In the US, there are two types of student loan categories available: the federal student loans and the private student loans.

The federal student loan consolidation will help a student combine all his loans into a single one with a very low interest rate. Also the length of the payment term can be set according to his needs. A student can ask for a federal consolidation loan from various financial institutions each offering great loan packages.

On the downside, the low monthly payments will help increasing the full total amount to be repaid. Even so the federal consolidation student loans offer the following beneficial features:

- Interest rate – the rates offered by the federal consolidation student loan is considerably lower than any other private loan plan.

- Monthly payments – the monthly payments are now affordable and won’t endanger your budget

- Single loan – each month you’ll have only one payment to make.

If a student is not enrolled in any school and has repaid any other previous loans in time or he is in grace period after post graduation then he is eligible for federal consolidation loans. The minimum amount is $10,000 or more.

The students that already have federal educational loans are eligible also for consolidation loans. The student debt consolidation loan doesn’t include the private education loans.

A student can apply for a federal consolidation loan at several companies and institutions such as: secondary markets, banks and credit unions.

The federal loan interest amount is tax deductible and that’s why it would be best not to mix federal and private loans. If the student does that, he’ll only lose its advantages offered by a federal consolidation loan.

This was the situation for both my sister and my brother, as they finished college. At that point we were living in the Oregon area, in Eugene, and in many cases people that graduated were sharing houses with other people to cut the costs or working in fast food restaurants. It was a bleak period for everyone and we had to move elsewhere eventually.

Be careful when you want to consolidate your student debt and you should look at all the options available to you. There are a number of financial companies that are specialized in working with people that are in the same situation as you.

You should take precautions though, and read the contract before you sign it. If the fine print isn’t something you’re good with, ask someone that knows.

In some cases, loan companies will ask huge amounts of money, so you can end up paying a lot compared with your current rates. You could pay your debt for more years than your initial period and waste thousands of dollars if you choose wrong.

A loan company such as this has only one benefit, the fact that you can’t claim federal student loans if you’re implicated in proceedings for personal bankruptcy.

If you used a private loan in order to consolidate the student debt you have, you can liquidate it if you really need to. What I’m saying here is not that you should do unethical things or to go bankrupt, but only that this is the single thing that can be positive, if you can make the needed payments.