Eligibility Requirements for Consolidating Your Student Loans
There's a good chance you are eligible for a federal consolidation loan. Requirements vary by each lender, so check with them for more information on their fine print. Here are some general guides:
1. You have any of the qualifying federal loans that are listed below.
2.
You have total outstanding federal education loan balances of $7,500 or greater.
This amount can vary from one lender to the next, and some lenders will
consolidate lesser amounts.
3. None of your existing student loans are in
default. If you are in default on a loan, you first need to make repayment
arrangements with your lenders before they will consider consolidating
them.
4. You are a U.S. citizen.
5. You are no longer (or are soon to be
no longer) enrolled in the program for which you borrowed the loans you want to
consolidate. In other words - you must have graduated or dropped out of the
program for which you borrowed.
Just about any federal loan - whether from the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program or the Federal Direct Loan program - can be consolidated. Private student loans that come from private lenders such as banks and are not subsidized or guaranteed by the government cannot be consolidated under federal loan consolidation guidelines. You can, however, consolidate your private student loans into private consolidation loans.
Also, if a student took out loans in his or her name, those loans cannot be combined in a consolidation loan with loans that a parent took out for the student. If the borrowers are different, the loans have to stay separate.
Almost any federal education loan can be consolidated, including the following:
- Unsubsidized Stafford Loans
- Subsidized Stafford Loans
- Direct Student Loans
- Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS)
- Direct Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (Direct PLUS)
- Graduate PLUS Loans
- Direct GradPLUS Loans
- Perkins Student Loans
- Federal Consolidation Loans
- Federal Direct Consolidation Loans
