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Hello and welcome to NerdWallet Smart Money Money podcast, where we answer your real-world money questions in 15 minutes or less.

I'm your host, Deanna Yocum.

And I'm Deanna's charming and indispensable co-host, Sean Piles.

All right, my charming, indispensable and unavoidable, co-host, Sean, what is today's money question?

The question comes from Valerie, who says, I'm paying down $40,000 in student loans.

The monthly payments are doable, but definitely squeeze my budget.

And I've been wondering if it makes sense to

refinance the loans and if I'll even qualify. All right. This is a tricky one. Yeah.

As you probably know, Valerie, higher education costs have skyrocketed over the years,

leaving Americans with roughly $1.6 trillion in outstanding student loan debt.

The average household owes nearly $50,000 in student loans.

And, Sean, I know you're one of those households, right?

Yeah, I don't owe quite that much, fortunately, although it's not too far off.

I'm very grateful for the education I got from my tiny liberal arts college. Thank you, Marlboro College. But it's not too far off. I'm very grateful for the education I got from my tiny

liberal arts college. Thank you, Marlboro College. But it did come with a hefty price tag. My current

monthly student loan payments are just a little over $400 a month. And every time that big chunk of

...