Private College Student Loan

Looking for serious financial/student loan advice?

Anyone with advice on student loans from personal experience would be appreciated. Briefly, I owe $67,000 to Sallie Mae ($490/month extended 25 yr payment plan) and $8,000 to Nelnet ($87/month 10 yr plan). Obviously I went to a pricey private college, and the funding for the schooling fell through at about my 3rd year. Personally, the only other debt I have is a credit card ($1,500), I make $37,000/year (I come away with about ($1,780 after taxes, 401K,medical and dental/month), I have a company car paid for as well as car insurance paid for, and my credit score is pretty good (735). I have been living rent free with a friend, but she is moving so I have to start paying rent, bills, etc. I did purchase a $3,000 motorcycle a little while back, but am looking to hand over the note to someone as we speak. Because of this, I wanted to know a little bit about student loan consolidation from someone with experience. Will it decrease my student loan payment monthly? Is it a good thing in the long AND short run? Would you recommend someone with my sort of financial situation to consolidate? I just feel like right now I'm living okay given the circumstances (free car, insurance, no rent, etc), but once I have to start paying for rent and the bills that come along with it, I want to know if consolidating will help. Thanks

Public Comments

1. You may not be able to consolidate your loans since they are through different companies. I suggest you speak with Sallie Mae and Nelnet about this to see what they say. Consolidation can be helpful, but only if it's going to lower your interest rate in the long-term and that's not always the case. If you find that you cannot keep up with your monthly payments, contact your lenders BEFORE you are late with a payment. They are willing to help those that ask before they get in trouble.