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# The 8% Rule for Managing College Debt

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/55J1Fhq9.m3u8" -->
## Video: The 8% Rule for Managing College Debt

[Watch (HLS stream): The 8% Rule for Managing College Debt](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/55J1Fhq9.m3u8) (1:39)

![The 8% Rule for Managing College Debt](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/55J1Fhq9/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2016-03-07. Cindy Forbes Cameron of the Department of Education has some tips on how to make sure your student loans aren't a burden._


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Jul 27, 2023 7:38 PM UTC

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## Transcript

[ SOUND ] Some of the things that they can do to minimize the need for student loans would be, for instance, saving up for college ahead of time and the parents can definitely participate in that effort. There's an organization called the College Savings Plans Network at CollegeSavings. org And if a parent goes to that site as early as possible into kids life they learn about 529 plans which are college saving plans, prepaid tuition plans with tax benefits. I think really the main thing that a student aims to think about is whether the school they're going to is going to affordable for them. And the question is that going to be affordable for me the student Based on my lifestyle now, as I'm in school, but also based on the job that I'm gonna have when I graduate.

If you really wanna be sure that you're gonna be able to afford your student loans, you might wanna go to the Occupational Outlook Handbook on the website of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Look up what the expected salary for your intended job is gonna be. Divide that annual salary by 12, so you get your monthly salary. Multiply your monthly salary by 0. 08 and then that's supposedly what monthly amount you can afford to repay from any student loan. And the idea of the multiplying by . 08 is that it's kind of a general recommendation that a student loan monthly payment should be about 8 % of your monthly salary.

[ MUSIC ]

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