<prompt> Human: So as stated in the title, my GF has 52K in student loans through SallieMae. Of the 52K, half are federal and half are private. We are really only considering refinancing the 26K in private loans as the interest for the loans are as follows:10,700 - 11.757,850 - 10.627,525 - 8.00She is paying over 800month in total for her student loans and while she can somewhat afford it, I dont see why we cant try to save some money by refinancing for a lower interest rate decent credit 700Do you think refinancing these loans is a good idea? If so, what banksorganizations do you recommend?EDIT: Also, shes been with her company for almost a year and Ive been urging her to contribute the 6 her employer matches into her 401K when she becomes eligible. Is this the right advice? Or should she focus on paying down the debt first?  <response>: Be mindful that with refinancing you could end up losing certain benefits of student loans such as the option for income based repayment. Overall, I think it is better to refinance so that the savings on interest can be applied to the principal. 