Good evening everyone. Thank you for coming. You know, it's a Monday afterwards.

We appreciate it.

On a beautiful spring night in Washington, D.C., dozens of people file into this dimly lit room

in a government building. They're from all different backgrounds ages ranging from

right at a college to nearing retirement. And they're all here because they have one thing in common.

I want to just start by saying that you're not alone on two. I'm still trying to pay back my

technically. This is a student loan debt clinic, but it almost feels like a support group too.

Because often when you're dealing with student loan debt, you can feel like just this one little

person right facing this complicated mess of loans, servicing companies, and payment programs,

and choices you have to make, but you aren't sure you really understand. And then there's the

scammy sounding outfits sending you junk mail or sometimes calling you on the phone.

You are not alone. 45 million people are in the same boat and trying not to sink. And we are here

to help. This is your NPR life kit about paying for college. This episode Student Loan Debt.

I'm Chris Arnold. I cover personal finance and consumer protection. And we're going to give you

six important tips that you need to know to help you deal with student loans in a smart way.

Because look, this can be tricky. There's a lot of bad information out there. Pitfalls to avoid.

But there are ways to get a payment that you can really afford. And if you qualify for loan

forgiveness, you might get tens of thousands of dollars of debt just wiped out. We're going to put

you on the right path to pay off these loans right after this.

Support for NPR and the following message come from LinkedIn Learning, which offers more than

13,000 online courses to help you achieve your goals. You can take a course like managing your

personal finances and learn from experts about saving money, managing investments,

...