciding what terms and interest rates to offer you.

Fixed rates will stay the same for the term of your loan, while variable rates will shift over time. Keep in mind that refinancing federal loans will mean you have to give up government benefits like deferment, partial cancellation, income-based repayment, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness. But for some people, refinancing can be a great way to make student debt manageable while you’re a volunteer and for the ensuing years.

Don’t Let Student Loans Stop You from Following Your Dreams

If your goal after college or grad school is to join the Peace Corps, or engage in any public service for that matter, your student debt doesn’t have to be an obstacle . With federal loans, there are options for delaying or reducing payments or getting part of your debt canceled or forgiven.

And regardless of what kinds of loans you have, refinancing can be a way to make payments more affordable. Plus, when your two years of service are complete, you’ll get $8,000 from the Peace Corps that you can put toward your loans if you want to. Coming up with a plan to pay your loans is important, but that doesn’t have to come at the expense of making a difference.

External Websites: The information and analysis provided through hyperlinks to third-party websites, while believed to be accurate, cannot be guaranteed by SoFi. Links are provided for informational purposes and should not be viewed as an endorsement.

SoFi Student Loan Refinance
SoFi Student Loans are originated by SoFi Bank, N.A. Member FDIC. NMLS #696891. (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org). SoFi Student Loan Refinance Loans are private loans and do not have the same repayment options that the federal loan program offers, or may become available, such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness, Income-Based Repayment, Income-Contingent Repayment, PAYE or SAVE. Additional terms and conditions apply. Lowest rates reserved for the most creditworthy borrowers. For additional product-specific legal and licensing information, see SoFi.com/legal.

Do you love volunteering, but feel held back by your student loans? Maybe you’ve taken on a new side gig to help manage your student debt payment, and now there’s just not enough time in the day. If this sounds like you, there’s good news—you could potentially help pay off your student loans by volunteering!

There are a number of organizations that will let you volunteer to pay off student loans. From teaching in an underserved area to helping out a local non-profit in need, you may be able to get cash to put towards your student loans while making the world a better place. That’s not just a great way to multitask, but it’s also a fun way to pay off your loans. Who doesn’t love helping people?

On top of that, it’s a fabulous way to gain work experience that can boost your resume and help you stand out in your post-graduation job search and beyond.

Many employers love to see volunteer work and many of the types of positions that help you repay your loans require you to take initiative and be a leader which will help you grow professionally.

Here are some ways to volunteer and possibly pay down your student loans:

AmeriCorps

AmeriCorps is a government initiative that has been around since 1965. Its goal is to help young people take on service positions where they’re able to learn important work skills, help local communities, and earn money towards their education or student loans.

In order to qualify, you need to be at least 17 years old. If you want to participate in the AmeriCorps VISTA program , you need to be 18 or older.

Participants in the program may qualify to have their qualified student loans put into forbearance while they’re working. After 12 months of full-time volunteering, you qualify for a Segal AmeriCorps Education
Award , which can be used to “pay educational expenses at eligible post-secondary institutions,” according to the program.

Those who volunteer for the VISTA program can get a cash stipend instead . While volunteering with the program, you will also get a living allowance and health benefits.

If you volunteer to pay off qualified federal student loans via the AmeriCorps program, your time in the program also counts towards the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF).

Shared Harvest Fund

The Shared Harvest Fund has a goal to help repay $20 million in student debt by 2020. The organization was started by three physicians with the goal of reducing graduates’ student loan stress.

Each time you volunteer to reduce student loans with the Shared Harvest Fund, you earn Stipend Coins which you can cash in with your student loan lender. You can earn up to $1,000 per project.

To get started, simply log into their website and find a cause or a project that interests you. You’ll be able to refine your work skills while doing good in your community.

Some examples of organizations that they work with include UnCommon Law , which helps adults and children who are struggling within the criminal justice system, and the Elgin Foundation , which helps kids in rural Appalachia with dental care and literacy programs.

Peace Corps

The Peace Corps is a government-run program that was founded in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy. The program allows you to pay off student loans by volunteering around the world at a grassroots level. You gain work experience and become a global citizen while earning money that can help you repay your student debt.

The program is open to anyone over the age of 18, and while you are an active Peace Corps volunteer, you may qualify for deferment or forbearance on your federal student loans.

As a volunteer with student loans , you may also qualify for income-driven repayment. Since Peace Corps volunteers earn fairly low salaries, your payments could be as low as $0. If you hold a Perkins Loan, you could qualify for 15% to 70% forgiveness.

If you have a federal Direct Loan, you could qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness. It’s important to thoroughly review the details of PSLF —for those who qualify, it could dramatically reduce the amount of time you spend repaying your student loans. Full-time AmeriCorps and Peace Corps volunteers can qualify for PSLF, but it requires 120 qualifying monthly payments made on an income-based repayment plan.

National Health Service Corps

If you’re a medical professional such as a doctor, dentist, or behavioral health professional, another way to pay off student loans by volunteering is via the National Health Service Corps .

You can get part of your student loans forgiven if you volunteer to work in an underserved area through the National Health Service Corps. The program helps ensure that those in impoverished, underserved, or remote areas have access to quality health care.

In addition to getting a regular paycheck from working in those areas, you’ll also get up to $50,000 to repay your student loans if you commit to working for two years, full-time, in one of those underserved areas. Also, it is not treated as income in the same way that other forms of student loan forgiveness are, so you won’t be taxed on it.

Not Able to Volunteer to Repay Your Loans?

Unfortunately, not everyone is able to volunteer to pay off student loans. It’s also important to consider whether it makes sense to volunteer to help reduce some of your student loans. For example, if you’re a doctor, you might have a much lower income working in a remote area and miss out on far more than just $50,000 worth of billings during those two years.

That money wouldn’t just give you more cash to repay your loans yourself, but it would also help you build an income that could have a long-term impact on your annual earnings. As with most things, volunteering as a way to repay your student loans has an opportunity cost.

Similarly, when you look at the volunteer opportunities available, you might want to look at how much you’re ‘earning’ for each hour you volunteer.

You might be better off getting a side hustle if you’re only looking to repay your student loans quickly.

If you don’t qualify to volunteer or are looking for an alternative to reducing your student loan debt burden, you could consider refinancing. When you refinance your student loans you could potentially qualify for a lower interest rate, which might cost you less in interest over the life of the loan, depending on the new term you choose. If you qualify to refinance with SoFi, there are no origination fees. You’ll be able to select a new term length and choose between a fixed or variable rate loan.

If you’re looking to simplify your repayment plan, refinancing could be great for you since you’ll only have to worry about one monthly payment. However, refinancing your student loans with a private lender means you’ll forfeit your access to federal student loan benefits.

For those interested in refinancing with SoFi, we offer member benefits like Career Coaching. To see how refinancing could impact your student loans, take a look at SoFi’s easy-to-use student loan refinance calculator.

SoFi Student Loan Refinance
SoFi Student Loans are originated by SoFi Bank, N.A. Member FDIC. NMLS #696891. (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org). SoFi Student Loan Refinance Loans are private loans and do not have the same repayment options that the federal loan program offers, or may become available, such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness, Income-Based Repayment, Income-Contingent Repayment, PAYE or SAVE. Additional terms and conditions apply. Lowest rates reserved for the most creditworthy borrowers. For additional product-specific legal and licensing information, see SoFi.com/legal.