Consolidation is an option, to extend your repayment term (up to 30 yrs) and lower the amount you need to pay each month. However, this will increase the total amount of interest you pay over the life of the loan (just like a credit card or mortgage.) Paying more than the minimum payment each month will reduce the total amount of interest you pay over the life of the loans.

My advise is to pay as much as youcan afford each month. Maybe set up your repayment plans to $400 per month but just budget for 500-600, then if something out of teh ordinairy pops up, like a boken car, you have a little bit of room in your budget.

You can call your student loan servicer and they can give you estiamtes of how long it will take to pay off your loan with 500/monthly, 600 monthly, etc. Or you can tell them, how much do i have to peay each month to have this paid off in 10 years. They are really flexible.

You can always consolidate your loans to have fewer payments, and the more you pay each month, the less amount of time it will take you pay off the entire loan. You can find out more information about consolidation here:

http://www.studentfinancedomain.com/student_loans/college_student_loan_consolidation.aspx

I say stick with how much you are paying, and you’ll have your loans paid off in about 10 years!