Repaying Perkins Loans
After you graduate or leave a graduate or doctoral program, you'll have a nine month grace period before you need to begin making timely monthly payments on your Perkins Loan.
The Perkins Loan repayment program bases your monthly payments on both your loan's amount and your repayment period, generally set at ten years. For example, monthly payments for a ten-year repayment period might look like the following:
- A student borrowing a total of $4,000 must pay $42.43 per month.
- A student borrowing $5,000 must pay $53.03 per month.
- A student borrowing$15,000 must pay $159.10 per month.
Perkins Loan Cancellation
The Federal government offers loan forgiveness programs to graduates who pursue careers in certain underserved fields and locations. Partial or full Perkins Loan cancellation may be available if you take one of the following jobs:
- Full-time teacher in a designated elementary or secondary school serving students from low-income families
- Full-time special education teacher (includes teaching children with disabilities in a public or other nonprofit elementary or secondary school)
- Full-time qualified professional provider of early intervention services for the disabled
- Full-time teacher of math, science, foreign languages, bilingual education, or other fields designated as teacher shortage areas
- Full-time employee of a public or nonprofit child or family services agency the provides services to high-risk children and their families in low-income communities
- Full-time nurse or medical technician
- Full-time law enforcement or corrections officer
- Full-time staff member in the education component of a Head Start Program
- Vista or Peace Corps volunteer
Talk to your school's financial aid office for more details on these options.
Avoid Perkins Loan Default
In some cases, you can apply for forbearance or a deferment to postpone or decrease your monthly payments. Loan deferment may also be available if you choose to continue your education by enrolling in another degree program. If you have difficulty making the payments on your Perkins Loan, contact your school immediately before the loan goes into default. Defaulting on any loan can affect your credit and purchasing power in the future.
Set Reasonable Repayment Priorities
If you're struggling with multiple student loans, credit cards, a mortgage or car payment with a variety of interest rates and payment plans on each, consider consolidating your loans. Loan consolidation combines all of your loan payments into one monthly payment and one interest rate, determined by a weighted average of your high and low interest rates.
