1. Federal Perkins Task Force
January 29, 2013
Presented by: Nancy Paris, Xerox

2. Federal Perkins Survey Results
Question # 1 – Are you currently lending all available Federal Perkins funds?
Yes – 31
No – 6
Comments –
One school hold backs to award after the semester starts.
One school reserves funds for bad debt.

3. Federal Perkins Survey Results
Question # 2 – If you are currently lending all funds, would additional students benefit if you were to receive additional funding?
Yes – 34
No – 2
Comments –
Increased need as grad students no longer eligible for subsidized DL’s.

4. Federal Perkins Survey Results
Question # 3 – Has your campus transferred funds from Work Study to your Federal Perkins revolving fund? If yes, when and how much?
Yes – 2
No – 28
Comments –
Work Study is the more desirable program on our campus.
Lots of first gen students with no financial support – it can be the difference in being able to attend college.

5. Federal Perkins Survey Results
Question # 4 – Many institutions have indicated the benefit of campus involvement in managing other federal loan programs, such as the Direct Loan Program. Would your institution be interested in being more involved in servicing assuming that the institution would be paid for providing the service?
Yes – 20
No – 8
Comments –
Yes, we certainly could do a better job than the current servicers.

6. Federal Perkins Survey Results
Question # 4 comments (cont’d)
Additional loan counseling
This makes sense and should be considered.
As a direct loan borrower, I know first hand how difficult it can be to actually talk with someone about my loan.
It would be of value to have some control over the default rate.
We are short staffed now, so unless we got additional staff, I don’t think it would fit here.
Concerns about staffing.

7. Federal Perkins Survey Results
Question # 5 – Are the current repayment plans robust enough to meet your borrowers’ needs?
Yes – 25
No – 9
Comments –
There were 4 comments regarding the need for income based repayment (IBR) plans.

8. Federal Perkins Survey Results
Question # 6 – Deferments and forbearances – Are the lengths of these entitlements flexible enough to meet borrower needs? Please list any specific cases where the options should be expanded.
Yes – 31
No – 7
Comments –
Unemployment deferment could be extended (3).
We’d love the old internship/residency to return and replace forbearance.
Med students need extended options.
Extend forbearance by 12 months.

9. Federal Perkins Survey Results
Question # 7 – Cancellations – Are they valuable to your borrowers? If not, please explain. If yes, please list which cancellation types are more valuable.
Yes – 31
No – 7
Comments –
No reimbursement should mean no cancellation provisions.
No reimbursement hurts the loan program.
Top cancellations – Teaching (16), Nursing/Med Tech (10), Law Enforcement (4), Speech Pathology (1)

10. Federal Perkins Survey Results
Question # 8 – Please rank the following attributes within the Federal Perkins Loan Program from lowest (1) to highest (5).
Category 1 2 3 4 5
In-school int subsidy – enrolled at lending inst 9 7 8 11
Int subsidy for deferments 16
Low interest rate 10
Cancellation benefits 15 6
Aggregate loan amount 12 13

11. Next Steps Hill visits Educate, educate, educate
Need for cancellation reimbursements
Important “gap financing” provided by Federal Perkins
Self-sustaining by repayments – not a grant which needs infusion of new funds each year

12. Next Steps
White paper – Outlining COHEAO’s position on the current Federal Perkins Loan Fund to include:
History and purpose
Case studies
Testimonials (student borrowers)
Comments from Department of Education