San Diego, CA - Students and
parents with loans should consolidate now. The
Department of Education announced that rates on federally
guaranteed student loans will jump by a record amount on
July 1. Because of an increase in Treasury bill rates -
which the loan rates are pegged to - the in-school rate
for the federal Stafford new loans will rise from the
current 2.77% to 4.7%. The rate for Stafford loans
in repayment will rise from 3.37% to 5.3%. The rates on
PLUS (Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students) loans will
rise from 4.25% to 6.1%.
Students can still consolidate their loans at these
record-low rates until June 30, 2005.
Students may contact
SmartLoan.com, part of SallieMae, which is the
nation's No. 1 paying-for-college company, that primarily
provides federally guaranteed student loans originated
under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP).
Sallie Mae currently owns or manages student loans for 8
million borrowers. The company was created by Congress in
1972 as a government-sponsored enterprise (GSE). SLM
Corporation, commonly known as Sallie Mae, began
privatizing its operations in 1997, a process it completed
at the end of 2004 when it terminated its GSE charter,
ending its ties to the federal government.
Students may also contact
LoanConsolidation.ed.gov, a federal direct loan
consolidation group which works with borrowers, schools
and loanholders. To qualify for the current low interest
rates, the student loan consolidations must be completed
on or before June 30, 2005..