The average senior will graduate with a diploma, a degree and debt. With the rising cost in tuition and an increasing need for loans, seniors are pressured to find a job before June when the bills start piling up.

“Now that my four years are done, I’m actually starting to think about having to pay back my loans,” senior Alison Stone said. “I’m nervous I won’t find a job that will pay enough.”

The average student graduates with about $20,000 in debt and pays it off in about 10 years if they follow the loan’s plan, make their monthly payments on time and do not consolidate their loans, said Paula Benson of Student Financial Services. Students who consolidate their loans to lower their monthly payments may need up to 30 years to pay off their debts.

“I think it is rather disturbing, considering it takes many of the graduates several years to pay off their debt,” senior Brian Waldo said.

Average student debt has increased in recent years, said Benson.

“Fewer parents are choosing to borrow,” Benson said. “A lot of parents are making students pay for their own education, which is hard.”

Waldo said he is one of the lucky students because his parents helped him pay for school.

“I was fortunate enough to have my parents pay for half of my tuition,” Waldo said. “There was no way I could afford the other half, so loans were pretty much my only option.”

Graduates are recommended to attend an exit counseling meeting that covers loan-repayment options.

Many graduates choose to consolidate their loans, a practice that decreases their monthly payment but spreads repayment over a longer time period.

“It’s a great time to consolidate,” Benson said, referring to the economy’s low interest rates. “But it will take you 20 to 30 years to pay off your loan under consolidation. I advise students to pay more than their monthly payment to pay it off sooner.”

Students have many options and need to find what works best for them, Benson said.

“I don’t know how I am going to pay it off,” Stone said. “But I assume that I’ll get a job and will be able to start paying them back after I graduate.”

Many seniors still have not decided how they will pay back their debt.

“I don’t have any plans as of yet on how I am going to pay off my loans,” Waldo said. “I will probably end up like so many others I know who graduated from St. Thomas with a large debt [and] struggle to get by.”

“I am not really worried about it because the interest rates on the loans are really not that bad,” senior Drew Palmer said. “So I really don’t have a time frame or any other worries about my student loans.”

Creating a plan and setting goals are important, but students also need to consider how they live everyday, Benson said.

“The most important advice is to live within your means,” she said.

Since graduating last year, Heather Standeven said her biggest challenge has been “living paycheck by paycheck and still trying to save money.”

“I have to manage my money very sensibly,” she said. “I try to pay as much as I can each month and I try to pay more than the actual payment requested.”

Standeven, who left school with more than $12,000 in debt, said she felt pressured to get a job when she graduated last year. She said she was relieved when she began working at Best Buy Corp. as an associate public relations event specialist.

“My current salary allows me to slowly pay it off,” Standeven said. “So it is not that reasonable.”

Having debt can help improve one’s credit if payments are made on time, so graduates should not feel rushed to pay it off, Benson said.

“When you have debt, it’s not always important to pay it off right away,” she said. “It can help your credit.”

While Stone is about $32,000 in debt, she said the loans have been worth it.

“I am just glad that I had an opportunity to attend a school I’ve really enjoyed being at,” Stone said. “I feel like I have gained a lot from my four years.”

After graduating last year, Jennifer Vucinovich began working as a financial analyst for USBancorp Center in Minneapolis. Although she faced $22,000 in debt, she said getting a degree from St. Thomas made a difference.

“I do know I received the job I did because I went to St. Thomas,” she said. “We do have a great rep out here in the business world.”

Vucinovich said she received a higher salary because she was a St. Thomas graduate, something that made paying off her debt easier.

“If you have a four-year degree, you’re likely to make $1 million more in your lifetime,” Benson said.

While most students will leave school in debt, they can take steps to limit their bills and get ready to pay them.

“Be careful about consumer debt,” Benson said. “Make good choices and consider their effects.”

As seniors prepare to toss their caps in the air, they offer advice for students still a few years removed from the “real world.”

Waldo advised students who do not want debt to “go to another school where the tuition is reasonable.”

Students need to recognize how much they are putting into their education and get as much out of it as possible, Stone said.

“Enjoy your time here,” Stone said. “It’s costing you a lot of money.”

Palmer agreed tuition at St. Thomas is costly, but said he would do it all over again if he could.

“It is a great place to attend and is worth every penny,” Palmer said.

Dawn Peake can be reached at dmpeake@stthomas.edu