You vaguely remember signing a piece of paper every year at college registration time. Now that you’ve graduated, it’s all become painfully clear–those pieces of paper were promissory notes detailing your student loan obligations. Your loans aren’t going to go away, and you’ll want to repay them as quickly and easily as possible. So whether you have a small sum or a small fortune to pay off, you’ll want to brush up on some student loan basics.

First, remember the grace period. After you graduate, you’ll probably have a lot to think about–choosing where to live, finding a job, renting an apartment. Luckily, you don’t have to add student loans to your list, too, at least not for now. Thanks to the grace period built into most student loans, you’ll likely get anywhere from six to nine months before you need to begin repaying your loans. This time can allow you to get financially settled (at least partially!) and examine your repayment options before the drudgery begins.

Understand your repayment options. Gone are the days when your only repayment option consisted of fixed, equal payments spread over a 10-year term. Though this is certainly one option, it’s not the only one. Because of the increasing number of students who require student loans to finance their education, as well as the increasing amount of their debt, many lenders offer flexible repayment plans to help students manage this large financial responsibility.

• Standard repayment plan: This is the original repayment plan. With a standard plan, you generally pay a fixed amount each month for up to 10 years.

• Graduated repayment plan: With a graduated plan, your payments start out low in the early years of the loan but increase in later years (the term is still 10 years). This plan is tailored to individuals with relatively low current incomes (e.g., recent college graduates) who expect their incomes to increase in the future. However, you’ll ultimately pay more for your loan than you would under the standard plan, because more interest accumulates in the early years of the plan when your outstanding loan balance is higher.

• Extended repayment plan: With an extended plan, you extend the time you have to repay your loan, usually from 12 to 30 years, depending on the loan amount. Your fixed monthly payment is lower than it would be under the standard plan, but again, you’ll ultimately pay more for your loan because of the interest that accumulates under the longer repayment period. Note: Many lenders allow you to combine an extended plan with a graduated plan.

• Income-sensitive repayment plan: With an income-sensitive plan, your monthly loan payment is based on your annual income. As your income increases or decreases, so do your payments. If you’re married, your joint income is used to calculate your required monthly payment. Not every lender offers this option.

• Loan consolidation: Loan consolidation is technically not a repayment option, but it does overlap. With loan consolidation, you combine several student loans into one loan, sometimes at a lower interest rate. Thus, you can write one check each month. You need to apply for loan consolidation, and different lenders have different rules about which loans qualify for consolidation. However, with most loan consolidations, you can choose an extended repayment and/or a graduated repayment plan in addition to a standard repayment plan.