undergrad debt question

[hardingsk]

I have gotten conflicting advice regarding my 23K undergrad debt. At my financial aid exit interview the guy told us that if we were planning to further our education at all, not to consolidate because once you do that you cannot defer even if you're in school. But at my UK interview, the financial aid lady said that I could still defer even if I consolidated and that I should consolidate as interest rates are so low right now. Does anyone have any info on this?

 

[ecdoesit]

Talk to your school and your bank.
It also depends on what loans do you have.
Banks dont like people to consolidate at such low interest rate, so they will use whatever reasons to tell you not to do it.

 

[arns51]

Call one of the many places offering consolidation ( I get a call or piece of mail from them everyday) and ask them. If you need to get something in writing before you consolidate. I would think you can defer pretty much any loan (consolidated or not) if you are going to school full time (at the very least, I have 2 private and 2 federal loans from my undergrad education and I know I can defer them). But I would make sure before I consolidated.

Oh ya, if you end up getting a definitive answer, let me know, I have yet to consolidate.

 

[drPheta]

That's a good question. I was told that I cannot consolidate by both my undergrad school and Tufts and still defer. It was either that, or I can only consolidate once with my loans. So, it'd be in my best interest to consolidate upon graduating from Tufts.

 

[arns51]

You can only consolidate once, however that is for each set of loans. I know for a fact that you can consolidate after graduating undergrad and then again after graduating dent school.

Just not sure about the deferment thing.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

i consolidated my grad school loans, and i know that i can defer them if i go back to school. that's something i specifically looked at when considering consolidation. i believe it is true that you can't consolidate those loans again.