NB: loan cons direct loan for 2007

I've been looking for info on loan cons direct loan for 2007, found some:

"We're encouraging our students to consolidate in the Direct Loan Program very heavily," says Mohan Boodram, director of admissions and financial aid at the Harvard Medical School. There, student loans are serious business: The average debt of the class of 2007 was $91,000, approximately half of it federal loans. "There really is no downside to doing an in-school consolidation when interest rates are as low as they are today."

"There are some things the Direct Loan Program offers that the other programs don't offer," adds Susan Gilbert, associate director of MBA financial aid at Harvard Business School.

At the GSE, where last year's graduating doctoral students carried an average debt of $55,000, White notes an irony in all the loan consolidation information flooding students.

White encourages her students to learn as much as they can about loan repayment and pursue the plan that best suits their individual situation: often Direct Consolidation Loans, but sometimes, no consolidation at all. "The trick about consolidation is it's not one-size-fits-all," she says.

Financial aid professionals stress that students should consider the impact of consolidation on some of the benefits of their original loan, such as a postgraduation grace period on payments or special loan forgiveness circumstances, that may not transfer to a consolidation loan.