Information on Excess Perkins Cash Notifications
October 19, 2015
A note from: Harrison Wadsworth (hwadsworth@wpllc.net)
On September 29, 2015, the Department of Education issued Dear Colleague Letter ID: GEN-15-19; Perkins Loan Program – Excess Liquid Capital (http://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/GEN1519.html). There has been some confusion which we would like to address for our members.
This DCL is unrelated to the program expiration which occurred October 1, 2015. It is a reminder to Federal Perkins Loan participating institutions that you must calculate and return to the Department the Federal share of any Excess Liquid Capital (ELC) in your institution’s Federal Perkins Loan Revolving Fund no later than December 31, 2015. ELC is defined as the amount of the Fund’s “Cash On Hand” that is in excess of the institution’s estimated immediate needs.
Along with the Dear Colleague letter, the Department included a worksheet which allows you to calculate the Federal share to be returned to the Department based on data from your two most recently filed Fiscal Operations/Application to Participate (FISAP). The DCL explains how to calculate this number and offers assistance through the Campus-Based Call Center at 877.801.7168.
This is not a new requirement, but one that the Department of Education is enforcing. If you continued to lend Federal Perkins for the 15-16 academic year, you may not have excess cash as these funds are committed for the spring term. However, you must still complete the worksheets to determine whether excess funds need to be returned to the Department of Education.
Please note that many Members of Congress are still fighting for the one-year extension for the Perkins Program and have stated that there is a good chance this extension will be passed before the end of the year. Should that occur, colleges may have the opportunity to write a letter in support of retaining excess cash due to an increase in future spending ability. COHEAO suggests you to hold off on the return of any excess liquid capital until the required deadline.
