The federal consolidation loan is provided to the students from the school level through private and government agencies to meet their education expenses.The educational loans are a federal loan which is made available to the borrower and may come from one or two sources. This government loan is made by the department of education in the US. As a borrower you will have to repay the consolidation loan amount to the department of education in the US. This consolidation education loan is also provided to the borrowers through the federal family education loan or the FFEL. However, the FFEL funding comes from various private lenders like private banks and credit unions, so they are supported and subsidized by the department of education in the US. The borrower has to repay the consolidation loan amount to the private lender, that provides funding or to some designated agency.Whether the borrower gets direct educational consolidation loan directly or from the FFEL, it depends entirely on the choice of the borrower. But the loan amounts, benefits and interest rates remains the same throughout. The general requirement of the consolidation loans can be obtained from the education department of the US government. Generally most of the student federal loans are eligible for consolidation, which includes unsubsidized and subsidized direct and FFEL or the Federal family education Stafford loans, FFEL plus and direct, federal nursing, federal Perkins and health education assistance loans. However, the private educational loans do not fall under the consolidation loans.A borrower is eligible to get the FFEL consolidation loan, which is a government loan, during the grace period, once the borrower has entered the repayment phase or forbearance or during the periods of deferment. The direct educational consolidation loan is also available to those who are still in school. The default borrowers are eligible for this loan once they meet the requirements. There is no upper limit of the loan amount. The interest does not exceed 8.25 percent. The weighted average rate of interest on this Government Loans are consolidated and is rounded to the nearest one-eighth of one percent. The rate of interest is currently fixed throughout the loan term. You can get the estimate of the interest rate by checking it on the online calculator available on the US department of education website. However, the length of loan term is set to a maximum of 30 years. You can repay the educational consolidation loans on monthly or quarter basis, which ever suits you best. There is no additional fee or pre-payment penalty on the loan amount.Go through some reviews from people who have taken advantage of such loans and also to learn more about how to get one for yourself.