$5,500 as a freshman, $6,500 as a sophomore and $7,500 as a junior and senior: these are the dependent student loan limits that can total up to $31,000 over a lifetime. Though it sounds like a lot of “free” money to some students, it is very real debt that has to be repaid. These loans are the saving grace that allows thousands of kids to attend college campuses every year by giving them the necessary funds to afford tuition, books and housing, but they are also something that many students don’t take seriously.

“A lot of students take out loans,” financial aid counelor Jim Ciha said. “And they take out all the loan money that they can and think, ‘Oh, okay, it’s great to get all this loan money up front to pay for my education,’ and they have the misconception they will only have to pay $40, $50 or $60 when they get out of school. But the reality is it’s more like several hundred dollars.”

Ciha gave presentations on student loan debt and finances last week during Residence Life’s Success Week.  College loan debt and the price of tuition is a common worry amongst Americans.

“The average student loan debt in America is $26,682,” Ciha said. “A lot of students think it’s great to get all this loan money up front, but when you get out of school you have to pay for it.”

He advised students against using their loan money for anything other than costs directly related to school, as it is easy to accrue a large amount of debt and make life after college difficult.

“I try to only take out what I need,” CMU sophomore Chelsea Nason said.

But Nason is not the average student and was one of only two that showed up to hear Ciha speak. She works 40 hours a week while maintaining good grades as a Biology major. She says it is difficult to keep up with everything, but will be well worth it once she graduates and doesn’t have ridiculous amounts of debt.

“It brings a reality that you have to pay for it after college,” junior Dillon Chilcote said after the seminar.

Chilcote said he is going to take advantage of the nslds.gov website as soon as he could to see how much debt he had accrued so far.

Every year, loan amounts increase as tuition and fees rise across the country, along with cost of living, Ciha said. But the amount of grants and scholarships remains the same, so it is important for students to take their finances serious and start thinking about paying off loans sooner than later.

“Some students set up a plan to pay off the interest on their loans while still in school,” Ciha said.

Neither Nason or Chilcote have begun to pay off any of their student debt as of yet, but they both plan to try to pay off what they can before graduating.