[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 14980-14981]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          PERKINS LOAN PROGRAM

  Mr. REED. Mr. President, unless we act quickly, our longest running 
student loan program--the Perkins Loan Program--will meet its demise on 
September 30. It will end not because it is ineffective or because it 
does not make college more affordable for needy students or because we 
have debated and built consensus on how best to reform our Federal 
student loan programs. Rather, the Perkins Loan Program might end 
because some of my colleagues refuse to extend it as we routinely do 
with other programs awaiting reauthorization. We should not allow this 
to happen. I hope that my colleagues will swiftly approve H.R. 3594, 
the Higher Education Extension Act, a bipartisan bill to extend the 
Perkins Loan Program that the House of Representatives passed by a 
unanimous vote yesterday.
  The Perkins Loan Program was created in 1958 as the National Defense 
Student Loan Program. Approximately 1,500 colleges and universities, 
including a dozen in my home State of Rhode Island, disburse more than 
$1.2 billion in Perkins loans to students who have demonstrated 
exceptional financial need.
  The Perkins Loan Program carries some of the most generous terms of 
all the Federal student loan programs. Perkins loans are offered at a 
low, fixed rate of 5 percent. No interest accrues until the student 
enters repayment, which starts after a 9-month grace period, giving the 
recent graduate time to get on his or her feet. The Perkins Loan 
Program also encourages public service, offering generous loan 
forgiveness for many public sector careers, including for school 
librarians, something that I have long championed.
  Another compelling feature of the Perkins Loan Program is that 
participating institutions must contribute their own resources--$1 for 
every 2 Federal dollars. Many institutions, including colleges and 
universities in Rhode Island, have invested more than their legal 
obligation. As students repay their loans, institutions are able to 
make new loans. In other words, participating colleges and universities 
have a real stake in students being able to repay their loans, 
something that is missing from our other Federal student loan programs 
and something that I have been advocating we need more, not less, of.

[[Page 14981]]

  In Rhode Island during the 2013-2014 school year, over 9,000 students 
attending Rhode Island colleges benefitted from more than $18 million 
in low-cost Perkins loans. Without this assistance, these students 
would face a gap in their ability to pay for college and could be 
forced into risky private loans or higher cost parent loans.
  We need to maintain the Perkins Loan Program as we continue working 
towards a comprehensive reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. We 
cannot and should not leave needy students and families in the lurch by 
cutting off access to this vital program.
  I urge all of my colleagues to support swift passage of H.R. 3594, 
the Higher Education Extension Act, to ensure there is no lapse in the 
availability of Perkins loans.

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