NASFAA Joins Reps. Pocan and Slaughter to Rally Support for Perkins Extension
By Allie Bidwell, Communications Staff
With the Perkins Loan Program set to expire at the end of the month, higher education advocates joined two members of Congress Wednesday to urge legislators to extend the program. Among the advocates was NASFAA President Justin Draeger, who explained that financial aid administrators have serious concerns about the Perkins program being pulled apart in a piecemeal fashion without addressing the funding gap it would create for future students in a larger reauthorization bill.
Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) hosted a press conference outside the Capitol, speaking about how the federal loan program has helped students in their home districts, as well as others across the country. Cyndy Littlefield of the Association of Jesuit Colleges & Universities, and Jon Fansmith of American Council on Education also spoke during the press conference.
“A college education opens doors to greater job opportunities and financial stability. At a time where higher education costs are skyrocketing, Congress needs to do everything it can to ensure that students are able to attend college without being weighed down with mountains of debt,” Pocan said. “The Perkins Loan Program is a vital tool to help make college accessible and affordable for all students.”
During the press conference, Pocan and Slaughter said that more than 28,000 students in Wisconsin, and more than 5,000 students in Slaughter’s district in New York have benefitted from Perkins loans.
“Across the country, there are throngs of students coming back to school. Some worry about making friends, some worry about mistakes, but an awful lot of them worry about how they’re going to afford tuition,” Slaughter said during the press conference. “Low-income students around the country are given a lifeline called the Perkins Loan. But the funding will run out at the end of this month if it is not reauthorized by this Congress.”
The federal, subsidized loans are awarded to lower-income students and jointly funded by institutions and the federal government, as Draeger wrote in an opinion piece for The Hill.
“Our members serve nine out of 10 undergraduates enrolled in the United States, and they know that the Federal Perkins Loan Program represents a very effective partnership between the federal government and institutions,” Draeger said at the press conference. “A lot has been said in recent months at Congressional hearings and elsewhere about simplifying student aid programs. That’s an important conversation to have, as long as simplification does not result in fewer dollars to students. We are committed to providing access to higher education so that no qualified student is ultimately denied the opportunity to a college education.”
Last week, Slaughter hosted an event with college and university presidents in New York to urge Congress to act to prevent the program from expiring, and sent a letter to the leaders of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce with signatures from nearly 100 members of Congress – both Democratic and Republican – in support of the program.
Pocan, along with Rep. Luke Messer (R-IN) in June introduced a resolution in support of the program that has since garnered 50 cosponsors.
“Perkins Loans are special and a good investment all around: they are available to low-income students, have a low, capped interest rate, and are administered by the colleges and paid back to that college… It’s a self-sustaining program,” Slaughter said. “It would be beyond foolish to do away with it.”
Publication Date: 9/10/2015
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