Whether to take a private student loan or refinance a federal student loan comes down to several factors, including your comfort level with the payments and your level of job security.

As college costs continue to rise, the need for students and their parents to borrow money to get a college education has also increased. Americans now owe about $1.6 trillion in student debt, according to the Federal Reserve.

In general, there are two types of student loans: federal and private. Federal student loans are issued by the government, whereas private student loans may come from different nonfederal lenders, such as banks, schools or credit unions.

First: Are your student loans federal or private?

Over the course of your studies, you may have taken out many loans. Since your repayment strategy may depend on the type of loans you have, it is important to take an inventory of all of your loans. If you have federal loans, you can create an account on and log in to see your federal loans. To identify your private loans, you can get a free annual credit report from Equifax, TransUnion or Experian. Since both federal and private education loans appear on your credit report, any education loans you see on the credit report that are not listed on are private student loans. Lees verder →