Students apply for the Federal Perkins Loan by filing the FAFSA, annually, (available on-line at www.fafsa.ed.gov).
Funding for the Federal Perkins Loan is campus-based, which means that federal funds are provided to individual universities to administer at their discretion (although always within federally governed parameters). Federal Perkins Loan amounts and eligibility requirements may therefore vary from university to university.
At Indiana University Bloomington, Federal Perkins Loan details are as follows:
- Eligibility:
- A student must demonstrate exceptional financial need when FAFSA data is evaluated for the entire applicant population.
- Award priority is given to renewal applicants with exceptional financial need..
- The FAFSA must be filed by the IUB priority deadline (March 10).
- The student must be enrolled at least half time.
- The Federal Perkins Loan is a need-based award and thus counts towards fulfilling a student’s overall need figure.
- The Federal Perkins Loan is subsidized, which means that the federal government pays the interest on the loan while the student is enrolled at least half time.
- The interest rate is fixed at 5%.
- The Federal Perkins Loan is administered by the Indiana University Student Loan Administration (SLA). They can be reached at 812-855-4511.
- When a student is packaged with a Federal Perkins Loan, they will receive an e-mail from the SLA, directing them to iuloans.signmyloan.com, in order to sign their Federal Perkins Loan promissory note.
- A student will need to sign a new promissory note each academic year/summer term.
- Students must complete Federal Perkins Loan exit counseling when instructed to do so by the Indiana University Student Loan Administration. This on-line counseling will inform students of the details regarding repayment of Federal Perkins Loans.
- Repayment begins nine months after a student graduates or drops below half-time enrollment.
