Educational loan consolidation is something like refinancing a mortgage: a borrower takes out one new loan to pay off one or more existing loans. A Federal Consolidation Loan allows student and parent borrowers to consolidate Federal Stafford Student Loan and Federal Parent PLUS Loans and follows a general pattern set by federal government. We would suggest that you use two sources for information on Federal Consolidation: (1) AES/PHEAA Federal Consolidation (1-800-338-5000) or (2) Federal Direct Consolidation (1-800-557-7392). AES is the agency in Pennsylvania approved by the federal government to process student loans and approve consolidation loans and Federal Direct Consolidation is operated by a contractor of the U.S. Department of Education.
Depending on the loans you want to consolidate and your future educational and employment plans, this process can be complicated. We feel it is best for you to talk to the people at these two agencies who are the experts in this field. One other suggestion we have is that, once you do decide to apply for consolidation, you be capable of receiving mail at your mailing address on a timely basis and you monitor the progress of the process your application to approval.
The consolidation process will require information on the remaining principle balance of your federal loans. Information on Stafford and PLUS loan principle balances is available from your lender or guarantor (if you took loans out from AES/PHEAA you use the number for the AES/PHEAA site above to speak to someone who can refer you to a source for this information). If you received a Federal Perkins Loan while attending Haverford, you may contact Barbara Wilson, Business Office-Student Accounts Coordinator (610-896-1251), for the principle balance of your Perkins Loans. (Note that Perkins Loans already have a fixed rate. You might want to speak to a Federal Consolidation counselor at AES about whether consolidating a Perkins Loan is best for you.)
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