Mr. REED. Mr. President, unless we act quickly, our longest running

student loan program--the Perkins Loan Program--will meet its demise on

September 30. It will end not because it is ineffective or because it

does not make college more affordable for needy students or because we

have debated and built consensus on how best to reform our Federal

student loan programs. Rather, the Perkins Loan Program might end

because some of my colleagues refuse to extend it as we routinely do

with other programs awaiting reauthorization. We should not allow this

to happen. I hope that my colleagues will swiftly approve H.R. 3594,

the Higher Education Extension Act, a bipartisan bill to extend the

Perkins Loan Program that the House of Representatives passed by a

unanimous vote yesterday.

  The Perkins Loan Program was created in 1958 as the National Defense

Student Loan Program. Approximately 1,500 colleges and universities,

including a dozen in my home State of Rhode Island, disburse more than

$1.2 billion in Perkins loans to students who have demonstrated

exceptional financial need.

  The Perkins Loan Program carries some of the most generous terms of

all the Federal student loan programs. Perkins loans are offered at a

low, fixed rate of 5 percent. No interest accrues until the student

enters repayment, which starts after a 9-month grace period, giving the

recent graduate time to get on his or her feet. The Perkins Loan

Program also encourages public service, offering generous loan

forgiveness for many public sector careers, including for school

librarians, something that I have long championed.

  Another compelling feature of the Perkins Loan Program is that

participating institutions must contribute their own resources--$1 for

every 2 Federal dollars. Many institutions, including colleges and

universities in Rhode Island, have invested more than their legal

obligation. As students repay their loans, institutions are able to

make new loans. In other words, participating colleges and universities

have a real stake in students being able to repay their loans,

something that is missing from our other Federal student loan programs

and something that I have been advocating we need more, not less, of.

  In Rhode Island during the 2013-2014 school year, over 9,000 students

attending Rhode Island colleges benefitted from more than $18 million

in low-cost Perkins loans. Without this assistance, these students

would face a gap in their ability to pay for college and could be

forced into risky private loans or higher cost parent loans.

  We need to maintain the Perkins Loan Program as we continue working

towards a comprehensive reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. We

cannot and should not leave needy students and families in the lurch by

cutting off access to this vital program.

I urge all of my colleagues to support swift passage of H.R. 3594,

the Higher Education Extension Act, to ensure there is no lapse in the

availability of Perkins loans.