If you took out several student loans to pay for your education and now have a lot of monthly bills to pay, you may find that a student loan consolidation will help you. But if your loans are from the Federal government, you might not be surprised to learn that there are a lot of rules you have to follow in order to apply for student loan consolidation.
FFEL Loans and Direct Loans for Consolidation
The Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFEL) and the Direct Consolidation Loan programme are two ways to consolidate student loans. You have to figure out how they are different.
If you already have consolidated school loans that you want to put together, the Direct Consolidation Loan Program must be willing to take them. Some FFEL lenders may accept all loans that are eligible for consolidation, while others may only accept FFEL loans. But if an FFEL lender won't include your non-FFEL loans in a school loan consolidation, it may offer you another way to combine them.
Possible Ways to Pay
There are a number of ways to pay back FFEL school loan consolidations. They include the standard, graduated, extended, and income-sensitive repayment plans. Every FFEL lender offers them, but the details of each are different. In the case of the "income-sensitive" option, for example, the total amount of student loan debt is added to the monthly payment amount.
On the other hand, the Direct Consolidation Loan Program offers the standard, extended, graduated, and income-based ways to pay back the loan. The income-based repayment option is based on the borrower's adjusted gross income, the size of their family, and how much school loan debt they have.
Even people who haven't paid back their FFEL consolidation loan may be able to get a second consolidation loan to make up for it. However, if you're in this situation, you may have to look for a lender who will work with you. The Direct Consolidation Loan Program will also let you combine defaults, and if you can find a lender who will do it, you will be able to get Federal student loans again. For more information on Nursing School Loan, visit http://www.schoolloanshelp.com/Articles/Nursing School Loan.php.
You can consolidate your loans through the Direct Consolidating Loans Program while you are still in school, and if you qualify, you will have six months before you have to start making monthly loan payments. If you apply for consolidation while you are still in school, you may also get a lower interest rate. The FFEL, on the other hand, only lets you consolidate school loans after you have finished school and all of your loans are in active repayment or the grace period.
