What do you need to do to manage your student loans right? Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of financial aid web resource FinAid.org and scholarship-matching service FastWeb, has five recommendations:

1. Get Organized

Put all your paperwork for each loan in a separate file folder labeled with the name of the lender, loan ID, date borrowed and original loan balance. Flag payment due dates on your calendar at least a week in advance.

2. Don’t Miss Payments

Sounds obvious, but in the chaos of professional life, it can happen all too easily. The best way to avoid late or missed installments is to have your bank automatically debit them from your checking account each month. As an incentive, many lenders offer a slight reduction in interest rate for borrowers who use auto-debit. “Since it’s deducted automatically” adds Kantrowitz, “it becomes part of your budget and you’ll adjust your lifestyle accordingly.”

3. Accelerate Repayment of High Interest Debt

If you can, funnel any extra cash you have into repaying your most expensive debt—the loans with the highest interest rate—first. For instance, paying as little as $50 extra per month on a ten-year $10,000 loan with a 10% interest rate could help you pay off the loan three years and ten months earlier – and save you more than $2,400 in interest.

4. Look Into a Student Loan Interest Deduction

The IRS allows up to $2,500 in student loan interest to be deducted from your annual income taxes. Though this won’t keep you up-to-date on payments, the couple hundred dollars it could net you in refunds will help with future payments.

5. Extend if Necessary

If you run into financial difficulty that makes timely payments impossible, talk to your lender to discuss alternate payment plans. Oftentimes lenders are willing to extend the life of the loan so monthly payments are reduced. Beware however that comes at a cost in the form of higher interest rates—as much as 60% higher for some private loans—so bear in mind this will raise the overall cost of the loan.

For more information on managing student loans, you can check out these helpful online resources:

Loan Calculators:

FinAid.org Loan Calculator

College Board Loan Calculator

Loan Consolidation:

LoanConsolidation.ed.gov for Federal Loans

FinAid.gov for Private Loans

Postponing Repayment:

Education Department’s Office of Federal Student Aid

 NextStudent.com’s Guide to Deferment and Forebearance