I agree with you on the 401k business, that was silly. As for consolidation, just for your information, consolidating federal loans changed in 2006 when federal

I agree with you on the 401k business, that was silly. As for consolidation, just for your information, consolidating federal loans changed in 2006 when federal loans went to all fixed rates. It used to be, with variable rate student loans you could consolidate at a lower interest rate if rates changed. Since 2006 all Federal loans are a fixed rate and all consolidations will just set your consolidation rate at the weighted average of the smaller loans. Thus most students who plan to pay more than the minimum payments are better off not consolidating and paying off higher interest loans first. But that guy did make some poor financial decisions.