Pay attention to ways to lighten student loan load

It's no small matter. The median debt load for graduates of a four-year private college is $19,500, according to the College Board, a non-profit association of colleges and education groups. For students at public schools the figure is $15,500.

Then there's credit-card debt: More than half of undergraduates carry a balance, an average of $2,864 by their fourth year, according to the latest data available from Nellie Mae, a student loan originator. Faced with that level of debt, you easily can feel overwhelmed when you're also trying to scrape together a deposit for an apartment or buy a work wardrobe.