College students now owe more than $1 trillion in student loans, surpassing the total amount owed for credit cards in the U.S., according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

This means that students who rely on loans to afford college are starting their professional careers in the hole and going into debt before even turning their tassels at graduation.

While not everyone has money saved for college or qualifies for federal Pell grants, there are some steps students can take to control the amount of loan money needed to obtain a degree.

“When applying to schools, make sure to check for scholarship deadlines and to fill out requirements beforehand,” said Shauna James, scholarship manager for UNA’s Financial Aid office. “Don’t wait until senior year (of high school) to take your ACT. Start your freshman year and take it more than once. The only thing a student has any control over is scholarships.”

Loans may be inevitable for some students, however. It is possible for their debt to be manageable during and after graduation, according to James.

James said one big mistake students can make is to not connect the numbers they see on their bill to the cash in their bank accounts.

“Be aware of what you are borrowing,” James said. “Keep up with your actual total because, one of these days, you will have to pay it. That way, when you see a bill for $40,000, you aren’t shocked.”

She also advises to consolidate all loans after graduation and make all monthly payments on time to avoid penalization. If there comes a point where bills become too much, a change in living situation occurs or if the graduate loses their job, students can request forbearance. Forbearance is a time period requested towards the loaning company to allow no payments until a steady flow of income can be obtained.

President Obama has recently announced a new student loan initiative to bring some relief to the burden students carry.

The new plan includes dropping the maximum repayment amount from 15 percent of a student’s discretionary income to 10 percent. It also should lower the debt forgiveness period from 25 years to 20, after which all student loan debt is erased. The plan is scheduled to go into effect in 2012.

Dr. Doug Barrett, chair of UNA’s economic and finance department, shared his opinions on the plan’s possible effects on the economy.

“You won’t see the total debt decrease in the short term; just the unpaid percentage will decrease,” he said. “You want the money repaid. This type of structure is set up to improve that probability and percentage of what is repaid.”

UNA students have their fair share of debt, but they understand that a degree is well worth the price paid and have no regrets for taking out loans.

“There is no way I would be making what I make at a job that I love if I hadn’t (gone to college),” said Agenda Davis, graduate with a BAA in accounting and banking and financial services pursuing her career in accounting. “I received scholarships, but they weren’t enough to cover my education, and I didn’t have a college savings account, so, without loans, I wouldn’t have been able to go to college.”

Other students feel the stress of debt.

“A lot of people have parents to fall back on, but I haven’t,” said Lacey Turner, a UNA senior music performance major. “That makes it a little bit harder to avoid debt. I’ve had to just work.”