student loan program
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Loan consolidation deadline June 30
Students can consolidate their loans at the lower rate, even if they are still in school and plan to take out more loans.
Students who have multiple lending programs can merge their loans into one payment plan, said Wayne Sparks, early assistant manager for the Oklahoma Guaranteed Student Loan Program.
He said students who want to consolidate loans should contact their lender to find out options for consolidation.
There are both benefits and drawbacks to student loan consolidation. The main benefit is students have only one lender to worry about instead of several, Sparks said.
In addition, consolidation companies also help students by reducing their bills to one each month, as well as giving students an extended payment period of 10 to 30 years, he said.
More student loan program info
Graduated interest: act fast to lock in rates
College costs keep spiraling upward, and now the cost of borrowing to pay for higher education is about to spike, too.
Students and their parents have taken comfort in a half-decade of ultra-cheap college loans, loading up on debt to cover the bills. About 8 million people borrowed $60 billion this year in education loans issued or guaranteed by the federal government. Now only those who act quickly will be able to keep a lid on the cost of that debt.
A combination of rising interest rates and legislative changes to the student loan program will alter the student loan landscape on July 1. Rates on existing Stafford loans — the bedrock government-guaranteed student loans that 44 percent of full-time undergraduates rely on to pay tuition bills — change annually and are pegged to 91-day Treasury bills.