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ED Responds To NASFAA’s Request For Clarification On Perkins Guidance

Mandy Sponholtz, Policy & Federal Relations Staff

As NASFAA previously reported, the Department of Education (ED) provided clarification about the Perkins Loan grandfathering provisions in a questions-and-answers document. In late June, ED updated two of the Q&As based on questions from NASFAA:

  • In question 3, ED removed the reference indicating that an awarded subsidized loan meant the loan must be disbursed before a school may award a Perkins loan. In its place, ED clarified that a school still must award the subsidized loan for which the student is eligible, and if a student declines those funds, the school still must consider the amount of the subsidized loan when awarding the Perkins loan. 
    • NASFAA read this statement to indicate that if a student no longer has subsidized loan eligibility, the school may still award a Perkins loan to an otherwise eligible student. Further, if a student does not have any subsidized loan eligibility, there would be no subsidized loan to consider in the awarding of the Perkins loan funds. Even though ED did not provide these additional details in the Q&A document, it did confirm that NASFAA’s interpretation of question 3 is accurate.
  • In question 7, ED updated the grandfathering reference from 2015-2016 to 2014-2015, in accordance with the current law.

NASFAA encourages members to contact your Congressional representatives to save the Perkins loan program. We will continue to monitor action on both the grandfathering and wind-down provisions, as well as any additional advocacy efforts to retain the Perkins loan program for students.

 

Publication Date: 7/7/2015


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