As with anything, there are advantages and disadvantages to the Consolidation of Student Loans. Fortunately for most college graduates, the advantages far outweigh the few disadvantages of consolidating student loans as you will see below.

The number one aspect of consolidating that most grads feel is a disadvantage is the fact that in doing so you are extending the life of your loans. So even if you can secure a loan at a much lower interest rate than what you are currently paying on your individual student loans, by extending the life of the loan to say, a 15 year loan compared to what you have now, you'd still pay out quite a bit in interest over the years. (side note: if you are planning to consolidate your student loans find out why you need to do it BEFORE July 1st 2006 go to http://How2Consolidate-Student-Loans.com/Why_You_Need_To_Consolidate_Before_July_1st!.php before it's too late!)

However, that being the only major disadvantage to consider, let's look at the advantages of consolidating student loans shall we?

1) The most common advantage and reason for consolidation is to lower the overall monthly payments in order to have more cash on hand each month for other things such as rent and entertainment you might otherwise not be as able to afford.

2) The second most common reason is to secure a much lower interest rate. Individual student loan interest rates can be astronomical and rage as high as 24% a month per loan and higher. The consolidation of student loans can save you as much as 63% from what you were once paying. As mentioned above, you do extend the life of your loan when you combine them all into one new consolidated loan, but at the sake of offering you more money in hand each month for other things, this hardly ever keeps anyone from making the choice to consolidate their student loans. This can offer great financial relief to those struggling to make ends meet each month.

To read more free articles on Consolidating Student Loans please visit my website: http://www.How2Consolidate-Student-Loans.com to read important information you need to know before you consolidate and why you need to do it now before the Government makes the planned jack up of all student loan interest rates next month and what you need to do to be prepared.