<prompt> Human: Im 21 and no one ever taught me about credit, so in the first couple of years of my adult life Ive racked up quite a bit of high interest debt. Im a full time student at a 4-year right now and currently have 8,000 in federal student loans, live on campus, carry 15,000 in CC debt most of it has been refinanced into a personal loan with a lower but still exorbitant rate 23 cc APR to 15 personal loan APR, that was the only rate I could get with a 600 credit score and short credit history. I work part-time at an office 20 hours a week, 15 an hour in CA and my loan payment is around 300 a month for a 3-year term. What I really want to be able to do is start saving money, and I will be graduating at the end of the year with a degree that doesnt usually make much money to start Environmental PlanningPolicy B.S. so I need to prepare for managing this debt once Im out of school. Does anyone have advice for what steps to take? My family was never good at managing money and I want to learn about these things now so that I can build the best possible financially secure life for myself and my future family if thats in the cards. Edit: I wasnt trying to use the generational poverty thing as an excuse, it just would have been nice to grow up with that knowledge -- damn has it bitten me pretty hard. I appreciate the encouragement and advice from all those willing to offer it, Ill be responding to questions as quickly as possible!  <response>: Important lesson in finance--read the fine print on your contracts. No one needs to teach you to pay your bills on time or only buy what you can afford. Once you finish school your student loans will become due in 6 months. Read the fine print about those. they are not as simple as you think 