As someone making monthly payments, I can tell you that it’s much better to pay it off as fast as possible rather than over a long period of time. Though, it’s understandable that many can’t make the payments especially with an economy that is still deeply scarred from the recession. It’s hard for many to find work that can keep up with the payments while the cost of education is rising too and it is making traditional means of education very unaffordable.

The trick is to focus on the student loan payments and while that might mean having less money to spend now, it is definitely feasible to do and you’ll have more money in the future that you can save once you don’t have student loans holding you back. It also can do wonders for building your credit and showing how early you payed off your debt. I’m in a scenario where this is difficult with credit card payments in addition to my grad school debt and healthcare and my own car insurance as well as a difficult job market, but I’ve never missed a payment nor have I ever defaulted.