For some, education just seems to go on and on. For doctors and lawyers this is par for the course: their training has traditionally been longer than most. But if you are on the GMAT trajectory, it means you have decided to add an extra element to give you a chance of a better career and the ability to demand a more lucrative deal when you eventually get out into the job market. This is all well and good, but as usual, finance raises its ugly head, not that finance itself is an ugly thing, but the need for it can be an insistent nuisance that distracts the student from the task at hand, i.e. completing that education.

Talk to People About Your Loan

There are steps that can be taken, and one of the first should be refinancing by talking to the provider of your student loan about helping you out with this additional step. This way you can get your education debt under control. The initial arrangement, albeit in your name, was probably arranged by your parents, because when you were a teenager and they were mature and established, they were always going to feel more confident talking to a bank manager.

Now, though, you have had a few years of fending for yourself, and if you’re thinking about an MBA or something along those lines, you have a natural aptitude for this kind of thing. Whatever your personality, though, now is the time to realize you are as good as anyone else and deserve to be treated with respect, so talk to your lender about it. Outline your plans and make it clear you have a plan and know what you’re doing.

From a bank’s point of view, you are a young customer with the potential to be a lifelong one, and if you have a good, practical head on your shoulders, they should be keen to keep you. Look at your life in the long term: once the studies are finally over, you’re going to be working, perhaps earning extremely good money and able to pay more per month than was agreed in your original loan. It’s all about confidence: the lender’s confidence in you and your ability and desire to pay them back the full sum plus interest. After that, maybe larger personal loans and eventually a mortgage. If it all goes smoothly it’s a win-win situation.

Think Like a Banker

Financial institutions are hard-headed places where sentiment and dreaming play no part. They need guarantees, or at least solid probabilities, and it is down to you to make a good impression. In the long run the impression is going to be made by your credit rating, or credit score, but at this stage, that is in its infancy, so you’re going to have to demonstrate your intent, not just with stories of your ultimate ambition, but with a detailed plan and some immediate action.

Have you already started earning, whether in your chosen line or something else just to get an income going? That will go over well. Some people do this in five-year steps, outlining what they intend to be doing and how much they expect to be earning half a decade down the line. It may seem odd, but the only way you can demonstrate your creditworthiness is to borrow a little and pay it back. The way you handle a credit card can do this. If you can spend wisely and pay off the full amount every month, that’s a good indication of how you’re going to approach longer term borrowing.

Shop Around

Because of their unsentimental professional nature, those you talk to about your existing loan are going to understand they are not your only option, and if they do see your potential and your future value as a customer, they are going to do their best. But have a look around anyway. Google something like student loan refinancing and see what comes up. If you do this before you go in to see your lender you will have ideas to pitch to them.

Even though taking the GRE is expensive, it would be unwise to deal in ultimatums at this point, but you can show you’ve done your research, and this will be another point in your favor, because if you approach this in a professional manner, you may well handle your other business dealings well too. All in all, this may be the perfect time for you to raise your game and establish your identity as a fully-paid-up and upwardly mobile member of the business community.