How to lower your student loan payments

By Sasha Bulatskaya | Published on October 21, 2025

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Student loan payments have become a big problem for the U.S. economy. In 2024, the average monthly payment was $500, and the average recent college grad salary was roughly $56,000. This means a student loan payment could add up to over 15 percent of take-home pay, depending on where you live.

Spending this much on student loans can feel discouraging, and if you’re one of the borrowers paying this much on loans, it can also keep you from focusing on other financial goals, such as saving or investing. In this guide, we’ll show you how to lower your student loan payments so that you can make room in your budget for other priorities.

What to do if your federal student loan payments are too high

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If you have federal loans, enrolling in an income-driven repayment(IDR)¹ plan could be your best option. Federal plans adjust your payments based on your discretionary income or how much money you have left over after paying for taxes and other necessities. This ensures that your payments remain reasonable, even if your income changes.

You can sign up for an IDR on the government’s website.

What to do if you have too many student loan bills

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Dealing with multiple student loans can be stressful, but consolidating can help. When you consolidate your loans, you combine multiple debts into a single loan, potentially lowering your overall interest rate and payment.

Federal consolidation is available only to federal student loan holders. It takes the weighted average of your interest rates and combines them to give you a new rate. You can reduce your student loan payment by committing to a longer term, but in some cases, this could result in doubling your term.

What to do if your private student loan payments are too high

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If federal plans and loan consolidation aren’t for you, refinancing² could help lower your private student loan payments³. It’s available to both private and federal borrowers, but it’s important to understand the drawbacks of refinancing your federal student loans.

Refinancing involves taking out a new loan with potentially better terms to pay off your existing loans based on eligibility, requirements and market conditions. Most people refinance for lower interest rates or monthly payments. While it’s true that a smaller monthly payment often means you agree to a longer loan term, that’s not always the case.

You can try our student loan refinancing calculator to test different refinancing scenarios or you can check your rate without a hard credit pull.

It pays to plan

When debt is keeping you from achieving your other financial goals, the key is to be proactive and explore all of your options. Signing up for a federal repayment plan, consolidating your loans, or refinancing can be a game-changer – whether you’re struggling or want to focus on other financial goals.

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About the Author

Sasha Bulatskaya

Sasha is the Senior Manager of Brand and Content at Earnest. She has been writing for ten years and has been focused on educational finance and financial aid for over three. Her passion for mission-driven companies brought her to Earnest in 2020, and she's been helping make student finance more accessible ever since. She strives to demystify personal finance and student loans to help borrowers make the best decisions for their financial situation.