Consolidate federal and private loans together?

I am trying to determine if it would make sense to consolidate my private student loans with my federal student loans, or should I keep them separate?

The federal loans you can deduct interest payments on your taxes, but private loans you cannot. Also, if you private loan is 2 to 3 pts cheaper than fed. loan (generally not thought), then the lower interest rate is probably better than the interest tax deduction I feel. For ex. I had a fed. loan in the 8.25% range and thru a credit card offerring of 2.99% for life of loan, I switched to private loan but I can't ever miss a payment otherwise rate jumps up high, a risk! But think it thru and see if tax benefit is better than lower charges in long run, if you can find a low interest life of loan rate.
It worked for me.

It is always better to consolidate your federal loans separately from your private loans. If you consolidate federal loans and private loans together your loans will turn into one big private loan with a variable interest rate that is based on your credit. This means your rate won’t be fixed and could go sky high.

Also, a private loan consolidation can rack up late fees and charges just like a loan you borrow from a bank.

Thirdly, with federal loans you can postpone making payments when you cannot afford them, but you can’t do this if you consolidate them with your private loans.

Here’s some places you can go to do comparison shopping:

Federal Loan Consolidation:
http://forums.kiplinger.com/showthread.php?t=8269
http://www.bankrate.com
http://slbg.greentreegazette.com/gtree/

Private Loan Consolidation:
http://www.bankrate.com/
http://www.simpletuition.com/consolidation/looking_private_loan