College is a wonderful experience. For many of us, it is the beginning of a life away from home. One thing that quickly catches our attention is the cost. Student loans are the obvious answer, but paying them back can be frightening when you see that balance and realize how long it is going to take.

After you graduate, you will start getting invoices for monthly loan payments. The question will quickly become how to pay them off as quickly as possible. Should you throw whatever extra money you have at them each month or invest it and then pay them off all at once?

Of course, you may be wondering where exactly you are supposed to find this extra money. The truth is you have it, but do not realize it. Setting aside $100 a month adds up to $1,200 at the end of the year. The question is where to apply it and the interest rate of your student loans can be an indicator.

Government backed student loans come with low interest rates. This means that you can pay an extra amount and do more damage to the loan balance. The question is whether you should. In many cases, you are better holding back, investing the money and then paying the loan off all at once. Here is why.

To figure out the best option, consider the difference between the cost and return. If you find an investment that pays 10 percent in dividends like Canadian oil stocks versus a 6 percent interest rate on your student loans, the investment options looks pretty good.

Now, the answer is really not as obvious as it seems. There are two factors to consider. First is your ability to show enough discipline to not touch the money being invested. The second is a tax issue. Capital gains are taxed at 15 percent, so you need to figure that in to the equation.

A big factor in all of this is also your attitude. Are you aggressive and comfortable with investing? If not, you might want to take the approach of just paying down your loans directly. There is no right answer per se when it comes to your comfort level, so be honest with yourself.

Should you decide to skip the investment strategy, there is a particularly successful approach you can take to paying down your loans. It has worked time and again, so it should work for you as well. The key is to recognize you do not have one loan, you have many.

Divide the loans out from smallest to biggest. Now we are going to focus on the smallest one. Any extra cash you have each month, pay it towards that loan only. By focusing on just one loan, you should be able to pay it back very fast.

Once the loan is paid off, you will feel a sense of accomplishment. Yes, even though it is a relative small amount of your total debt. The point is to get positive feedback, which helps with your discipline. Now do the same with the next smallest loan.

Paying off your student loans is one of those magical points in your life. It does not matter so much which strategy you use to do it so much as it matters that you just get started doing it. Do not procrastinate. Get moving today.