Many college and university students will be receiving their student loans this week for the upcoming fall semester.

Making that lump sum payment stretch to the end of the semester can sometimes be challenging.

Jeffrey Schwartz, Consolidated Credit's Executive Director, said that one of the best places to start is with a budget.

"Understand what type of expenses you're going to have throughout the year. This can be a challenge, especially for somebody who's new and independent for the first time in their life, they want to put together a budget so they can understand what their expenses are going to be."

Schwartz went on to say that most students have down time during each day and getting a part time job is beneficial for earning extra income but it also prevents you from spending it.

"You're going to be earning extra money that you can apply towards your living expenses that you may not need to take on student debt for."

Schwartz recommends that additional income can also be used to pay small increments towards your loan throughout school, rather than waiting until your graduate to start paying off your debt.

"Just because your taking on student debt doesn't mean that you have to wait until your working after you've graduated to start paying it back. That just means that you will have less debt when it comes time for you to do other things while your working, like saving for a home, starting a family, or getting married."

During school, Schwartz said it's important to live like a student, which means cutting back on expenses.

"You can live a frugal lifestyle, still have a great time, take on roommates, share expenses around food and transportation, and maybe even find opportunities to get used books to cut down on some of the expenses."

Schwartz said once you've graduated, the best way to keep yourself out of debt is by continuing to live a frugal student lifestyle.