The average college undergrad leaves school with an astounding $23,186 in student loan debt; lawyers rack up $101,000 to get their degrees. And before a mother can brag about “my son or daughter, the doctor,” she’ll likely faint to learn that her child owes, on average, $162,000 toward his or her MD. What are the most critical things to check for as you fill out the forms, figure out the system, and comb the fine print?  

Click through for Beth's five important points to consider when looking for student loans:

1. Be wary of private loans and stick with federal loans as much as possible. 

Apply for all the federal aid you can get. Start by filling out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) form (http://www.fafsa.ed.gov). Yes, it’s a beast, but it’s the only way to get a federal loan with fixed interest rates and the best repayment options. Unfortunately, you have to do it every year, just like your taxes.  

Stafford loans will cover a huge part of most college educations. To put it in perspective, the average tuition at a public two-year college is about $2,500; for four-year colleges, it’s about $7,000. You’re allowed to get the following amounts in Stafford loans:

$5,500, first year; $6,500, second year; $7,500 third years and beyond (for dependent students), or

$9,500, first year; $10,500, second year; $12,500 third years and beyond (for independent students) 

If you’re considering a for-profit institution (many trade schools fall into this category), watch out! There’s been increasing attention to scam operations that recruit students and push them into taking private loans. Unfortunately, people are taking on this debt without realizing how it works. Rates on private loans can go as high as outrageous credit cards rates of 20%. The Department of Education reported this week that one in five people who borrow money to attend a for-profit school defaults within just three years. You need to be alert.  

2. Know your repayment options.  

There’s a new program that was introduced last August known as Income Based Repayment or IBR. Anyone with a federal student loan like a Stafford or Grad Plus can apply. It can save you a lot of money if you earn a relatively low income, since your payments are determined as a percentage of how much you earn. Best of all, your loan is forgiven after 25 years (as opposed to 30 for most loans). Another good resource is www.ibrinfo.org, which spells out the details of IBR.  

A great site for information about all repayment options is: www.finaid.org. Know your options and see what makes the most sense given your income and debt loads. You’re allowed to change payment plans, so it’s a good idea to check every year or so to be sure that you’re in the best one for you.  

3. If you can’t pay at all, see if you can legally pay off paying. 

Know your options when it comes to deferment, which is a time-out on your loans if you are unemployed, working under 30 hours a week, going back to school half time, etc. You need to check out the particulars—you may be legally entitled to one. Go to www.studentaid.ed.gov and type “deferment” in the search bar.   

If you don’t qualify for a deferment, ask for a forbearance, which is similar but more costly because interest will keep building up. (For some loans, interest does not accrue in deferment.) Your servicer decides whether to grant a forbearance —it’s wholly at its discretion. 

Another reason to stick with federal loans: private loans often don’t allow deferral or forbearance.  

4. If you’re a do-gooder, you may have extra help.

If you do non-profit work, work in public health, etc. see if you can get a break. The Public Service Forgiveness Program is a federal deal that forgives your loans completely after you’ve made ten years of payments if you work in such a job. You must have gotten your loans directly from the government or “consolidated your loans” through the federal government to be eligible. For details, check out www.loanconsolidation.ed.gov. Some jobs that qualify: the military, law enforcement, public health, public education, social work, elder care, public librarians, legal advocacy, and some types of non-profit work. A good place to get a complete list is on www.finaid.org.  

5. Look into consolidation.

Consolidating your loans generally means to combine them all into one loan and one fixed interest rate. Generally, consolidation won’t save you money if you got your loan after 2006, since after that date federal loans carried fixed interest rates. However, if you got variable-rate Stafford loans before July 1, 2006 and have not consolidated, doing so could save you money. If you’ve been in school since before 2006 and are graduating this year, you can lock in an interest rate of 1.8% (it might change in July 2010) on your Stafford loans. Otherwise, you could lock in at 2.4%, which is still as low as it’s ever gotten.