Special Direct Consolidation Loans?

Paying for College
1

<p>Anyone familiar with this U.S. Dept. of Education loan program? I'm eligible for it and have 'til Jun 30th to apply for it. I skimmed through the overview of the program and on the surface it seems good for me, but I don't want to shoot myself in the foot signing up for it. I'm finishing undergrad this week and begin 3 year graduate program fall 2012. I'm probably though not going to have to borrow money for graduate school--I do have my outstanding undergrad loans (under $20,000) to pay off though. Anyone with experience with the loan program please let me know of any cons about the program. Thanks for help!</p>

<p>Student</a> Aid on the Web</p>

2

<p>I also got an e-mail about this, not sure about it.
There’s more info at
<a href=“http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/specialconsolidation.jsp[/url]”>http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/specialconsolidation.jsp&lt;/a&gt;
and it looks like it you receive a 0.25% interest rate reduction.
Then it says the interest rate will be fixed for the life of the loan and cannot exceed 8.25%. Is this a good thing, to fix the interest rate? I have no idea.</p>

3

<p>I did the online app yesterday and submitted it. The online form is poorly designed. It had errors after I submitted it so I phoned Nelnet who has my one qualifying commercially-held FFEL loan for help correcting. Their computers were down Saturday being serviced, so they asked me to get with them on phone tomorrow and they would help me amend the incorrect loan agreement. June 30th is the deadline, if anyone wants to do the special consolidation–get busy quick!</p>