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Student Loan Consolidation The student loan consolidation program is a federal program. Federal law mandates that all lenders offer the same initial fixed interest rate, minimum monthly payment, and loan repayment term. Therefore, because their benefits package is the sole difference between lenders, borrowers should consolidate their federal student loans with the lender that offers the best benefits program. Federal Stafford Loan The Federal Stafford Loan is the most widely used federal college student loan program. It is a fixed and simple interest, government-guaranteed, federally insured, and possibly tax-deductible loan program. The Stafford interest rate is 6.8% and the fact that payments are not due until 6 months after graduation, leaving school, or dropping below a half-time enrollment status make the Stafford Loan one of the best options available for paying for a college education. The Stafford Loan program comes in two forms, as a subsidized loan or as an unsubsidized loan. It allows students the flexibility to either contribute to the cost of their college education immediately, or focus on their education and defer the student loan payments until a later time, generally when their education has secured them gainful employment. Stafford loans are available to any U.S. Citizen or resident with a valid Green Card who is is attending an eligible and accredited post-secondary institution of higher learning and has never been in default on any prior federal loan and/or convicted of a crime. Common misspellings for words used in this page include adn amke anbd availaible availble availiable availible avalable avaliable avilable baceause beacuse becasue beccause becouse becuase benifits betwen bewteen consolodate eiter eligable emmediately fedreally foucs garanteed gauranteed gaurenteed generaly govement govenment govenrment goverment governmnet govorment govornment guarenteed guranteed heigher higer imediately immediatley immediatly immidately immidiately inbetween inital insitution intial intrest iwth minumum mkae mkea monts nto possably recident shoudl shoudln smae taht tath teh tghe thast theri thgat thge thier thta thyat tiem timne tiome tje tjhe twpo tyhat unsed untill vetween wehn whith whn wih wiht witht witn wtih.