• Don't take on new loan debt

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    The sticker price for tuition and fees at public four-year colleges and universities increased 4.8 percent to $8,655 over the past year. Prices increased 4.2 percent to $29,056 at private nonprofit four-year schools. That's not including room and board.
    One chilling fact in the report often gets overlooked, because there is so much focus on the cost of an undergraduate education.
    In 2011-12, federal loans amounted to 67 percent of the $51.7 billion in student aid received by graduate students, the College Board reported. This means that graduate students - those enrolled in master's or doctoral programs and those in fields such as law and medicine - are much more dependent on student loans.
    Students get a better loan deal under federal student loan programs. Federal Stafford loans are either unsubsidized or subsidized. In the case of a subsidized Stafford loan - awarded based on financial need - the federal government pays the interest while the student is enrolled in school. With an unsubsidized loan, the student is responsible for interest payments, which begin to accrue immediately, unless the borrower decides to defer these interest payments until after graduation. Most students take the latter option, in which case the interest is tacked onto the loan.
    "While many graduate students, particularly those in the sciences and engineering, complete graduate school with little or no debt, the data indicate that a growing number of graduate students are not that fortunate," says a report by the Council of Graduate Schools.
    Until there are policy changes, if you're a recent college graduate loaded down with a lot of undergraduate loans and no good job prospects, the default move shouldn't be, "I'll just go to graduate school." Think of the expression, "When you are in a hole, stop digging." Don't accumulate more loans. Investigate first whether a graduate degree in your field of study and in the job market is worth the debt load you'll amass.

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