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As you know by now, the Perkins Loan program is under an unprecedented threat to its existence thanks to the proposal in President Bush's budget to eliminate it. However, it isn't dead yet; it's up to Congress to decide whether or not to follow the President's proposal. That's where you come in. We need you to let your members of Congress in both the House and the Senate know that your institution or organization supports the Perkins Loan Program - that it shouldn't be killed and that it needs to be funded.
Please find attached draft letters (Links Below) for you to send to all Representatives and Senators in your state asking that they support the Perkins Loan Program. Please take a look at the draft letter appropriate for you and customize it to fit your school or company, including placing the letter on your letterhead, if possible. [If you are not permitted to use letterhead for this purpose, please send the letter anyway on your own behalf, simply noting where you work.] It is important to point out that the Perkins Loan Program helps students in your campus and state. In the letter are suggested places to insert this information. At the end, please put down how you can be contacted. Also, if you are at an institution, please get students to send the attached letter designed for them, and ask their parents to send the letter for parents.
Also attached, to make sure you can find them, are talking points on Perkins with the chart of the state-by-state allocation of Perkins Loans. To obtain information on the Perkins Loan Program specific to a specific school, go to this address in the Department of Education's IFAP web site: http://www.ifap.ed.gov/cbpmaterials/0405CBCongreportApril8CoverLtr.html. At the bottom of the document are links to information on Perkins FCC awards broken down by individual school, with state totals. If you have any questions or need help accessing the information, contact Wes Huffman at whuffman@wpllc.net or 202-289-3903.
Finally, here is how and where to send the letters. Paper mail is subject to delays, so we strongly suggest that you fax (preferable) or e-mail your letters. Fax numbers for many offices are contained in the Congressional directory that COHEAO gave to attendees at the January 2004 Annual Meeting. For new members of Congress, or if you don't have a directory, go to the House website for House members sorted by state: http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml. For your Senators, go to http://www.senate.gov/ and use the pull-down feature to find who your senators are. If you need help with this project, please don't hesitate to contact Andrew or Harrison.
We also ask that you send the COHEAO office a copy of your letter after you have sent it. You can e-mail the letter to whuffman@wpllc.net or hwadsworth@wpllc.net or jcoyle@wpllc.net or fax it to 202-371-0197.
Again, if you need any assistance or have any questions, please call 202-289-3903.