Student Accounts Office
Federal Perkins Loan Repayment
What is a Perkins Loan?
The Federal Perkins Loan is a federal student loan that must be repaid. The interest rate for the Perkins is fixed at 5% awarded to students who demonstrate exceptional financial need. These loans have a 9-month grace period once your enrollment falls below half time status or you leave the University. While you are in school at least half time during your grace period, interest will not accrue and no payments are required. Perkins loans are administered through the office of Financial Aid and funds are limited. Please keep in mind that your Perkins Loan is separate from your Stafford Loan.
You will be billed on a monthly basis for this loan. It is your responsibility to make certain that the billing agent has your current address. Our billing agent (servicer) is ECSI (Educational Computer Systems Inc.).
Late payments are subject to late fees and will be reported to a national credit bureau. Consult your promissory note for a complete list of your rights and responsibilities.
To contact ECSI:
Address for Borrower Payment and Correspondence:
- Lesley University
- c/o Educational Computer Systems, Inc.
- 181 Montour Run Road
- Coraopolis, PA 15108-9408
- ECSI can be reached via telephone at: 888.549.ECSI (3274)
- Or, via the web at: www.ecsi.net.
Deferment/Cancellation Eligibility and Definitions
Deferment:
Half-time Enrollment Borrowers may defer their loans if they are enrolled at least half time in a degree-granting program in a school of higher education. This deferment is unlimited and is provided for all NDSL/Perkins student loans. The deferment must be requested for each term of enrollment.
Rehabilitation Training Borrowers who are enrolled in a course of study that is part of a certified rehabilitation training program for disabled individuals are eligible for deferment of both principal and interest. This deferment is unlimited. The rehabilitation agency must be licensed, approved, or certified by one of the following agencies:
- A State agency with responsibility for vocational rehabilitation programs.
- A State agency with responsibility for drug abuse treatment programs.
- A State agency with responsibility for mental health services programs.
- A State agency with responsibility for alcohol abuse treatment programs.
- The Department of Veteran Affairs.
The program must provide the borrower with rehabilitation services under a written plan that:
- Is individualized to meet the borrower's needs;
- Specifies the date on which the services began and when they are expected to end; and
- Is structured in a way that requires a substantial commitment by the borrower to his or her rehabilitation.
Graduate Fellowship Study. Borrowers may defer their loan for enrollment in a graduate fellowship program that is approved by the Department of Education or engaged in a graduate or postgraduate fellowship-supported study outside the United States.
Internship or Residency Program. A borrower may qualify for 2 years of internship deferment if the following requirements are met:
- The borrower must have a bachelor's degree before being admitted to the program; and
- The program must be required by the state-licensing agency for certification for professional practice or service.
- The deferment request must state that the borrower has been accepted into the internship program and the anticipated date of completion.
Unemployment Deferment. Borrowers are eligible for 3 years of deferment if the borrower is unable to secure full time employment. The following documentation may be required:
- documentation of unemployment
- documentation of attempts to secure employment
Economic Hardship Deferment. Borrowers are considered to have an economic hardship if: 1) they are working full-time but earning an amount that does not exceed the greater of (a) the federal minimum wage, or (b) an amount equal to 100% of the poverty line for a family of two; or 2) student loan debt is excessive in comparison to your income, as defined by Federal Regulations. To see if you qualify for this benefit, please contact your student loan representative.
Hardship as determined by the school. This deferment defers payments to principal only. Interest continues to accrue. In most cases, interest charges will be billed monthly. This benefit is available to borrowers with loans awarded prior to 7/1/93, and only for periods of prolonged illness or unemployment.
Peace Corps/ACTION Program Volunteer. For Federal Perkins Loans taken after 07/01/93, this deferment runs only during periods for which a borrower is requesting cancellation. For Federal Perkins Loans taken before 07/01/93, borrowers may request the deferment for up to three years during periods of full-time Peace Corps volunteer service. However, the borrower needs to serve one full year in the Peace Corps to be eligible for this benefit.
Volunteer Service must meet the following guidelines:
- Borrower serves in the volunteer program for one full year.
- The volunteer program is a tax-exempt program under the provisions of section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.
- The volunteer service provides service to low-income persons and their communities to assist them in eliminating poverty and poverty-related human, social, and environmental conditions.
- The borrower only receives a stipend.
- The borrower, as part of his/her duties, does not give religious instruction, conduct worship service, engage in religious proselytizing.
For Federal Perkins loans taken before 7/01/93, borrowers may request up to three years of deferment.
Armed Services (Military). For Federal Perkins Loans awarded on or after 07/01/2001 up to three years of deferment available to US Armed Forces reservists and National Guard members called to active duty and regular military personnel assigned to duty stations other than their usual duty stations due to war, military operation, or national emergency. For Federal Perkins Loans awarded on or after 07/01/93 deferment is available during periods for which a borrower is requesting cancellation. For Federal Perkins and Direct Loans taken before 07/01/93, borrowers may request the deferment for up to three years for regular active duty in either the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, or Coast Guard, regardless of any cancellation request for those years.
Temporary Total Disability. "Temporary totally disabled" means the inability, by virtue of injury or illness, to attend an eligible institution of higher education or to be gainfully employed during a reasonable period of recovery. For Perkins loans awarded before 7/1/93, borrowers may apply for this deferment for up to three years. The deferment is granted during a period in which you are temporarily totally disabled as established by affidavit of a qualified physician or are unable to secure gainful employment because you are providing care for a spouse who is temporarily totally disabled. Those who borrowed for the first time between 07/01/87 and 07/01/93 may also apply for this deferment for care of a disabled, dependent child.
Forbearance. Borrowers may defer their NDSL/Perkins student loans for up to three years, renewing annually, for deferment of principal if their Title IV debt burden equals or exceeds 20% of their gross income. Interest continues to accrue and in most cases will be billed monthly.
Cancellation:
Low-Income Teacher. Borrowers can receive cancellation for each year of full time teaching in a school designated by the Department of Education (DOE) as serving students from low-income families. The elementary or secondary school must qualify for funds, in that year, under the Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965; and have been selected by DOE as having more than 30 percent of the school's total enrollment made up of title I children.
A teacher is a person who provides:
- direct classroom teaching;
- classroom-type teaching in a non-classroom setting; or
- educational services to students directly related to classroom teaching such as school librarians or guidance counselors.
A supervisor, administrator, researcher, or curriculum specialist is not a teacher unless he/she primarily provides direct and personal educational services to students. Certain professionals, licensed by the state, can also qualify to receive the cancellation if the services they provide are part of the educational curriculum for handicapped children. Such professionals include speech pathologists and audiologists, psychologists and counselors, physical or occupational therapists, and recreational therapists.
The maximum cancellation is 100% over five years (15/15/20/20/30%) on NDSL/Perkins loans.
Special Education Teachers. Borrowers can receive cancellation for each year of full time teaching of infants, toddlers, children, or youth with disabilities, in a public or other non-profit elementary or secondary school system. "Infants, toddlers, children or youth with disabilities" is defined as ages from birth through 21 who need early intervention as defined in 672(1) of the Individuals with Disabilities Act or require special service because of disabilities as defined in 602(a)(1) of the Individuals with Disabilities Act.
The maximum cancellation is 100% over five years (15/15/20/20/30%) on NDSL/Perkins loans.
Early Intervention Services. Borrowers may receive cancellation for each year of employment as a provider of early intervention services in a public or other non-profit program under public supervision. "Early intervention services" are developmental services that are designed to meet a handicapped infant's or toddler's (individuals from birth to age 2) developmental needs in one or more of the following areas:
- physical cognitive;
- language;
- speech;
- psycho-social development; or
- self help skills.
The maximum cancellation is 100% over five years (15/15/20/20/30%) on NDSL/Perkins loans.
Handicapped Teacher. Borrowers can receive cancellation for each year of employment as a full time teacher of children or youth with disabilities. Teaching must take place in a public or other non-profit elementary or secondary school system. "Children or youth with disabilities" is defined as ages from 3 through 21 who require special service because of disabilities as defined in 602(a)(1) of the Individuals with Disabilities Act. A majority of a teacher's students must be considered handicapped to qualify for this cancellation.
The maximum cancellation is 100% over five years (15/15/20/20/30%) on NDSL/Perkins loans.
Shortage Area Teacher. Borrowers can receive cancellation for each year of full-time teaching in mathematics, science, bilingual education, foreign languages, or any other field of expertise where the State education agency determines that there is a shortage of qualified teachers.
The maximum cancellation is 100% over five years (15/15/20/20/30%) on NDSL/Perkins loans.
Provider of Services to High-risk Children. Borrowers can receive cancellation for each year of full time employment in a public or private nonprofit child family services agency. The borrower must be providing or supervising the provision of services to high-risk children who are from low-income communities and the families of such children. "High-risk children" is defined as children who are at risk of abuse or neglect, have been abused or neglected, have serious emotional, mental, or behavioral disturbances, reside in placements outside their homes, or are involved in the juvenile justice system.
The maximum cancellation is 100% over five years (15/15/20/20/30%) on NDSL/Perkins loans.
Total and Permanent Disability or Death. Permanent and Total Disability must be verified by a physician's affidavit. "Permanent and Total Disability" is defined as the inability to work and earn money or attend school because of an impairment that is expected to continue indefinitely or result in death. This cancellation does not apply if the medical condition leading to permanent disability existed before the borrower accepted the loan. Cancellation for death requires a certified copy of the Death Certificate.
Head Start Staff Member. Borrowers can receive 100% cancellation (15% each academic year) on NDSL/Perkins loans if they serve as full-time staff members in a "Head Start" program, if -
- The program operates for a complete academic year, or its equivalent; and
- The borrower's salary does not exceed the salary of a comparable employee working in the local educational agency of the area served by the Head Start program.
Law Enforcement or Corrections Officer. Borrowers can receive cancellation for each year for full time service as a law enforcement or correction officer for an eligible employing agency. An eligible agency is:
- A local, State, or Federal law enforcement or corrections agency;
- That is public-funded; and
- The principal activities of which pertain to crime prevention, control, or reduction or the enforcement of the criminal law.
- A borrower qualifies for cancellation under this section only if the borrower is:;
- A sworn law enforcement officer; or
- A person whose principal responsibilities are unique to the criminal justice system.
A borrower can receive 100% cancellation over five years (15/15/20/20/30%) on NDSL/Perkins loans.
Nurse or Medical Technician. Borrowers can receive cancellation for each year of full time employment as a nurse or medical technician providing health care services. A nurse is defined as a licensed practical nurse, a registered nurse, or other individual who is licensed by the appropriate State agency to provide nursing services. A Medical Technician is defined as an allied health professional that is certified, registered, or licensed by the appropriate State agency. An allied health professional is someone who assists, facilitates, or complements the work physicians and other specialists in the health care system.
The maximum cancellation is 100% over five years (15/15/20/20/30%) on NDSL/Perkins loans.
Military Service. Borrowers can receive cancellation for each twelve-month period of service as a member of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard in an area of hostilities that qualifies for special pay under section 310 of Title 37 of the United States Code.
The maximum cancellation is 50% of the original loan amount (12.5% per year for 4 years.)
Peace Corps or ACTION Volunteer. Borrowers can receive cancellation for each complete year of service as a volunteer under -
- The Peace Corps Act; or
- The Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973
The maximum cancellation is 70% of the original loan amount over a 4 year period (15/15/20/20%).
Federal Perkins Loan Rehabilitation:
Beginning July 1, 2000, the Federal Government added new regulation for Perkins Loan defaulters. Rehabilitation is a mechanism that the borrower can use to bring their account and credit history back into good standing. A borrower can on rehabilitate the loan one time during the life of the loan. In accordance with the amendment of the loan rehabilitation, the defaulted borrower is required to:
- The borrower must request Rehabilitation in writing
- Make twelve (12) consecutive on-time, voluntary monthly payments (one per month)
- If the borrower misses even ONE payment, the plan must start from the beginning in calculating the 12 consecutive, on-time monthly payments
Within 30 days of receipt of the 12th consecutive monthly payment, Lesley University will return the borrower to current billing status and instruct the credit bureau to remove all derogatory reporting from the account. Once the loan is rehabilitated, the borrower is subject to terms, condition, benefits and privileges of the borrower's promissory note. This includes eligibility for deferments, forbearance, cancellation, and flexible repayment options. The borrower is subject to the same responsibilities under the note,which include making regular monthly payments and informing the school of an address change.
