Make refinancing your student loans part of your 2025 New Year’s money resolutions

By Anna Baluch | Published on October 21, 2025

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With a new year right around the corner, you may be thinking about financial New Year’s resolutions. These are actually quite common as a study by Drive Research found that people between the ages of 25 and 44 often focus on financial resolutions, with 58% stating that budgeting is one of their top goals for the New Year.

If you have student loans, refinancing might be a smart initiative in the new year. As long as you’re a good candidate for it, refinancing could help you reduce your interest rate, lower your monthly payments, and ultimately save you a great deal of money. Let’s take a closer look at how refinancing your student loans could positively impact your finances in the new year and beyond.

What is student loan refinancing?

First, let’s quickly go over what it means to refinance your student loans. When you refinance, you replace your current student loans with a new student loan, ideally with a lower interest rate, smaller monthly payment, or shorter repayment term.

Your new lender repays the principal balance and outstanding interest and your new loan terms kick in. Then, it’ll be your responsibility to make monthly payments to your new lender until your loan is completely paid off.

How a student loan refinance may improve your finances

If it makes sense for your unique situation, refinancing your student loans might help your finances in the upcoming new year:

• Easier budgeting: By refinancing your student loans, you might save on interest and enjoy more wiggle room in your budget every month. If things are currently tight, a refinance may make it easier to cover your essential and non-essential expenses, such as your rent, mortgage, car loan, and groceries.
• More money for other financial goals: Chances are you have a number of short and long-term financial goals. Maybe you’d like to save up for a down payment and become a homeowner. Or perhaps you want to buy a new car, travel the world, or retire someday. Student loan resolutions that involve refinancing could provide you with extra money to put towards various goals you may have.
• Streamlined finances: It may be overwhelming to have to keep track of multiple student loan payments every month. With refinancing, you could simplify the payoff process as you’ll only have to make a single monthly payment to one lender. You’ll be less likely to miss a payment and find it easier to stay on top of your student loan debt.

Is refinancing worthwhile?

While refinancing your student loan could be a good money move, it’s not right for everyone. To determine if you should pursue it in the new year, consider the following:

Interest rates

Take a close look at the rates you’re paying on your current student loans. If you’re able to secure a lower rate through a refinance, this strategy might save you some cash. Otherwise, you may be better off keeping your existing loans. Fortunately, some lenders, including Earnest, let you prequalify and check your rates with no impact to your credit score.

Whether you have federal loans

If you have federal loans, refinancing with a private lender would mean you’ll no longer have access to federal protections, such as income-driven repayment plans and student loan forgiveness. It’s up to you to decide if these protections are important to you. If your priority is saving money in the new year, you may be willing to forgo them and move forward with a refinance.

Your finances

In a perfect world, everyone would apply for a student loan refinance and get approved with a much lower rate than the rates they’re currently paying. Unfortunately, your finances will determine if this actually happens. A strong credit score and a stable employment situation may put you in a great position to refinance. A trustworthy cosigner could help as well.

Find out how much you could save with Earnest

By refinancing with Earnest, you may potentially save on your student loans. Check your rate to see how much you might save with our fee-free refinance. It’s a quick two-minute process that won’t hurt your credit score.

Keep in mind that as long as you have no past-due payments and are not enrolled in a hardship program, you could refinance more than once 30 days post disbursement. Therefore, even if you’ve already gone through the process, this strategy may be worth pursuing again. Best of luck with your New Year’s resolutions!

About the Author

Anna Baluch

Anna Baluch is a freelance finance writer from Cleveland, OH. She enjoys writing content that helps people from all walks of life make good financial decisions. Her areas of expertise include student loans, refinancing, mortgages, personal loans, budgeting, and debt management.

Disclaimer

This blog post provides personal finance educational information, and it is not intended to provide legal, financial, or tax advice.