You probably think you have more than enough to worry about when you're in college. But you need to think about your student debt. If you really don't have the time to look into consolidating student loans now, have a trusted family member look into it. There are advantages to working on paying back your debt now, instead of after you graduate.

Keep This In Mind

Before you go to consolidate student loans, remember one important thing. You can't consolidate federal and private loans together. They are separate financial species (in a way) and need to be kept to their own kind. If your potential loan consolidator says that you can consolidate federal and private loans together, move on. They just showed you that they do not know what they are doing.

First Places To Look

If you have received all of your private student loans from the same creditor, than you can ask them about your options for paying them back. They may already have a program where you can consolidate your student loans. If they don't, they should be able to recommend other financial institutions that they have worked with in the past about student loan consolidation.

For consolidating your federal loans, you really have to contact the state or federal program that you received the loans from. Some federal loans for undergraduates can't be consolidated. If you are trying to find this information yourself, you don't have to. Your college's financial aid office should be able to help you find all of the information you need.

Get Clicking

The next step in looking to consolidate your student loans is by looking online. There is a dizzying mountain of websites offering student loan consolidations. Take your time in picking a consolidation loan service.

Some things to look for are:

Are there any fees just for applying?

Will my consolidation loan be tax-deductible?

Is this a fixed interest rate (which are more predictable in today's financial world) or a flexible interest rate?

Do you need a co-signer?

Other Things To Keep In Mind

The details and rules for consolidating your student loans while you are an undergraduate differs from financial institution to financial institution. You need to have someone you trust read the fine print. Try to keep in mind that filling out these applications is a great education for the real world.

Some consolidation loans are only for US citizens. Some will only be for US citizens that have an employed parent as a co-signer. Some will require that you give some private information to fill out the forms - this is normal.