WASHINGTON -- You've got the college degree, and now you're stressed about the debt.
"Even if your student loans exceed your annual salary -- which is, unfortunately, a common phenomenon these days -- you can knock down those debts and start to regain control of your financial life," Lynnette Khalfani writes in her new book, "Zero Debt for College Grads" (Kaplan, $14.95).
Those aren't just words coming from someone who doesn't understand your financial pain. Khalfani, a former Wall Street Journal reporter and CNBC correspondent, knows what it's like to climb out of a debt hole. She paid $100,000 in credit-card debt in three years by negotiating lower interest rates, doubling and tripling her minimum payments, and using every windfall she received -- tax refunds and year-end bonuses -- to pay down debt.
"I realize that the situation may seem bleak, if not downright impossible," Khalfani writes. "But trust me when I say that it is possible to dig yourself out from your debts."
Some of the best advice comes from people who have gone through something and managed to overcome their troubles.
The book's release is timely. Lenders are bombarding graduates with offers to consolidate student loans. Those considering consolidation might want to make that decision this month. The federal government has announced that as of July 1, students and parents with variable-rate Stafford and PLUS loans will see their interest rates rise slightly.
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