STUDYING can be back-breaking and may well be your concern if your tuition is financed through student loans. So give yourself that perfect gift this Christmas by having your loan consolidated. Just like student loans, there are two kinds of student loan consolidation. One is the federal student loan consolidation. Even if you have acquired your student loan from a private lending firm such as Sallie Mae, you will still be eligible to apply for student loan consolidation from the federal government. That is in consonance with the No Child Left Behind Act which to the general public caters only to basic education enrollees. In actuality, the No Child Left Behind Act has provisions which gives incentives to Americans to continue with their education even through the post-doctoral degree and beyond. That means, the law has imposed systems that even a post-grad degree holder can have the eligibility to apply for student loans even if he or she is just taking up a two-week refresher course in whatever endeavor the person is in.

Federal student loan consolidation has minimal interest rather than those charged by private lending firms such as Sallie Mae. But the catch is that those who can avail it are only the people who are really indigents. They have to show documents for that such as the income tax return or the residency status in whether you’re leaving on a trailer park or in a posh subdivision.

Once you have your student loan consolidation approved before Christmas, you can free yourself from all headaches associated with academic life. Just free your mind. Take a vacation somewhere. Do not worry about paying your loans, you will still have 30 years to pay them after you’ve graduated from college, giving you ample time to have a decent income and at the same time attend to your financial obligations.

So go ahead and book now for a vacation at Lake Tahoe. It’s more fun to be there if you’re in a road trip with your friends. You can adore and admire all the beautiful sights leading to California and Nevada. Have fun practicing skiing at expert schools located in the area where most of the instructors are themselves skiing champions and runners-up in the past. But it’s not just wintry sports like dog sled racing that attract the adventurous at heart in South Lake Tahoe or in any parts of the lake. There are lots of attractions there such as cruising around the lake in a mini-yacht or even dining out at the five-star restaurant of a casino hotel where roulettes and poker are played.

But if what you want is an overseas vacation, then how about cruising across the Atlantic and go to Spain. There are lots of attractions in Spain worth savoring this Christmas season and some of them are not even located in mainland Spain in the Iberian Peninsula. Islands such as Tenerife and Palma de Mallorca are perfect holiday vacation spots.