Reed & 53 Senate Colleagues Urge Senate Leadership to Reauthorize Perkins Student Loan Program
Press Release
U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) joined Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Susan Collins (R-ME), Robert Casey (D-PA), Rob Portman (R-OH) and 48 Senate colleagues today in sending a bipartisan letter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Harry Reid urging them to take up and pass legislation to reauthorize the Perkins Student Loan Program. The letter, cosigned by a majority of the Senate, questions how this critical lifeline for many low-income students was allowed to expire on September 30, despite receiving a unanimous one-year, no-cost extension from the House of Representatives on September 28.
The Perkins Loan Program, the nation's oldest federal student loan program, has existed with broad bipartisan support since 1958 and has provided more than $28 billion in loans through almost 26 million awards to students in all 50 states. In the last academic year alone, the program lent $1.1 billion to more than half a million students with financial need across more than 1,500 institutions of higher education. For the 2013-14 school year, the program lent over $18 million to more than 9,000 Rhode Island students.
Since its expiration, a bipartisan coalition of Senators have twice attempted to pass a reauthorization bill, only to have it blocked by some Republicans. Reed again called on Senate leadership to renew the program earlier this month.
"Perkins is a cost-effective program that has helped thousands of deserving students in Rhode Island finance their education. Without this assistance, students and families could face a gap in their ability to pay for college, and could be forced into risky, higher-cost private loans. Instead of discontinuing Perkins and making it more difficult for hardworking students to afford college, we should be working to address college affordability and accessibility. It's time to act. I hope we can get a vote soon to assist our college students and reauthorize this worthwhile program," said Reed.
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