The Perkins loan is a federal student loan available for students attending an accredited college or university. Students must be in their first undergraduate or graduate program and have any extraordinary financial need. In order to determine if a student is eligible to receive a Perkins Loan, students must complete and submit the FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid.Students will receive an EFC score from the Department of Education, which will determine how much a student is eligible to receive in federal financial aid. Students that are unable to contribute $0 will have a score of 0, while a student that is able to pay for all college expenses will have an EFC score of 3,000. As you can see, the range for an EFC score is between 0 and 3000. Students in the lower EFC score range will be eligible to receive a Perkins Loan.The student’s college/university is the lender of the loan, which means all disbursements will be made out to your school. The lending process is fairly simple. First, the federal government will distribute federal funds to participating colleges, who then lend these funds to attending students. When the student had completed their program or is no longer enrolled then they will make all repayments back to their school, who will then send the borrowed funds back to the federal government.There are many advantages with the Perkins Loan, which includes very competitive interest rates for borrowers and friendly loan repayment terms. The Perkins Loan interest rate is currently at 5% and is variable, which means it can fluctuate throughout the term of the loan. Even though the interest rate is variable, it is still variable competitive when you compare it against other private bank student loans. Another advantage of this loan is that it offers very friendly repayment terms. Students have an option to choose from multiple repayment plans that suites their best needs.
