Ask YOUNG MONEY: Which student loan should I pay off first?

Q: I had a question about student loan repayment and I was hoping someone could give me advice. I have two types of loans to repay, $20k in government loans with a lower interest rate and $10k in private loans with an interest rate of 8% to 9%.

Should I pay more on the private loans to get them repaid faster because the interest rate is higher?

A: Thanks for asking YOUNG MONEY this question, but we think you've already got a good idea about the answer. Government loans are almost always the most flexible debt, and offer a number of deferments or forbearance options while you pay off those private loans. And intuitively you've realized that paying off those higher interest rates first, makes the most sense (not to mention saves the most cents too).

Talk to your government loan lender to determine if your financial situation qualifies for a deferment or forbearance, if making both government and private loan payments simultaneously is creating a hardship for you.

If you're unable to make that option work, then you can always seek to spread out the payments through consolidation, thus lowering the required monthly payments on both your government and private educational loans.