<p>notrichenough, Perkins loans are federal loans that are owed to the school…they will not release transcripts if those loans are in default. A young friend of mine discovered this the hard way, thought she had consolidated all of her loans after graduation 5 years ago and had never seen another bill, but it seems the school was still holding a small Perkins loan. She never knew until she requested transcripts for potential grad programs and they informed her that she needed to bring the Perkins balance up to date first! She was not happy as they had tacked on 5 years worth of interest and penalties but, fortunately, it was a small loan to begin with.</p>
<p>Default rates for Stafford loans are definitely tracked by school and it affects the refund policies at those schools and can affect their continued participation in the Stafford loan program.</p>