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| Student Loan Debt Lowering |  In America two out of three college graduates leave school with student loan debt. If you are not one of them, you soon will be. The total annual cost of attending a public, four year college or university in the 2006-07 school year - including tuition, fees, room and board charges - was $12,796, up 35% over the past five years. For private schools, the annual price tag to get a college education in 2006-07 was a whopping $30,367. As a result, the typical graduate of a four-year college or university owes nearly $20,000 in student loans, more than double the median student loan debt of $9,250 just a decade ago.
But if you're a student, there are some things you can do to help yourself out of a student loan dilemma, as well as assist future classes of college graduates who, if things remain the same, will have it even worse than you do.
Here are seven rules for student borrowers.
Rule #1: Don't over-estimate your starting income
One of the largest wake-up calls for students and recent college graduates is once you get out of school and bam! You're stricken with a host of costs - not to mention student loans - but your salary might be far below what you expected. What's the decision? Try to be realistic about your earnings outlook. Don't think you're going to pull down a six-figure income as soon as you get that degree. Even if you get a job in a field where six-figure salaries are the normal thing, chances are you have to work yourself up to that level. Remember, it won't happen automatically. For instance, look through the most lucrative degrees for college graduates who left school in 2006. The numbers are not blockbuster figures, though they are solid, especially if you've got $20,000 or more worth of college debt with which to contend.
Most lucrative degrees for college grads
| Rank | Major | Average starting salary | | 1 | Chemical engineering | $55,900 | | 2 | Computer engineering | $54,877 | | 3 | Electrical/electronics and communications engineering | $52,899 | | 4 | Mechanical engineering | $50,672 | | 5 | Computer Science | $50,046 | | 6 | Accounting | $45,723 | | 7 | Economics/Finance/Banking | $45,191 | | 8 | Civil Engineering | $44,999 | | 9 | Business administration and management | $39,850 | | 10 | Marketing | $36,260 |
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