Do you know anyone walking across the commencement stage this month? Unfortunately, a diploma isn't the only thing they'll be walking away with. As student loan debt has recently surpassed credit card debt, the average student is now carrying over $25k in student loans and graduating in a job market with an unemployment rate over 8%.

To make matters worse, the rates on new undergraduate student loans for 7 million students are set to double to 6.8% this July. This is an important issue for millions of students and their families all across the country. But while both political parties claim to want to keep rates low, partisan bickering has paralyzed the U.S. Senate on this issue. So instead of waiting for the politicians, here are ten things new grads can do to take control over their student loan debt and the rest of their financial future:

1) Keep that starving student mindset: A recent survey showed that a majority of young people between 18 and 34 admit that they waste money on things they don't really need and would like to scale back their spending. The good news is that most college students have already been living on a limited budget so they wouldn't have to make a major adjustment to maintain their frugal lifestyle into their working lives. This can include living with roommates, keeping an older car longer, and not spending too much on discretionary expenses like shopping or eating out. Keep in mind that it will be a lot harder to change your spending habits once you get used to a more expensive lifestyle.

2) Take advantage of retirement accounts. When you start that new job, be sure to contribute at least enough to your retirement account to get any matching contributions your employer is providing you. Otherwise, you're leaving free money on the table. A Roth IRA can also be a good place to save for retirement while keeping the money available for emergencies. That's because the sum of your contributions can be withdrawn tax and penalty-free at any time for any purpose while the earnings can be withdrawn tax-free after 5 years and age 59 1/2.

3) Create and stick to a budget. A budget can help you live within your means. Just don't forget to include savings for emergencies, short-term goals like a vacation or a home purchase, and long-term goals like retirement. To keep you from overspending, you can track your expenses for free online with sites like and Both sites also have mobile apps for both iPhones and Android smartphones.

4) Watch your credit. Your credit score can help determine whether you can get a mortgage, a car loan, and even a job. The most important things are to make sure you make loan payments on time and that you don't use more than 30-50% of any given available credit line. In addition, be careful of closing your oldest credit card since that would shorten your credit history, which is also an important component of your score. Get your credit score, a credit report card (and you thought you were done with report cards), and more ways to improve your credit score for free on sites like and

5) Pay off higher interest debt first. It might be tempting to pay your student loans as fast as you can, but student loans aren't the only debt that most graduating students have.  According to a Sallie Mae study in 2009, over 90% of college students had at least one credit card and graduating seniors had an average of over $4k in credit card debt. With an average interest rate of almost 17% on student credit cards, paying these off should be a higher priority than paying down student loans early.

6) Know your student loan repayment options. For federal loans, either guaranteed or made directly by the federal government, you can reduce your payments with a graduated, extended, or income-based repayment plan. With the graduated plan, your payments start low and then gradually increase, usually every 2 years, which is best if you expect your income to increase rapidly. With the extended plan, you can stretch your payments over a period of up to 25 years but you must have an outstanding loan balance greater than $30k and your overall costs will be higher because of the increased interest. With the income-contingent or income-sensitive plans, your payments fluctuate each year based on annual income, household size, and loan balance so it’s best if you expect your income to be low or unstable.