"I have been incapacitated by debt for a decade," says writer MH Miller in a recent article in The Guardian. At one point, things got so bad that he found himself hoping he'd die from an undiagnosed medical condition ... that is, until he found out that his dad would then be liable for paying off his student loan debt.

Miller's article seems to have hit a chord among readers. It's not hard to see why when you consider that 44 million borrowers across the U.S. owe a total of more than $1.4 trillion in student loans. Can you relate?

If you've been diligently paying your student loans all year, you’ll want to take advantage of the student loan interest tax deduction.

This allows you to deduct the interest you’ve paid on your student loans up to $2,500. By claiming this deduction, you’re lowering the amount of income the government can tax.

Do you have an EdFinancial loan and wish you had a lower interest rate and monthly payment? If so you might be thinking about refinancing ... but if you're like a lot people, you probably don't know where to start.

There are a lot of benefits to refinancing. And while you can't refinance directly with EdFinancial, the process is still easy. You just have to go through a private lender. Let's talk about what you  need to know.

Consolidating your student loans can seem like an attractive idea. After all, one payment may be a lot easier to manage than several. 

Before you jump head-first, it's important to understand how student loan consolidation works. If you have federal student loans, you have two options for consoldation: through a Direct Consolidation Loan or by refinancing through a private lender. If you have private loans, or a mix of federal of private, you can consolidate by taking out a new loan through a private lender. Let's talk about how each of these options work.

If you have NelNet loans, you might have considered refinancing as an option to get a lower interest rate or monthly payment. 

Technically, you can't refinance your loans directly through NelNet, but that doesn't mean that refinancing is off the table—you'll just have to do it through a private lender. Here's what you need to know. 

If you've gotten a letter or call from a company called NelNet related to your student loans, you might have wondered if the company was legit or if you were being scammed. While it's good to use caution with your financial info, rest easy on this one. NelNet is legit. 

About 20% student loan payments funded through the U.S. Department of Education are serviced by NelNet. Here's what you need to know about NelNet and how to confirm that they're your provider.