The best thing that you can do is talk to your loan officer about your options. If you lay everything out on the table, you might get more luck than you think. Plus, you can get on a repayment program with your federal loans that bases your payments on your income, which is a good way to prevent them from being so expensive.
I just went through a similar situation. I ended up taking out a hardship forbearance just to RE enroll in school. I now have a plan to get as many scholarships during school as I can, because every dollar I do not have to pay back will be helpful. I understand that to shop online just like we all do. There is a site called smarter bucks where you shop online and they help you pay down your student debt. This is something I'm doing well in school also. What I went through is a loan consolidation conversation with those at Fed loan. You can call Fed loan and ask them about consolidating all your student loans into one. Then you will have to pay back the 15% of your elastic income.
