Federal Perkins Loan

***Congress did not reauthorize the Federal Perkins Loan Program. No further offers of Perkins will be made.*** This section will only provide information about re-payment.

How to Repay or Defer Perkins Loan Payments

Repayment begins after your nine-month grace period. The grace period will begin any time you are not enrolled at least half-time (with the exception of summer). For most students the grace period begins after graduation.

Perkins loan repayments are made to Penn State. If you cannot make payments on your loan after the nine-month grace period, you may be able to postpone repayment by pursuing deferment or forbearance. For more information view the repayment information on the Office of the Bursar's site. 

Perkins Loans Borrowed From Other Institutions

If you have borrowed a Federal Perkins Loan(s) from a school other than Penn State and you are currently enrolled at Penn State at least half-time, you may be eligible for an in-school deferment.

If you do not defer Perkins loans, you might not qualify for future aid and could forfeit current aid.

You are responsible for any delinquency or default on a Perkins loan. Therefore, if you do not defer Perkins loans from schools other than Penn State, you run the risk of having negative credit information reported to credit bureaus and possibly losing access to future federal student aid.

In some instances, you could forfeit student aid that has already been disbursed to you. This could result in a large balance on your student account, which you will be required to pay.

Because the Perkins Loan Program has expired, we cannot award Perkins Loans to students who transfer to Penn State from other colleges.

1. Get loan contact information

Contact information for the school(s) that awarded your Perkins loans is available by logging into studentaid.gov.

2. Contact the school

Federal Perkins Loans are serviced by the school awarding the loan or by that school's contracted service agency.

You must contact the school, servicing area, or agency and notify them that you are currently enrolled at least half-time at Penn State. You will also need to request an in-school deferment.

You will need to contact the school or agency about deferment every semester as long as you are enrolled at Penn State at least half-time.

3. Complete the in-school deferment form

Complete the in-school deferment form and forward it to the Office of the University Registrar—ask the Registrar to attach an official enrollment verification to the form. The Registrar's office will return the deferment form and verification to the school from which you previously borrowed the Perkins Loan.