Federal Perkins Loan Program

Floor Speech

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Mr. President, time is running out for the Senate to act to save the Federal Perkins Loan Program.

If we do nothing, this critical program that makes college affordable for 30,000 students per year in Illinois will expire at the end of the day.

Perkins was first authorized as part of the National Defense Education Act of 1958; and, unlike Federal student loans that we often think about, Perkins is a campus-based loan program.

Participating colleges and universities make low-interest federally subsidized loans to students with exceptional financial need.

The program also offers forgiveness and cancellation options to qualifying borrowers.

The real key to Perkins is the flexibility it offers to schools to provide financial aid to students to make up for gaps in costs that Pell or other financial aid may not cover.

If a student has an unexpected change in the financial situation of their family, say a parent loses a job, Perkins allows a college or university to step in and provide aid to that student to allow them to continue their studies.

The campus-based nature of the program means that students' individual financial needs can be met more effectively, and in my home State of Illinois, more than 150 institutions of higher education provide Perkins loans.

College presidents and financial aid administrators across Illinois have told me that without this key piece to the Federal financial aid puzzle, many students may be left behind, unable to afford a college education.

But it does not have to come to that.

The House sent us a bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support that would extend this worthy program for another year.

I am disappointed that an attempt to take up and pass this House measure to continue the Perkins program was blocked today on the Senate floor.

Despite today's setback, I hope the Senate will still act to extend the Federal Perkins Loan Program and help keep college in reach for more than half a million students across the country who rely on this program.

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