Student Loan Consolidations Harder to Come By

It's getting harder and harder to get a student loan consolidation:

Kari Schoeneweis will face more than $60,000 in student loan debt when she graduates from Carlow University in spring.

She plans to do what her older siblings did and consolidate her loans to reduce the monthly payments.

"I'm terrified of the loans I'm going to have to pay off,'' she said. "I don't know how I'm going to do it; I guess I'll get through it somehow.''

Schoeneweis, 22, is among many students who were unaware that consolidation options are more limited now than they were for students who graduated a few years ago. Many lenders suspended consolidations because of consumers' credit problems, leaving mainly the U.S. Department of Education a the nation's loan consolidator.

"It is surprising, but then again it's not, considering all the stuff that's happening with the economy,'' Schoeneweis said.

Read the full article in The Fulton County News.