<prompt> Human: I have my student plus and parent plus loans through Sallie Mae. I intend to refinance them through a private lender being offered lower interest rate. Ideally I would want this new loan still classified as a student loan so I could count the interest paid on my taxes. Sallie Mae informed me that this is not possible, and if the loan is paid off through a third party it could not be considered a student loan. This seems weird to me, why are they the only ones who can have my loan classified as a student loan?Does anyone know of any way to do this, or is Sallie Mae correct and I am stuck paying the mandated interest rates if I want it to be a student loan?Thanks!  <response>: Its my understanding that due to newer federal regulations, federal student loans cannot be consolidated or refinanced through private lenders still be classified as a student loan. Although a private lender could cover the balance of the Sallie Mae student loan amount through another type of loan, it would not be considered a student loan nor have guaranteed protections of a student loan forbearance options if you ever went back to school, interest deductions if you qualify, etc. Also, the parent plus loan is not legally your loan as its in your parents name, although you could certainly help pay that back if you wanted to help. . 