Refinancing student loans is a technique some borrowers use to reduce their interest rate and lower their monthly payments. It requires obtaining a new student loan refinance loan and using the money to repay one or more existing educational debts.  

You must get a refinance loan from a private lender, as the Department of Education doesn't offer this option. If you have existing private loans you're refinancing, this isn't a big deal, as you'll just be changing from one private loan provider to another.

But if you have federal student loans, refinancing isn't possible without converting the debt to private student loan debt. You probably don't want to do that, for four key reasons.  

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Source Fool.com