It depends on how long you want to be paying them back.

When my husband and I married, we consolidated our Stafford loans. It brought our student loan payment way down. However, we are still paying the loan off and would have finished paying our individual loans off by now had we not consolidated. If given the decision over again I would still consolidate, though, because it was right for us.

Talk your concerns over with a loan officer in the financial aid office about your questions/concerns and/or talk to a loan officer through your lender(s). They can help you run the numbers for what might be better for you.

Good luck!

Do your own research. What is the rate? Make sure you are not losing beneficial rights by consolidating. Often you lose your deferrment rights when you go on to graduate school. Also, do you qualify for any loan forgiveness programs that are offered on Stafford and Perkins loans? If you consolidate you may lose this benefit. To research loan forgiveness programs go to www.hesc.org and click on payingfor college. There is a list of careers that qualify for loan forgiveness. You will receive a ton of mail that tries to scare you into consolidating due to changing interest rates. I consolidated my loan only after I read and researched extensively.

You’ll have to pay off your loans either way…

I shopped around and found that through consolidation, I was able to lock in a lower interest rate. It also saves me some hassle – only one payment per month, rather than a bunch.

I found interesting information about your answer, college loans, scholarships, college grants & partime works here.

http://all-student-loan-consolidation.blogspot.com/2007/07/scholarships.html

Good luck!

Garry, Rony, and Gwen’s answers make no sense. Caba is correct.