Consolidate Student Loan Debt -Consolidating your student loans can save you a lot of money in interest over the lifetime of your loan, but did you know that with a little bit of effort and forethought, you can save substantially more?

Consolidate before your grace period ends.

You usually have a grace period of six months from when you graduate before you are required to start making payments on your student loans. The thought behind the grace period is that it gives you time to find a job and settle into a new place before you have to start making loan payments. During this time, the loan is still accruing interest, but at a lower rate than it will be once the grace period ends. If you consolidate your loans before the grace period is over, you can lock in your low interest rate, possibly saving thousands of dollars in interest over the next few years. One minus of consolidating during the grace period is that you will have to start paying on the loan right away, but the savings you will get more than make up for that.

Make sure you do your homework and shop around.

The last thing you want to do after graduation is homework, but it is important to shop around for the best consolidation package. Once you consolidate your student loans, you will not be able to consolidate them again. Because consolidation loans can spread your payments over 30 years, you will be working with the lender for a long time, so it is important to make sure you are comfortable with the company you are dealing with.

It is important to know when not to consolidate your student loans. Graduates with federal Perkins loans may qualify to have part of their loans forgiven if they provide needed services in low-income areas. Those benefits could be withdrawn if you consolidate your Perkins loans. Graduates should always talk to the financial aid office to make sure that there aren’t any odd stipulations on their loans that should keep them from consolidating.