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So you’ve worked your tail off for the last several years eating Ramen and pulling all nighters while living on your student loans that almost covered the bills, and now you’ve got a great job, a new life and a mountain of debt. Life next pop quizWhat do you do? Fortunately for today’s education Loan borrowers there are plenty of options to help you get your new life started without having the old one hanging around your neck like an anchor. There are plenty of student loan consolidation options available for the savvy borrower, and one of them will probably fit your life.

Most people start their borrowing with a Federal Family Education Loan or FFEL. FFELs cover both subsidized and unsubsidized loans, and an FFEL consolidation loan can wrap both of a borrower’s federal loans into a single manageable package. FFEL consolidation programs offer extended repayment terms and fixed rates, and in some cases even those who have been in default in the past can qualify. If you have any federal education debt an FFEL consolidation loan should be the first place you look.

In addition to traditional federally funded loans, many students finance their advanced education with a variety of private loans. Private consolidation of these loans offers borrowers many of the same benefits as federal consolidation – fixed rates, longer terms, and lower payments. Conditions may be stricter for a private consolidation and you cannot usually combine private and federal loans under a single consolidation package. You may end up with two consolidation loans, one for your federal debt, and one for private; be sure to shop around for the best rates.

PLUS loan consolidation offers the chance for parents who have borrowed to fund their child’s education to get many of the same benefits as FFEL and private loan consolidation. In addition to an interest rate reduction Plus loan consolidation offers the option of extended terms to make repayment more manageable. As with any consolidation loan, extended terms also increase the total amount of the loan so borrowers need to make sure that they are making the right choice for their financial situation.

There are many alternative ways of consolidating education financing. For homeowners a second mortgage may provide a better solution to a consolidation loan giving the borrower the option to put of their education loans into a single package. Private loans from family members are another way some grads handle their finances, and for a lucky few, some employers even offer tuition reimbursement programs.

There are even options for those with less than stellar credit or who have maxed out traditional borrowing. Peer to Peer lending networks provide the same structure as the file sharing networks many people have grown up on, but this time, they deal with financing. Borrowers submit their loan request and groups of people bid on the loan offering a variety of interest rates and payment terms based on the project and the borrower’s credit history. Once the details have been decided the final loan is serviced through the network which then disperses payments to the people who made the loan.

Sure you busted your tail in college but now it’s time for the real world, which will have its own share of challenges. Nobody want to start out with a huge burden hanging over their head; student loan consolidation can offers the cancel to reduce all of your loans down to just one or two manageable payments each month so that you can concentrate on working your way into that corner office.

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