 TITLE: What Is an Unsubsidized Student Loan? CONTENT: When to Start Paying Off Unsubsidized Loans\n-------------------------------------------\nOnce you graduate from school, or you drop below half-time enrollment, you'll get a six-month grace period before you're required to start repaying your unsubsidized loan. During that time, your loan servicer will provide information on repayment and will let you know when you need to begin making your payments.\nFederal student loans allow you to choose from a few different repayment plans; you might be assigned to one automatically, but you can change your plan anytime for free. If you're not sure which plan would work best for you, ask your loan servicer to talk you through the options.\nRegardless of which plan you pick, it's vital to start paying off your student loans as soon as possible. Even if you're not required to pay during a grace period, interest still racks up, so try to at least make payments to cover interest to prevent your debt from growing higher.\nWhenever you can, pay more than the minimum you owe each month. This will lower your balance faster over time. If you overpay, the loan servicer may apply it to the next month's payment, so you may need to explicitly ask them to apply it to the current month's payment.\nLastly, if you have multiple student loans, make note of the ones with the highest balance and the steepest interest rate. If you're able to pay more than the minimum, put it toward those loans first since that will help you save more money over time. END