Reply #12: Call the financial aid office [View All]

at her university. They will be able to answer any questions you have (and, in my experience at 3 different unis, tend to be quite nice). I'm sure they're getting lots of calls about this right now, and should have the answers right at hand.

My guess is that when she signs for next year's loans (I'm assuming these are student, not parent, loans) doesn't matter, as next year's loans can't be consolidated with last year's. I could be wrong, though. The financial aid folks will know for sure. Also check www.ed.gov since they have quite a bit of info there (although it does tend to be a bit confusing).

I have 2 years of loans that I could consolidate, but next year's loans weren't allowed to be included in the whole consolidation foo-fa-raw. I'm a grad student, so I get a wee stipend; I'm hoping that since I don't have moving expenses and whatnot this year (I moved cross-country last year) that I can immediately pay back the bigger loan (assuming this will work out with my budget) and only take the smaller one as "emergency" money.

Quick aside: if she has any Ford loans, and either you or she is able to, pay the interest as it accrues rather than waiting until she's out of school. It will save you a bundle.

Edit: punctuation