Ok, you’ve worked your butt off at college for the last four years, and thanks to your student loans you were actually able to spend most of your time on schoolwork instead of flipping burgers. But now you’re out of school, starting on a new career path, and suddenly those friendly student loans are looming ominously as your grace period draws to a close. Fortunately there are a variety of student loan consolidation programs available to help grads and former students make the transition to the regular work world without the specter of unreasonably high payments.

The first place many borrowers will look for a consolidation program is FFEL consolidation. Federal Family Education Loan consolidation offers the option of putting all of your federally funded education debt - both subsidized and unsubsidized - under a single plan. This option can even work for those unfortunate souls who have been in default in the past, and offer fixed rates, extended terms to help you get started in your new life without worrying about loan payments eating up most of threat tiny entry level salary.

In addition to traditional federally funded loans, many students finance their advanced education with a variety of private loans. Private consolidation of these loans offers borrowers many of the same benefits as federal consolidation - fixed rates, longer terms, and lower payments. Conditions may be stricter for a private consolidation and you cannot usually combine private and federal loans under a single consolidation package. You may end up with two consolidation loans, one for your federal debt, and one for private; be sure to shop around for the best rates.

Many parents use the PLUS loan program to borrow for the children’s education. PLUS loans can be consolidated using a PLUS consolidation program much which offers similar benefits and potential pitfalls of FFEL and private consolidation - fixed rates, and lower payments spread over a longer term. Plus loan consolidations are great for some people but parents need to take a good look at all of their options before consolidating.

Even if none of the traditional consolidation methods work for your situation, there are still alternatives to help students get started on the right foot towards financial solvency. Some people take out second mortgages on their home and use the money to pay off all of their loans. ( An added benefit of this method is that you may be able to retain some of the tax benefits of regular consolidations) Private personal loans from family members can also help those with poor credit, and some companies offer tuition reimbursement programs which may help off set up to 100% of your education costs.

One of the newest innovations in lending is the idea of micro-financing. Peer to peer lending networks provide the same type structure as peer to peer file sharing networks. With a P2P lending network, borrowers submit their request usually backed by some type of credit check and a variety of lenders bid on it. Usually the P2P organization will service the loan, which may be funded from friends, family members, or even complete strangers.
Making the transition from school life to your career is a road with more than its share of lessons and challenges. Having to make large student loan payments on an entry level salary while trying to save cash for a professional wardrobe, deposits on housing, and other \"grown-up\" essentials is enough to stop that progress dead in its tracks. There are many things to consider when applying for a consolidation, but knowing that you have options available can help make your transition manageable.