Perkins Loan Deferment Information
Under certain conditions, a borrower may have his/her Perkins Loan deferred. Do you need a deferment, forbearance or cancellation for your Federal Perkins Student Loan? Visit ECSI for details.
- During times of deferment, no interest accrues and no payments are required.
- The borrower’s account must be current before any deferment can be granted.
- It is the borrower’s responsibility to initiate the deferment requests in a timely fashion.
- The deferment request form must be signed and dated by the borrower, and certified by the appropriate official before deferment can be granted.
- Defaulted loan accounts are not eligible for deferment unless the only reason for the default was the borrower’s failure to file a deferment request on a timely basis.
Qualifying Situations
Student: Deferment can be granted for one semester at a time while the borrower is enrolled and in attendance as a regular student in at least a half time course of study at an eligible institution.
Rehabilitation training: Deferment can be granted to any borrower that is receiving, or scheduled to receive, services under a program designed to rehabilitate disabled individuals.
- The rehabilitation agency must be licensed, approved, certified, or otherwise recognized as providing rehabilitation training to disabled individuals.
- The program must be structured in a way that requires a substantial time and effort commitment by the borrower which would prevent them from engaging in full-time employment.
Graduate fellowship: Deferment can be granted to any borrower that is enrolled and in attendance as a regular student in a course of study that is part of a graduate fellowship program or is engaged in graduate or post-graduate fellowship-supported study (such as a Fulbright grant) outside the United States.
Inability to secure full-time employment: Deferment can be granted one year at a time, for a maximum of three years, during time periods in which the borrower is seeking and unable to find full-time employment.
Economic hardship: Deferment can be granted one year at a time, for a maximum of three years, during time periods in which the borrower is suffering an economic hardship. In order to qualify for this deferment, the borrower must provide documentation that the borrower falls into one of the following categories:
- Has been granted an economic hardship deferment under either the FDSL or FFEL programs for the same time period.
- Is receiving payment under a federal or state public assistance program, such as Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Supplemental Security Income, Food Stamps, or state general public assistance.
- Is working full-time and earning a total monthly gross income that does not exceed the greater of the monthly earnings of an individual earning the minimum wage, or an amount equal to 100% of the poverty line for a family of two, as determined in accordance with section 673(2) of the Community Service Block Grant Act.
- Is not receiving total monthly gross income that exceeds twice the amount specified in the previous paragraph, and after deducting an amount equal to the borrower’s monthly payments on federal post-secondary education loans, the remaining amount of that income does not exceed the amount specified in the previous paragraph.
- Is working full-time and has a Federal educational debt burden that equals or exceeds 20% of the borrower’s adjusted gross income and the difference between the borrower’s adjusted gross income minus such burden is less than 220% of the greater of the annual earnings of an individual earning the minimum wage or the income official poverty line applicable to a family of two.
Forbearance: Forbearance means the temporary cessation of payments, allowing an extension of time for making payments, or temporarily accepting smaller payments than previously were scheduled. Forbearance can be granted one year at a time, for a maximum of three years if: 1) the amount of the payments the borrower is obligated to make on title IV loans each month is collectively equal to or greater than 20% of the borrower’s total monthly gross income; 2) the institution determines that the borrower should qualify for the forbearance due to poor health or for other acceptable reasons, or 3) The Secretary of Education authorizes a period of forbearance due to a national military mobilization or other national emergency. Note that interest continues to accrue during periods of forbearance.
Perkins Loan Cancellation Information
Under certain conditions, a borrower may have all or part of his or her Perkins loan canceled. Cancellation means that a portion or all of the principal borrowed plus accrued interest will never have to be repaid by the borrower.