Alexander on Perkins Loans: Time to Simplify Student Aid System to One Grant, One Loan, One Work Study Program

WASHINGTON, September 28 — Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement on the expiration of the Perkins Loan Program:

“In 2015, Congress passed a bipartisan law to phase out the Perkins loan program as a part of a longer term effort to simplify federal student aid. The Senate education committee will begin this fall to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, and my hope is that we can move toward a simplified student aid system of one grant, one loan and one work study program. Both President Obama and President George Bush had recommended terminating the Perkins Loan program. After the 2015 law passed, students and institutions were informed of the details of the phase out. No student who received a Perkins loan will lose a Perkins loan this academic year as a result of this agreement, but after September 30, no new Perkins loans will be granted.”

Background:

In December of 2015, the Senate passed the Federal Perkins Loan Program Extension Act of 2015 which extended the Perkins Loan Program two years for eligible undergraduate students and one year for graduate students who already received a Perkins Loan. This legislation included requirements to inform students that the program would be ending.

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