Student Loan Consolidation

A Direct Consolidation Loan may help make payments more manageable by combining several federal student loans into one loan with one monthly payment. You may apply for a Direct Consolidation Loan offered by the U.S. Department of Education and choose a servicer, like Edfinancial Services, and a repayment plan, such as an Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Plan.

Please be aware that there is no application fee to consolidate your federal student loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan. You may be contacted by private companies that offer to help you apply for a Direct Consolidation Loan, for a fee. These companies have no affiliation with the U.S. Department of Education or their consolidation loan servicers.

How can consolidation help you manage your debt?

Loan consolidation can offer benefits that may help you manage your federal student loan debt. Consolidation allows you to:

• Make lower monthly payments by increasing the repayment period (Note: This will increase the total amount you repay over the life of the loan).
• Make a single monthly loan payment to one company.
• Access additional loan forgiveness programs and repayment plans available to Direct Loan customers.

As with other federal student loans, you may prepay a consolidation loan without penalty and may change repayment plans if you find that the current plan no longer meets your needs.

Is there a downside to consolidation?

Although consolidation can help many students manage their monthly payments, there are some cases when consolidation may not be right for you.

• Any previous payments made prior to consolidation will not count toward IDR forgiveness or Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).
• You may lose certain benefits (such as cancellation benefits, interest subsidies, etc.) that were offered on the original loans. If you are close to paying off your student loans, it may not make sense to consolidate. By extending the years of repayment for the loans, you may be increasing the total amount you will have to pay in interest.

Do your homework. If you simply need a smaller payment or if you're experiencing a temporary financial hardship, you may want to consider changing your repayment plan before considering consolidation.

Loan consolidation provides access to additional options but may result in the loss of certain benefits so we encourage you to visit https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/consolidation to learn about the pros and cons of consolidating your loans.

Helpful Tips

• Not all loans qualify for loan consolidation, so check to see if this is an option for you.
• Once you consolidate, you can re-consolidate only if you have an eligible student loan that was not included in the original consolidation.

Federal Student Aid ID

If you do not already have one, request an FSA ID from the U.S. Department of Education Federal Student Aid Web site. The FSA ID will be required to e-sign and submit the consolidation application online, which is the most efficient method for submission.

How to Apply

You may also print, complete, and mail a paper application to:

Note: You must continue making payments until you receive notice from your servicer that the original loans included in your consolidation request have been paid off due to the consolidation.