When it comes to federal consolidation loan consolidation programs, many student borrowers must know that there are certain deadlines, most of the time difficult and stressful, imposed on it. It is unlike the normal private and federal student loans, in which you can apply for them anytime if you want. But with the consolidation of government student loans, you have to make some important considerations.First of all, it should be noted that ideally, federal college loan consolidation programs should be obtained by the student borrowers during the grace period. During this time, the much lower loan interest rates will be applied. This will help in estimating the average fixed interest rate in order to consolidate federal student loans.Availability of low rates is one benefit that student borrowers get when merging loans during the prescribed grace period. However, if you decide on deferring consolidation and apply for merging on your federal loans after the grace period, higher interest rates will then be used in arriving at the rate to be used for the loan consolidation programs.Therefore it is only advisable that one merges his college loans within the prescribed grace period in order to avail of the much lower fixed rates of interest for his student loan consolidation and obtain corresponding low monthly payments.If you are indeed decided in consolidating your college loans, even if such loans are already being repaid, merging them is definitely allowed and will be financially beneficial to you. This is why when you apply for college loan consolidation programs within the grace period the interest rates on your federal loans are fixed while the rates are still in a low level.