<prompt> Human: Hey all, I have couple questions regarding student loans Ill begin repaying soon. I have two sets of loans: 1. Perkins loan serviced by my alma mater: 4,000 principal at 5.0.2. Stafford loans serviced by Great Lakes: six subsidizedunsub Stafford loans ranging from 3.4-6.8 with an outstanding balance of 21,000. The weighted interest rate for them is 4.4.For further reference, I am currently salaried at 32.5kyear, spend 30 of my take-home pay on housing, and dont own or need a car. My questions: The sidebar describes avalanche and snowball methods for paying down student debt. Does anyone know if Great Lakes or Stafford-holding organizations generally apply my payments following one of those two guidelines? Does one clearly make more sense in my case? Im planning to pay down the Perkins loan more aggressively because of its higher interest rate, though the first payment for it is not due until April, whereas my Stafford payments begin in November. Should I look at refinancing my Stafford loans? Having glanced around at refinanced interest rates, and keeping in mind the benefits of defermentIBRetc, it seems more sensible to stick with my loans as they are.Reddit isnt my only outlet for thinking about this, but as a wet-behind-the-ears new grad I welcome any insight. Thanks in advance.  <response>: Snowballavalanche is the approach you take, not something the bank does. If you pay off your perkins loan first because it has a higher interest rate its the avalanche if you pay it off first because its smaller its the snowball approach. You will be doing both because it meets both criteria. I would not refinance the stafford loan. The rate is pretty low already and its easy to forbear if you ever need to, which isnt always an option if you refinance. 