I currently have 3 loans with Nelnet:
I have $36k in a Direct Consolidation Loan at 7.625 apr.
I have 6k in Direct Plus at 6.4% and another 24k in a Direct Plus loan at 7.2% apr..

The first one is in repayment and the second two are deferred but incurring interest.

The first loan is for my daughter who will be graduating soon to become a teacher.
The other two are for my son for which I have no idea if there will be ever any loan forgiveness.  I don’t believe there is much loan forgiveness anyways for parent plus loans.  My adjusted gross income is about $85k and I’m single head of household, widower.

Question is should I do a department of education consolidation loan or should I refinance through private lenders.  My credit is pretty good, I believe around 780.  When I speak with Nelnet, they advise against refinancing through private lenders because I will lose protection of dept. of education but it seems like their interest is higher.  I’m at a loss on what the right decision is because there’s nobody to ask that doesn’t have a self-serving interest.

Thanks