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August Recess: A Great Time to Contact Your Legislators
(August 2010) The August recess is upon us. While these breaks mean a lull in official legislative business, they provide an excellent opportunity for you to reach out to your legislators to ask them to support the Perkins Loan Program.

During the recess, COHEAO recommends members call the District officers of their legislators to seek support for an extension of Perkins (H.R. 5448) as well as funding for the program. These efforts will serve to support your efforts to contact your legislators’ Washington offices.

If you have any questions on contacting your legislators, COHEAO is here to help. Please contact Wes Huffman (whuffman@wpllc.net) if you need assistance. We also ask that you share any feedback you receive with Wes.
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Spratt Introduces Perkins Extension
(June 2010) Rep. John Spratt (D-SC), chairman of the House Budget Committee, introduced legislation last week to extend the life of the Perkins Loan program. The bipartisan Perkins Loan Extension Act (H.R. 5448) was introduced in the House of Representatives by Spratt and cosponsored by two longtime Perkins supporters, Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), as well as by Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.

Under current law, colleges will begin repaying prior federal funding to the Treasury in October 2012 instead of continuing to make new loans with the funds, a change that would spell an end to the program. The recall date was pushed back a number of times in past legislation, most recently in the 2007 College Cost Reduction and Access Act.

Spratt’s bill changes the repayment date to October 2013, extending the Perkins loan program to allow colleges more time to plan how to continue providing assistance to students who are eligible for Perkins loans.
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House Passes Reconciliation Bill, No Changes for Perkins in Legislation
(March 2010) The House of Representatives passed H.R. 4872, the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010, by a vote of 220-211. The decision was made to remove the Direct Perkins Loan proposal from the legislation. This means that for now there will be no changes to the Perkins Loan Program at this time.
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Spratt Expresses Concern with Perkins Changes
(February 2010) House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt (D-SC) asked several questions of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on the proposed changes for Perkins Loans at a Committee hearing in February. Secretary Duncan appeared before the House Budget Committee this week, testifying on the Department’s FY2011 budget request and continuing to speak out in support of SAFRA.

Spratt asked Duncan if the current program is working, specifically mentioning “the human touch on campus” offered through the Perkins’ campus-based servicing structure. Duncan responded yes, Perkins “is working,” and said that was why the Department was seeking to expand it.
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New Report Highlights Effectiveness of Campus Involvement in Loan Repayment
(February 2010) A new report highlights the effectiveness of campus-based default prevention and debt management initiatives. The Education Sector report, “Lowering Student Default Rates: What One Consortium of Historically Black Institutions Did to Succeed,” shows how colleges and universities help students manage their student loan debt effectively and successfully.

The study examines a group of colleges and universities in Texas that serve many low-income students. Its findings illustrate many of the everyday practices and policies used by campuses to administer the Perkins Loan Program.
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COHEAO Hosts 2010 Annual Conference
(January 2010) The COHEAO Annual Conference took place outside of Washington, DC with a series of informative sessions on a variety of topics. The sessions are available at www.coheao.org. In addition, several dozen COHEAO members made visits to their Representatives and Senators in Congress to talk about Perkins Loan proposals and to call for modification of the President's proposals to include school-based servicing, the payment of the in-school interest benefit and continuation of loan cancellations.

Congressman Tim Bishop (D-NY) spoke to the attendees about the upcoming student lending legislation. He indicated that he remains supportive of making some modifications to the House-passed version of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act in the Perkins Loan area. Specifically, he supports allowing schools to have the option of servicing the new Direct Perkins Loans and he supports some sort of institutional match. He also remains supportive of restoring some of the in school interest benefit. He had proposed having the institutions cover the in-school benefit instead of providing a match, but he now realizes that this would rapidly become too costly for institutions to manage.
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Student Loans Mentioned in the State of the Union Address
(January 2010) The President delivered his State of the Union Address on Wednesday, outlining his agenda for the upcoming year. Although analysts report education issues were addressed in about five percent of President Obama's remarks, he did use the occasion to urge the Senate to pass the SAFRA legislation and unveil a revised version of the Income-Based Repayment program. The revised IBR would limit student loan payments to 10 percent of income after certain adjustments and reduce the time needed to have the balance forgiven from 25 years to 20 years. Direct Loan borrowers in public service jobs would still be eligible for forgiveness after making 10 years of payments. COHEAO members interested in our memos providing further details on the State of the Union and the President's FY2011 Budget should email Wes Huffman (whuffman@wpllc.net).
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