Directly after graduation is the best time to do a student loan consolidation. You are just heading out into the work force and want to make your monthly debt payments as little as possible. With a student loan consolidation, you save a lot of money compared to paying each loan off individually. On the other hand, be sure you need the student loan consolidation before taking it because once you have it, it's yours to keep.

Most lenders advertise up to a 60% savings with a student loan consolidation. This isn't too good to be true. You can actually save that with a student loan consolidation. The interest rate is usually fixed, and can be at a very low rate, so there is no reason why you shouldn't start saving your money today.

Most student loan consolidation plans come with four different repayment options including: standard, graduated, income contingent and extended. If you are trying to save money now while you wait for your income to increase, (after all, college graduates are expected to make 80% more than their non college attending peers!) you may want to consider getting an income contingent or graduated loan. Either option offers lower payments now and increasing ones as you can afford to pay them.

One thing to be aware of when looking for a student loan consolidation after college is extending the payment over too great a period of time. Some lenders will offer you up to 30 years to pay off your student loan consolidation so you will end up paying a lot more for your loan after all of that time. If you don't need the break in payment now, consider just paying on the original loan to avoid incurring more costs in the long run.