student loan consolidation? Dept Of Education Loan Consolidation

If your loans are in default you need to specifically question them if you will regain eligibility for further loans once your loans are consolidated. Also question if you will need to continue making payments while in school in order to remain eligible. If they aren’t in default then you should be eligible now.

For federal loans: http://www.ibrinfo.org/what.vp.html

It really depends on your reasons for consolidating. Are you trying to lock in a low interest rate to help you pay less over the lifetime of the loan or is your priority to lower your monthly payments? If you are looking for the low interest rate and the rates are low right now, that would be a excellent reason to consolidate now. If you need a lower monthly payment to prevent carelessness/default then that is certainly another excellent reason to consolidate. Depending on how much you owe, you may be able to extend your repayment term to as much as 25 years, which could make your monthly payments MUCH lower! Keep in mind that consolidating will not change your Lifetime Maximums (the maximum amount the government allows you borrow in Stafford loans over your entire life). Currently, dependent undergraduates can borrow a lifetime maximum of $ 31,000 and an self-determining apprentice can borrow up to $ 57,500 (you have a child so I’m assuming you qualify as an self-determining). For graduate school you can borrow up to $ 138,500. Once you reach any of these maximums, whether or not they have been consolidated, paid off, transferred, etc, that is all. Also keep in mind that once you consolidate, you are locked in at that interest rate for the life of the loan, whether it’s low or high. Also, it might be simpler to wait until you have finished school completely and can consolidate everything all at once, rather than having to go through the process again with your new loans. Lenders each have their own rules about re-consolidation and it is likely that you would end up with two separate consolidated loans (the loans you want to consolidate now and whatever else you borrow after that). Let me know if you have any other questions. Excellent luck!