SoFi Blog

It’s that time of year again, when the leaves change, the weather turns a bit colder and summer vacation seems like a distant memory. And if you graduated from college or an advanced degree program last spring, your student loan vacation is over, too.

For borrowers who are eligible, the decision to refinance student loans is typically a no-brainer. Not only does refinancing allow you to choose between lower monthly payments and a shorter payment term, but it also lets you consolidate your monthly bill and – most importantly – save a significant amount of money over the life of the loan.

But even if you’re excited about the idea of sticking it to your student loans, you may be concerned about how much work will be involved in the refinancing process. Which is understandable, given that most important financial transactions involve a mountain of paperwork and multiple calls to an unhelpful customer service center.

If you’re looking to take out a student loan to pay for an undergrad or grad degree, you’re about to join the club of Americans also carrying large amounts of student loan debt—$1.4 trillion total across the U.S., in fact. While taking out the loan may be the right move to pay for school, that decision is also paired with another one that could have impacts down the line on your long-term financial goals: your student loan repayment terms.

Student loan repayment terms can factor heavily into how long it takes to back your student debt, so you’ll want to make the right call out the outset. To make sure you can pay off that debt faster later, steer clear of these four common mistakes when choosing your loan terms:

One of the scariest things about taking on a large student debt load is the fear of what might happen if you suddenly lose your job.  Not only would you have to deal with the stress of finding another one, but you’d have to figure out how to pay that big loan bill each month with no income.

Law careers are traditionally viewed as lucrative and enviable. Yet, many attorneys are saddled with mortgage-sized law school debt after graduation.

About five years ago, Harvard Law School left one law school grad and blogger, DebtFreeJD, with nearly $150,000 in student loan debt. After a few years of payments, she’d made a $25,000 dent in that total. Then, she and her husband made an ambitious vow to tackle her remaining law school debt in one year and two months—about the same amount of time it took to build the Empire State Building. Today, thanks to diligence and a refinance, she has earned her DebtFreeJD moniker.