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If you're one of the millions of college students who graduated last month, congratulations! You did it.

Take a moment to celebrate and soak it in, because soon you'll be tackling your next phase: finding a job, figuring out where to live, and, if you borrowed money to pay for school, starting to repay those student loans.

Thankfully, you have some built-in breathing room. Federal student loan payments aren't typically due right away, so this is an ideal time to get your ducks in a row and build smart financial habits.

Find Your Financial Footing

Before making any major financial decisions, take stock of your situation. Estimate your monthly income and consider a realistic budget, including a little money for fun if you can swing it. Estimates are still helpful if you don't have exact numbers.

If you already have a job lined up, check if your employer offers a retirement plan with a matching contribution. Try to contribute at least enough to qualify for the full match, since the earlier you start saving, the longer you'll have to leverage compound returns.

Also, unless you already have money saved, aim to put a little bit of each paycheck into an account earmarked for emergencies. In general, you want to have enough to cover three to six months' worth of living expenses, but if that feels too ambitious, don't stress. Just start saving.

If You Took Out Student Loans, Prepare for the Bills

Once you've graduated, the government usually gives you a six-month grace period before you have to start paying back your student loans.

Erica Sandberg, a consumer finance expert at BadCredit.org, recommends using this transition time to prepare.

"Get an estimate for how much [payments will] be and start adjusting your budget as soon as possible so they won't be a struggle," Sandberg said. "If you know you will have to send a fixed $500 a month, consider now how you will handle it."

If you can afford it, you may want to start making payments early, too. This can cut down on your overall interest costs (and help you build some financial muscle memory.)

Study the Latest Loan Repayment Options

Your monthly payment amount will depend on your repayment plan. And if you took your loans out four years ago, the options have changed.

After a major push toward broad-based loan forgiveness and borrower subsidies in 2022-2023, the pendulum has swung the other way. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), passed last year, narrows the income-driven options and makes it harder to get payments deferred. Many of the changes will take effect on July 1 or over the next two years.

One of your best resources on repayment plans will be your loan servicer, the company you'll make payments to. Your Federal Student Aid (FSA) account dashboard will have contact information for the servicer you've been assigned to, and they can help you review your options online or over the phone. (Some of the pages on the FSA site have yet to be updated for the OBBBA changes.) Another resource is the required exit counseling, which is a 30-minute course completed online.

Briefly, here's what's relevant to borrowers entering the repayment phase:

•   Much like a car or personal loan, a standard repayment plan bases your monthly bill on how much you owe and the term of the loan. But there are also income-driven options, which are designed to reflect what you can afford to pay.

•   Because you borrowed money before July 1 of this year, you'll have access to most of the older options. The big exception is the income-driven plan known as SAVE, which has been removed. Other income-driven plans are being retired over the next two years, so you'll have to transition out of them at some point.

•   The Repayment Assistance Plan is the new income-driven plan. Under this formula, borrowers will pay up to 10% of their adjusted gross income each month and be required to make 30 years of payments — rather than 20 or 25 — before any remaining balance can be forgiven.

•   This page on the FSA site outlines the changes.

If you're worried about making payments, here are some options:

•   Contact your loan servicer to explore your income-driven options. You'll want to do this well before you miss a payment.

•   If you're in a financial bind, see if you qualify for a temporary reprieve from payments. (New restrictions enacted in OBBBA don't apply since you've already borrowed your money.) Just know that interest may still accrue.

•   Explore refinancing your loan. With SoFi's SmartStart, designed specifically for new graduates navigating this transition, you don't have to pay anything but interest for the first nine months of the loan.

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