(April 2009). COHEAO is continuing to work in Washington on Perkins Loan issues, as well as other issues that affect COHEAO members. This memo is to follow up on the informational memorandum of April 3rd as well as last Friday’s Torch, which had additional information. Please be sure and check the Torch for additional updates as they happen.

Because it is important to make COHEAO’s voice heard in Congress, we are suggesting that you send a letter supporting increased funding for Perkins and expansion to additional schools while retaining the school- and student-centric revolving fund structure instead of converting to a national loan servicer under contract with the Department of Education. A sample letter is on the website in the grassroots section. You may visit www.house.gov to find your representatives and senators.

The COHEAO Board of Directors has set policies on responding to President Obama’s proposals to create a new version of the Perkins Loan Program. The policies are set forth in the talking points document that we sent on April 3rd, and which is attached again to this email. Based on those positions, letters have been created that are designed for you to send to your members of Congress and for your students to send to members of Congress. These letters are also found in the grassroots section for you to customize and send. We would greatly appreciate hearing about any responses you receive or comments you have.

COHEAO continues to hold discussions with Congress and with the Obama Administration about the future of the Perkins Loan Program. Clearly, the proposal to provide additional funding for Perkins has generated a great deal of interest, but the discussion of the details has barely begun. COHEAO and other members of the Washington higher education community met with Robert Shireman and Dan Madzelan of the Education Department earlier this month to ask questions about the Administration proposal. Many of those answers have been posted on the Department’s website at: http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget10/finaid/faq-perkins.html.

Understanding a proposal and agreeing with it are two different things, of course. COHEAO is proposing a modification, which is reflected in our talking points, which would welcome the increased funding for the program, yet would keep the benefits of a campus based program in place.

Congress has not considered the Perkins proposal thus far, and likely won’t begin to for some time. We will let you know when a schedule becomes clearer. Either way, there is a long way to go before any change would take place.

Please let us know if you have any questions, and thank you for your support of COHEAO!

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