 TITLE: Should I Refinance or Consolidate My Student Loans? CONTENT: Consolidating Federal Student Loans\n-----------------------------------\nThe Direct Loan Consolidation program through the U.S. Department of Education is only available for federal student loans. In contrast, you can refinance federal loans, private loans or even both together if you have a mix.\nWith the Direct Loan Consolidation program, you can replace one or more existing federal loans with a new one. Some of the benefits of consolidation include:\n*   Borrowers with loans from the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program, parent PLUS loans and other loan programs can consolidate into direct loans, which can provide access to certain benefits that wouldn't otherwise be available, such as loan forgiveness programs and income-driven repayment plans.\n*   People with defaulted student loans can get them out of default through consolidation.\n*   Borrowers can extend their repayment term up to 30 years.\nBecause there's no credit check required, federal loan consolidation doesn't affect your credit score.\nKeep in mind, though, that there's no way to get a lower interest rate through the federal consolidation program. Instead, the federal government will take the weighted average interest rate across all of your federal student loans and round it up to the nearest one-eighth of a percent. If the interest rate on all your loans is the same, the best-case scenario is that the rate will stay roughly the same. END