The Alaska Commission on Post Secondary Education offers student loan refinancing at 4.95 percent. Qualifying borrowers can use Alaska Refi to consolidate private, state and federal education loans; release co-signers; or transfer parent loans to the student’s name.

Alaskans who participated in the refinancing program pilot last year also will see their rate lowered to 4.95 percent, a reduction of 0.22 percent.

Generally, savings from refinancing range from $2,600 to $8,700 over the life of the loan for pilot program borrowers. Savings will increase with the upcoming reduction. Some loans refinanced under the pilot program had interest rates as high as 12.99 percent — reducing the interest rate over half through refinancing.

Alaska education and education refinance rates are set by the Alaska Student Loan Corporation annually, and remain fixed for the duration of the loan. The automatic reset of their loans to the new lower rate is a unique one-time benefit for borrowers who participated in the Alaska Refi pilot.

More information, up-front credit criteria, and the Refi application are available at http://acpe.alaska.gov/Refi.