TSA Office Inspection Accountability Act of 2015
Floor Speech
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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise to support reauthorizing the Perkins Loan Program, which will expire tomorrow, September 30, if the Senate does not act.
Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed legislation to extend this vital program for 1 year. I urge my Senate colleagues to support this bill and send it immediately to the President for his signature.
I want to recognize and thank my colleagues, Senator Baldwin, Senator Casey, and the Presiding Officer, Senator Portman, for their leadership in highlighting the importance of this program. I am pleased to join with them in submitting a Senate resolution urging its extension.
Since 1958, the Perkins Loan Program has helped make college affordable for millions of students who have financial need. In the State of Maine, more than 5,000 students received a Perkins loan last year, providing $9.2 million in aid. Last Friday, I had a conversation with the president of the University of Maine, who told me just how critical Perkins loans are to UMaine students.
Perkins loans are a critical part of a college's and a student's financial aid resources. These loans help to fill gaps beyond what is available through the Department of Education's Direct Loan Program and a family's ability to pay. A Perkins loan can meet that additional need so that students do not have to resort to borrowing through private or higher cost loans, and, most of all, so they can remain in school.
Perkins borrowers are predominantly from lower income families. For example, at the University of Maine last year, 64 percent of Perkins borrowers had a family income of $40,000 or less.
The Perkins Loan Program is campus-based, which means that participating colleges and universities administer the loans. When students graduate, they make payments directly to their college or university, and those payments are used to make new loans to other students through a revolving fund. These revolving funds are a combination of a Federal contribution and an institutional match.
Now, I think it is important to understand that Congress has not had to appropriate funds for the Perkins Loan Program since 2004 because of this revolving fund concept, but institutions continue to be able to assist needy students through this self-sustaining program. That is why we simply cannot allow it to lapse.
As a Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, I know that our committee is committed to the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. I strongly support that effort. In the meantime, however, we must ensure that there is not a lapse in the financial assistance provided to students under the Perkins Loan Program.
As I mentioned earlier, the House-passed bill extends the authority for the Perkins Loan Program for an additional year and does not authorize any additional Federal funds. Students who receive a Perkins loan during this academic year and remain in the same academic program would be eligible to receive future Perkins loans.
We only have 1 day before the Perkins Loan Program expires. Students at our colleges and universities are looking at us--they are depending on us--to ensure that this vital and proven program does not expire. I urge my colleagues to pass the House-passed legislation so that the Perkins Loan Program can continue.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter from the chancellor of the University of Maine System in support of the reauthorization of the Perkins Loan Program.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
MAINE'S PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES,
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE SYSTEM,
Bangor, ME, September 23, 2015.
Hon. SUSAN M. COLLINS,
U.S. Senator, Bangor State Office,
Bangor, ME.
DEAR SENATOR COLLINS: I'm writing to you on behalf of the University of Maine System in support of the Federal Perkins Loan Program. Perkins loans are an invaluable component of an institution's and student's financial aid resources. The flexibility, low fixed interest rate and generous cancellation benefits are both unique and critical to our needy student population, especially many middle and low-income students. The program is administered at the school level providing a highly efficient, self-sustaining program with accountability, transparency, and risk-sharing.
The Federal Perkins Loan Program is in danger of being discontinued. Without Congressional intervention, this program will be terminated and the Perkins funds recalled beginning October 1, 2015.
Throughout the 56-year history of the Perkins Loan Program, $7.9 billion in federal contributions have been leveraged with institutional contributions into over $36 billion in low-cost loans to more than 30 million needy students. The fact that this program provides critical support each year to more than a half-million students across the country, operating solely right now on the existing revolving fund dollars, is quite remarkable. A key factor of the program's success is the central role of the college that originates, services, and collects the loans, while providing loan counseling for the borrower. This is one of the most effective and efficient public-private partnerships in the federal government.
Perkins loans also offer more favorable forgiveness options for borrowers than any other federal loan program. Full or partial forgiveness is available to borrowers who work in designated, high-need, public-service areas. During a time when we are trying to reduce student loan indebtedness, the loan forgiveness aspect of this unique program provides financial relief to the student, and a well-educated workforce to fortify public service in rural and inner-city communities.
Students enrolled at one of the institutions in the University of Maine System have benefited for many years because of the efficiencies of the Perkins Loan Program. In fiscal year 2013-2014 the University of Maine System awarded almost $5.1 million in Perkins Loans to 3,386 students who, without this program, would be forced to either borrow higher-cost loans or leave school altogether.
If this program is eliminated, students at one of the institutions in the University of Maine System will lose a vital resource in support of their higher education goals. Public universities already struggle to provide sufficient financial aid to students, especially the lower and middle class who currently benefit from this program.
Eliminating the Perkins Loan Program will either force students to borrow through less desirable loan programs, or universities to make even more difficult cuts in an attempt to fund the gap from the loss of this program.
I sincerely hope that the students enrolled at all of the institutions in the University of Maine System, and all across the state, can count on your support of this vitally important and proven program. Also, 1 hope you can help facilitate a budget solution that does not impact funding in other critical areas relating to higher education and other federal loan programs.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. Thank you for your time and we appreciate your hard work and support.
Sincerely,
James H. Page,
Chancellor, University of Maine System.
Ms. COLLINS. Again, I want to commend my colleagues, including the Presiding Officer, Senator Portman, and my colleague from Wisconsin who has been a leader on this issue as well.
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