Earlier in September, the Education Department released new data suggesting that the student loan crisis is at an all-time high. According to conservative estimates, a total of 40 million people nationwide owe $1.2 trillion in student debt, leading to an increase of student loan delinquency. The total amount of student debt had bypassed the total amount of credit-card debt in mid-2010 and was 42 percent larger as of September 2012 according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

According to David Wessel, the director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institute, most of the defaulted loans came from individuals who attended for-profit universities and community colleges. This is considered unusual since that category traditionally had the lowest amount of borrowers. The reason for this, Wessel explains, is that students who are attending for-profit universities and community colleges usually come from lower-income families and the fact they fared lower in the job market due to the recession. It’s not just students of for-profit universities and community colleges who are financially suffering. Since 1980, tuition at public universities has doubled and it has tripled for private universities. Only cigarettes have seen a bigger price increase in the same time period.

Here are some of the ways one could repay their student debts:

1.) Treat the loan like a mortgage

Make larger payments in order to reduce the principal quickly, if you can afford it.

2.) Plan out your payment

Many financial planners advise students to make a plan (preferably within the few years after you graduate college) in order to set a goal. Any student who is applying for student loans is required to take exit counseling. Exit counseling provides ways to repay your student loan. That way, paying off a student loans is a part of a routine such as paying rent, electricity, internet, etc.

3.) Set up a payment fund

Set aside a college repayment fund and put it into a separate bank account. That way, you have extra money to pay the loans with.

4.) Get a part-time job while attending college

That way, a student can set aside extra income in order to pay off student loans.