I'm currently in grad school and due to graduate Dec '06. I'm also working on getting all my other debts paid off before the student loans kick in. As far as I know they are currently defered to July of '07 - I will not be done paying off my Home Equity Loan by then, although my credit cards are paid off now and I'm almost done with my car note. What is the maximum deferment I can request?

If I ask for a consolidation before the July deadline will that hinder my max deferment options?

I know that Citi offers a graduate fellowship deferment if I were to teach or assist in research at my school, but my loan is with Wells Fargo.

Can anyone point me in the right direction, please? Thanks!!