Graduating Students

You may wish to consolidate your loans during your grace period while your variable interest rate loans (Ford loans taken out prior to July 1, 2006) are at 6.62% rather than 7.22%. The rate may be changing July 1. You may wish to submit your consolidation application by June 20 if the rate goes up. If the rate drops you would look at consolidating at the end of September to receive the maximum grace period. Consolidation takes about 2 months after you submit your application and when the process is completed you are in repayment of the loan.

We would advise you to wait until we know what the new interest rate will be before consolidating. We should be aware of the rate during the first week in June.

Additional information can be found at http://loanconsolidation.ed.gov.

We also have a consolidation tip sheet (pdf or MS word) available to help you with this process.

Official Looking Student Loan Offers!

Students will often receive mailings marked "confidential" and "open immediately" and assume that this is coming from the Department of Education in regard to their student loan. Please be aware that other financial institutions are soliciting your business. If you have questions or concerns about what you are receiving, please check with the Financial Aid Office.