Like yourself, I was worried about repaying student loans a few years ago when I graduated. There are a few options you can go with if your financial situation should change. I will just name a couple though to keep it brief

- Income Sensitive Repayment. You can contact your lender and arrange to have monthly payments made based on your annual salary.

- Interest Only Payments. This option allows the borrower to pay only the amount of interest accumulated each month which can give you some breathing room compared to having to pay the full amount due.

- Grace Period. Remember that graduates have a six month grace period before they have to begin repaying their loans upon leaving school.

- Extended Repayment. This option extends the period it will take to pay off the loan amount. While this lowers the monthly payments, you will also pay a considerable more than the original loan amount..

There are many options that my lender discussed with me in addition to the ones mentioned above. My suggestion would be to contact your lender to see what repayment options will be available to you.

For the most part, past due student loans are handled slightly differently than other past due expenditures. Whether this is because they understand that the students are usually just starting out in the world or simply because they don’t want borrowing money for student loans to be something that people stay away from you generally have a little longer grace period before past due student loans go on your credit rating.

I actually got a little behind on one of my student loan accounts and I was getting several calls asking if I wanted to restructure how I was paying for it, or needing an extension to pay off the outstanding monthly balance. I found that they were more willing to work with me, and give me ample warning about if a past due account balance would be reported to credit agencies.

In certain ways student loans are different than other types of loansand in other ways, they are similar. They are different because they typically have a 6 to 12 month grace period and lower interest rates, so there is some temptation to skip payments on them or not pay them off as quickly. Another difference is that even if you declare bankruptcy you can’t get away from student debt (this is probably why lenders will really work with you on these payments).
However, they are like other debt in the fact that if you miss payments or if you default completely, they can have a significant impact on your credit score.
You should do your best to treat student loans just like other debt. Be as consistent as possible in your payments and pay them off as quickly as you possibly can.