Should I consoladate? Kind of confused on my student loan debt & options

[TomTea31]

My deferments are up in June and I need to figure out what to do next. I have all federal loans. Nothing private. I do have a 2k loans through the university though but I beleive that's federal as well.

1. I have not filed bankruptcy yet, but planning to do that as soon as I get our tax refund back. If I mess with my loans will that create issues with the bankruptcy? Like preferential treatment? Student Loans won't be discharged in my situation so I don't see why it matters but want to make sure.

Since I owe almost 60K I'd like to make sure I make good choices as to how to proceed. I don't want that amount to go "up".

2. Does anyone know if I consolidate all my loans together if can I still do payments according to my income? Also one of my loans has a low interest. If I'm consolidating I heard that they take the lowest interest rate and use it. Anyone know if that's true?

Any advice gladly accepted. I'm lost on what my options are. I owe a lot so I want to do this right so I'm not stuck with paying anything "extra" unnecessarily. My student Loans have been on economic deferment since June of last year.

[KAM465]

TomTea,
Actually had an article in the local Cleveland, OH newspaper about how grads are struggling to pay student loans, there are a few resource links for consolidating loans as well as Income Based Repayment (IBR) programs.

http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebA...sh/IBRPlan.jsp

http://www.studentloanborrowerassistance.org/

http://ibrinfo.org/what.vp.html#pslf

http://www2.ed.gov/fund/grants-college.html

[BShop]

No, bankruptcy will not discharge federally guaranteed student loans. However, it can alleviate your other debt issues. Be very careful when you consolidate your loans-you can only consolidate once and if your loans are tied to someone else (a spouse) you will NOT be able to separate them if you divorce.

[Fresh]

What you might think about doing is to get a forbearance during the time that you consolidate your loans. Do a direct loan. They are usually fast, within 60 days, and the forbearance should take any pressure off while you are waiting for the Direct Loans to process. The interest is a weighted average.