<p>So, in my Duke FA package, I was offered a 4k Perkins loan-- and that was it. I'm planning on asking if the Perkins loan will remain constant throughout my time at Duke, or if I will eventually have a number of different types at different interest rates with different rules. Assuming that I will have one loan type throughout undergrad, is there a particular advantage/disadvantage to the Perkins v. other loans? (I know that the Perkins has a lower rate, esp. as the sub rates are increasing this year).</p>
<p>You must reapply for financial every year. There is no guarantee that you will get the Perkins loan in your next 3 years at Duke.</p>
<p>Purpleacorn, you need to talk to the Duke Financial Aid office as to what their usual expectations are for student contribution each year. Most schools, even those that guarantee to meet 100% of need, even those that are the absolutely most generous have a student contribution that is expected each year, built into their need formulas. That student contribution almost always goes up each year as the student moves up in seniority as the whole idea is that the student is becoming increasingly more responsible for paying for his college. So for those getting financial aid packages, the package goes down each year. So next year, your Perkins is very likely to be reduced, or you may not get it at all, just the subsidized part of your Stafford loan if your family EFC allows any subsidy.</p>
<p>You are entitled to borrow up to $5500 of Stafford loan money each year on an unsubsidized basis regardless of your family EFC as long as the college costs (official COA) warrant. If FAFSA defined need is in the picture, the need portion can be subsidized. It appears to me, that your EFC this year was such this year at $4K, that Duke decided to give you the Perkins, and let you do as you please in terms of using the unsub Stafford towards your EFC. </p>
<p>Please also bear in mind, that the costs are likely to go up each year as well, as they have in past years. Also upper class housing choices costs tend to be higher than freshmen ones. </p>
<p>Basically, what I see here is that your family need is just on the line in terms of what Duke’s costs are, and so they have given you this loan, which is not guaranteed each year, and the school will see what the situation is next year, if your family income/assets, student assets go up a bit, which may well knock you out of the need range. Duke does guarantee to meet full need, but as you can see, it does use self help to meet need. WIth a $4K margin, the NPC is not going to be very accurate as annual fluctuation in pay are not going to be able to catch that, especially at the levels of pay your family must have in order for your need to be so low. But you can see if the student contribution comes out of that formula, but you must ask Duke what their expectations are for the student for future years. </p>
<p>Congratulations on your acceptance to Duke.</p>
<p>Oh, blah. The way I wrote that was wrong. I meant ‘that was it’ in terms of loans, not all of FA. I received 40+k in grant money, as well as 2200 WS award and a 2100 summer contribution award.</p>
<p>So long as I am eligible to receive FA, I will have both a loan and summer work expectation built into my package. The way I am reading their site (and I will call in a bit) is that they will calculate my family’s EFC (which in this case is pretty close to the gov’t EFC). I am then going to get 4k in loans, 2.2k in workstudy, and a ~2.5k summer contribution. The rest that’s left over will be covered by grant money (including any increase in housing options on-campus (single v. triple v. double)).</p>
<p>They do have opportunities to waive the summer contribution (which is nice for internships, and I’ll be able to cover the summer contr. this year, even with an unpaid internship).</p>
<p>I guess my main question was about the Perkins Loans v. other types of Direct Sub Staffords or Unsub-- why they gave me a specific Perkins loan v. other types of loans. Am I making more sense now? Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m surprised they didn’t include subsidized Stafford loans before they added Perkins loans. Each college only has a limited amount of Perkins loans to give out, while the subsidized staffords are available to everyone who qualifies. </p>
<p>As you noted above, maybe it is because subsidized Staffords are scheduled to go up from 3.4 to 6.8% starting in July for new loans, while Perkins are fixed at 5% for as long as the program lasts. </p>
<p>However, the Perkins program is scheduled to expire in the summer of 2014, unless Congress re-activates it. The President wants to expand the program and use it to reward cost-effective colleges, but the US House is unlikely to want to spend the money. In other words, there will be no new Perkins loans offered to students after this upcoming 2013-3014 academic year.</p>
<p>Congress may act to keep subsidized Stafford loans at 3.4, but each party just passed their own proposed new budget, and neither included the subsidy needed to keep the rate at 3.4%.</p>
<p>I didn’t know about the Perkins expiring-- thanks. Again, I’m planning on calling Duke FA when they open, and one of the things I’ve also found out is that the Perkins isn’t eligible for the Pay as you Earn plan, though Direct Staffords are, though the rate on the Staffords will still be higher than the Perkins. Duke is really the only school where I am considering taking out loans, because the amount is capped/fixed each year, and 16k/debt is reasonable (IMO), but I’m also considering schools where I would graduate debt free (WashU), so we’ll see.</p>