financial consultant daria dolan joins me now. what's the average student loan debt a person is carries? >> hi, alison. it's scary. the average graduate is exiting school with about $25,500 in debt from student loans. and there are about 36 million americans who are now facing student loan debt of one sort or another. some of it as high as $200,000, $300,000 if you're looking at lawyers and potential doctors. so it's very scary. >> okay. so, but with so much loan debt, that we're carrying, tell me four ways to get those student loans under control. >> okay. number one, you need to know how much you owe and to whom you owe it. so you need to put all those loans together, either right before graduation or right after graduation, so that you know how you can choose a repayment plan. and the fact of the matter is, if your student loan debt is more than one years' potential salary for the career you're headed towards, you're not going to be able, most likely, to afford the ten-year payment plan, which means you'll have to look for more

financial consultant daria dolan joins me with five simple mistakes you want to avoid.s good to see you, but this is really nice, fred. here it is seder dinners, easter baskets, big meals and i'm talking taxes. >> you and i both talking taxes. oh, well. we'll try to add flavor to it and make it a little bit more appetizing. >> okay. >> start with why you need to, number one, use a calculator so you can avoid the math errors. that's the number one thing what gets people in trouble, right? math errors? >> it is absolutely math errors, and the interesting thing is, if you use one of these computer programs, like turbo tax do to it, there's still math errors because oftentimes people input the numbers in the wrong order. so like anything in life with a computer, garbage in, produces garbage out. and it's still one of the biggest -- the biggest problems that the irs says face taxpayers when they have a problem with the return. >> yeah. and number, are so important on those returns. you've got to get it right. another place which you can get it wrong and it will get you in tr