University of California, Irvine

Consolidating Your Student Loans

Students, who have federal student loans, including Federal Direct Stafford Loans and Federal Perkins Loans, should consider consolidating their loans.

Questions to consider before consolidating.

Before you consolidate your loans you should consider what loans you would like to include in your consolidation loan. The interest rate on your consolidation loan is determined by the amount and interest rate of the loans you include. You may want to visit the Federal Direct Consolidated Loans Online Calculator to assist in your decision.

You should carefully research and consider the benefits of consolidating your loans. In some cases the interest rate and the total amount you pay on your loan will go up. You should use the Direct Loan calculator to determine if consolidating your loans is right for you.

You should also review the deferment and cancellation provisions of all of the loans you are consolidating. You may lose some of those benefits.

For more information:
You can find out what your savings may be by using the online calculators available. To get the best estimate of your savings, you may want to confirm your loan balances by visiting the National Student Loan Database.

For more information and to apply you should visit the Direct Loan website at www.loanconsolidation.ed.gov or you may contact them at 800-557-7392.

Or you may also visit:

http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanconsolidation.phtml

(Reviewed 2/15/2012 - CS)