You have graduated from college. Congratulations! So, now what? “It’s a terrifying time to be graduating, when you think of how many people are in school and how few jobs there are,” said Jayna Punturiero, who is graduating from Loyola University in Chicago with master’s degrees in gender studies and social work this spring. “I almost wish my program was another year or so, just so I could have some more time before trying to find a job in this economy.”

Because of that hobbled economy, having all your ducks in a row is more important than ever. The odds for this year’s crop of college grads for job search success are the “same or just slightly better” than last year, according to a survey by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray and Christmas. Which means of course, that your chances are “just slightly better” than depressing.

And you thought college was tough. Now that you are officially entering the real world, you have quite a journey on your hands. We talked about what’s ahead with Stuart Schultz, co-author of GradSpot. com’s “Guide to Life After College,” to come up with a MoneySmart road map—something of a cheat sheet to make sure some of your most important post-college actions don’t fall by the wayside.

Here is some of his advice. Get health insurance. Young adults are notoriously underinsured and uninsured, partly because once they graduate, they are no longer covered under their parents’ insurance. Starting Sept. 23, the new health care legislation will require insurance companies to extend coverage until adult children turn 26.

But who needs health insurance when you’re invincible, right? Well, you do, unless you prefer running the risk of being saddled with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.

“Even if you don’t have a job, there are ways to insure yourself that don’t have to break the bank,” said Schultz.

At the very least, get what is known as “catastrophic insurance.” It doesn’t help much for routine doctor visits and preventative care, but should something major happen, like breaking your leg, having a stroke, or getting hit by a bus, you have coverage. The monthly premiums are low, but there are high deductibles before coverage kicks in. If you have a chronic health condition or lots of monthly prescriptions, it might not be right for you.

It’s usually easier to maintain any current insurance coverage than to start a new policy from scratch, to avoid such problems as being denied coverage on the basis of pre-existing conditions. If you had insurance under your parents’ plan or through school, you may be eligible to continue with it through the government’s COBRA program (

www.dol.gov/dol/

topic/healthplans/cobra. htm). Depending on the circumstances, it can be prohibitively expensive. But, as Schultz points out, if there is one post-college cost your parents might be willing to chip in on, it’s health insurance. Your college alumni group may sponsor coverage through the Alumni Insurance Program (search for your school at

www.alumniinsuranceprogram.com/iv/choose

_school. asp). You can also see if you qualify for state-sponsored coverage through Healthy NY (Google “Healthy NY” then, on the homepage, click on the “Eligibility Screener”) or other need-based government coverage through Medicaid or Family Health Plus (contact your county’s department of social services). Audit yourself. High at the top of your post-college to-do list should be figuring out how much money you have coming in and where that money needs to go each month. A great way to do that is to perform a self-audit.

“It doesn’t have to be intense. You can do it in a couple of hours on a weekend. But it’s really eye-opening,” said Schultz. “Understanding the money you have and the money you need is important.”

To do it, you’ll want to set aside one month in which you track every bit of income you have coming in, while tracking every cent you spend and where you spend it.

“The spending habits of a college student tend to change quite dramatically after college,” said Schultz.

Credit card bills and debit and bank statements will be helpful in sorting out all your transactions. Once you see where everything is going, you can decide where you might be able to cut back. You’ll also see how much money is left over once your expenses are met, and get a good idea of how much you could be setting aside in savings (Hint: It’s probably more than you think).

A great, free online tool is Mint.com, which will show you in living color how much you spend (or overspend in certain categories). It automatically puts together bar graphs showing your purchases by category, so you’ll easily know if something is wrong. For example, if a super-skinny slice of the pie chart is devoted to “savings” while “bars and restaurants” gets a big, fat chunk, it’s obvious something is out of whack.

Which brings us to our next mustdo. . .

Start saving now. One of the most common mistakes recent college grads make, Schultz said, is they don’t start setting aside money right away.

“The power of compounding is really powerful,” he said. “If you say, ‘I don’t have $50 a month to put away,’ well, I think you can find it.”

The earlier you start saving, the more opportunity you have to earn compounding interest. Compound interest is money you earn both on the money you set aside and the interest that money accrues. With compound interest, even missing just a brief window of saving can cost you big in the grand scheme of things.

Get a handle on student loan debt. Unless you’re richly blessed, you probably will not be stepping straight out of college and into your first career. Gratefully, student lenders seem to understand that.

“There is a six-month grace period after graduation that gives you a little bit of breathing room,” said Schultz.

That means you have six months before you have to start repaying those dreaded student loans. If your loans are unsubsidized, you will continue to pay interest on them during the grace period, but the wiggle room is probably worth it.

You may have loans with several companies. It’s important to have a list showing every lender to be sure no payments are falling through the cracks once repayment starts. To assemble that list, visit the National Student Loan Data System at nslds. ed.gov. Even though it will give you an amount you owe to each, you’ll want to contact each lender directly to get the most accurate amount. You may want to consider debt consolidation, which will decrease your monthly payment and lock in your interest rate.

If you haven’t landed a job or are having trouble repaying your loans, there are programs that will repay your debt for you in exchange for your service. Volunteering full-time with organizations such as Ameri- Corps or the Peace Corps are two options, as are joining the military, teaching certain subjects in certain geographic areas, or working for such groups as the National Health Service Corps. For more information, check out the government’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness program by visiting LoanConsolidation.ed.gov or calling (800) 557-7392.

There is also something new called Income-Based Repayment, where the government will repay part of your loan based on your income and family status. Visit IBRinfo.org to see if you qualify.

If you just can’t swing repayment right now, but anticipate that you will be able to in the future, there is always forbearance and deferment. With both, you can put loan repayment on hold for up to three years. You can get a loan deferred if you meet certain criteria, such as being in school at least part time, unemployed or deployed in the military. If you qualify, your loan won’t accrue interest during that time. It’s easier to get a forbearance — such as if your loan repayments cost more than 20 percent of your monthly income, you’re having personal problems or you’re in bad health — but if you get one, your interest will continue to accrue.

If you still haven’t landed a career-track job and are having trouble paying your loans, Schultz suggests, get a job — any job!

“No one is going to look down on you for having to earn money,” he said. “And that gives you a chance to build your career story. [At interviews], instead of saying you’ve been doing nothing, you can say, ‘I started a dog walking company and made X amount of money.’ ”