The story is the same all over. After four, six or even twelve years of school and training you are finally ready to begin your career. But while your income opportunities have been enhanced by your undergraduate and post graduate degrees, your disposable income is impacted by the balance of your student loans.

If you are like most graduates, your student loan portfolio is a crazy quilt of government subsidized and private sector instruments. Each with its own interest rate, balance, payment schedule and, most importantly, monthly due dates.

Some loans may even have a balloon payments and specific pay by dates that make keeping your head above water a problem.

Fortunately, there are solutions in the form of school loan consolidation plans. These plans are similar to offerings that help consolidate credit card bills and mortgages.

The advantage of a school loan consolidation plan is that the many payments are turned into one single payment, which is most times smaller than the sum of the payments you were making before.

A good place to start when looking for this type of loan is the US Department of Education's Federal Direct Consolidation Loan web site. (http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/DirectLoan/index.htm)

This site will explain various options available from the government to combine various Federal Loan balances into a single loan.

If you are eligible, this can be a great option since these loans are usually at a lower interest rate than the private sector versions.

Many colleges and Universities are able to help you get set up in a Federal school loan consolidation plan as soon as you have graduated. This is a good idea to look into, rather than waiting until you get behind on your payments.

If the Federal plan is not an option, private sector plans are also available.

Generally speaking, almost every Federal Loan plan can be consolidated by an outside loan vendor.

You should be aware, however, that if you have entered into loan forgiveness/reduction programs, you may incur additional financial responsibilities by opting out early. These programs usually involve taking a specific job for a set period of time. (e.g. Teaching in an inner city school.) Leaving the program early will usually cancel part or all of the forgiveness or payment reduction and will affect the final total to be consolidated.

School loan consolidation often works by extending the time to repay by years or even decades. Since you have more time to pay, the monthly payment is considerably less. However, this also means the the interest continues to accrue and can often mean more money being paid over the time than with shorter term loans.

Like any financial decision, school loan consolidation must be done carefully. While there are lots of good choices out there, there are other companies that will take advantage of your situation.

To avoid being a victim, make the move to consolidation early, before you are in financial trouble and your credit score is adversely affected. This will help you to get the best possible interest rate and will result in big savings over time.

Working with a local bank you are familiar with is usually the safest way to go. Since you are a customer on several levels, they have a vested interest in your financial health.