Student Loan Consolidation

Should I consider student loan consolidation? How do I manage my college debt?

Advantages of consolidating your student debt:

  • Fixed Interest Rates
  • Lower Monthly Payments
  • Only One Payment Each Month
  • New Deferments or Renewal of existing deferments
  • Payment Incentives that save you money

    The reasons listed above are just a few of the reasons why
    you may wish to consider federal student loan consolidation.

    You can choose which of your loans you want to include in
    your student loan consolidation; you can also choose to
    consolidate your undergraduate loans while you are in grad school;
    you can even choose to consolidate only a portion of your eligible loans.

    Federal Student Loans eligible for consolidation

  • Federal Stafford Loan (both subsidized and unsubsidized)

  • Federal Direct Loan (both subsidized and unsubsidized)

  • Federal Perkins Loan*

  • Health Professions Student Loan (HPSL)*

  • Nursing Student Loan (NSL)*

  • Federally Insured Student Loan (FISL)

  • Auxiliary Loan to Assist Students (ALAS)

  • Federal Supplemental Loan for Students (SLS)

  • National Direct Student Loan (NDSL)*

  • Health Education Assistance Loan (HEAL)

  • Federal Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students (PLUS)

  • Loan for Disadvantaged Students (LDS)

    NOTE:

    Before jumping into a student loan consolidation program, carefully study your existing interest rates and compare those rates with current consolidation rates. Your existing rates could be lower and you do not want to replace them with a loan with higher interest that would increase the cost of your loans.

    You can consolidate a prior Federal Loan Consolidation into a new consolidation loan only if you will be consolidating at least one other eligible loan.

    Am I able to consolidate all my college student loans?

    A Federal Consolidation Loan can't include non-federal student loans obtained through a bank, credit union, or other kind of financial institution including:

    • loans from the institution or school you attended
    • loans made to you by a friend or family member
    • consumer debt such as personal or automotive loans from your bank, credit union, or other financial institution.

    • Refer to the list of eligible loans above to see which, if any, of your loans can be consolidated.

    How do I get started?

    To complete your Federal Consolidation Loan application, you'll need to accumulate the following information:

    • The balances and interest rates of your current student loans.

    • The name(s) and address(es) of the agencies that hold or service (billings, collections, etc.)your federal student loans.

    • The names and addresses of two personal references (only U.S. addresses can be used).

    • You can list all of your student loan debt (including private and institutional loans) so that your total student loan debt can be considered when your student loan consolidation lender determines the terms of your new loan.

    Where do I find all this information?

  • First contact your existing lender (see loan servicer above) This is the best resource for gathering your student loan information. If you don't know who your servicer is, use one of the resources below to obtain your loan information:

    NSLDS - National Student Loan Data SystemNSLDS is the central location for all of your federal student loan and Pell Grant information. This resource generally has the most complete and accurate information about federal loans. Note: This information is not maintained by Access Group and we cannot answer questions about the information on these other sites. The best place to get this information is from your servicer(s).