financial reflections

I paid off my student loans a while back, so I don’t need to consolidate them.  But I just read ”Time Is Running Out for Student Borrowers” on Yahoo! News and it caught my attention anyway.  As you may know, I’m considering refinancing my mortgage due to rising interest rates.  Rising interest rates will also shortly affect student loan rates.  From the article:

“Interest rates for student loan programs are expected to rise significantly on July 1, and that means the ultimate cost to borrowers will be going up. You can avoid this fiscal trouble, though, by consolidating your student loans. In doing so, you’ll be able to lock in the current rate, which is pretty low, historically speaking. You can also save several thousand dollars by consolidating”

I know at least one couple who will probably benefit from something like this.  The article mentions caveats of student loan consolidation as well, such as the loss of the 6-month grace period between graduation and repayment, and the one-time nature of student loan consolidation.

Then of course, there’s the whole debate if one should take out student loans at all.  If one does take out student loans, how deep in debt should one go?  I’ve heard a variety of opinions on the issue, but I’ll save those for another day - student loan consolidation is what I’m thinking of here.  If you already have a ton of student loan debt, that debate is a moot point, anyway.

Like everything, it’s something one will have to check out and decide for oneself.  But perhaps knowing the time frame involved will help one decide if student loan consolidation is the right decision now.