First, determine if you are eligible to consolidate. You must have at least one Direct Loan or Federal Family Education Loan in repayment, deferment, or grace status. You can't consolidate if you're still in school.
Decide if consolidation is right for your situation. While it will lower your monthly loan payment, it will extend the life of the loan to 30 years. You will pay significantly more interest on a consolidation loan than you would otherwise. The fixed interest rate assigned to your consolidation loan is a weighted average of the interest rates you want to consolidate.
Evaluate other options. Federal student loans have deferment and forbearance options that can delay your monthly payment. For long term debt relief, deferment may be the best decision. Also consider other repayment options. The monthly payment of your Federal student loan has several options. Income-contingent plans, graduated payment, and standard payment plans are all available.
If consolidation is the right choice for your Federal student loans, and you want to consolidate a Direct Loan or a Direct PLUS Loan, visit the Federal Loan Consolidation website, given at the bottom of this article.