Student Loan Consolidation

Effective May 1, 2008, ESF will no longer accept consolidation applications due to our lender for the program, Mississippi Higher Education Assistance Corporation (MHEAC), suspending participation in the federal consolidation loan program.

If you are interested in consolidating your student loans, we urge you to review the information below to determine if it is the right choice for you.

If you are seeking to reduce the monthly payment on your federal student loans, please call your servicer (Chase or AES) to explore other options, such as extended or graduated repayment plans. These options can provide significant monthly payment relief and often at a lower cost than federal consolidation.

Whether or not to consolidate your student loans in today's market is a decision which you need to weigh carefully. We suggest you look at:

• what will your new interest rate be?
• how much more in interest will you pay due to longer repayment terms?
• are you eligible to extend the repayment on your current loan without consolidating?

Below are some of the disadvantages of consolidation which may help in your decision.

• You will lose interest rate reduction repayment benefits on your Stafford and PLUS loans; if you are not currently enjoying repayment benefits, please consult with your loan servicer to determine if you are eligible for repayment benefits for your loans owned by Mississippi Higher Education Assistance Corporation.
• You will increase your overall interest rate slightly since the interest rate is based on the weighted average rate of all the loans rounded up to the nearest 1/8 of a percent.
• You may increase the total amount of interest paid over the life of a loan through longer repayment terms unless you elect to pay off the loan prior to the final due date.
• If you are consolidating during your "GRACE" period, your loans will enter repayment status upon the completion of the consolidation process, thus forfeiting any remaining GRACE period.
• If you are in forbearance or deferment, once your consolidation is complete, you will need to reapply for forbearance or deferment.