New federal rules on student loans go into effect July first and it could be a headache for college students and graduates.

The interest rate is going up as much as 2% and that could tack on thousands of dollars to the average loan.

Keith New, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, says it’s also when new restrictions take effect and one affects loan consolidation to lock-in a lower rate:

“Spouses can consolidate their loans into a single payment that can be a very good debt management tool for married people. That provision will go away after July first due to recent federal law. There’s such a thing as in-school repayment, that’s something that you can do now that you also can’t do after July first. That means you can consolidate your loan before you enter into repayment.”

New suggests anyone considering consolidation, or refinancing of a student loan, do it now.

This entry was posted by Taman Siswa on Tuesday, May 2, 2006 at 8:05 pm and is filed under Student Loan. Tags: College, Education News, good debt management tool, Keith New, Loans, Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, recent federal law, Student, Student Loan, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.