Perkins Advocacy Call to Action: Urge the Senate to Support H.R. 3594 Now!

Perkins Advocacy Call to Action: Urge the Senate to Support H.R. 3594 Now!

The US House of Representatives just passed H.R. 3594, the Higher Education Extension Act, on a voice vote. The bill would extend the Perkins Loan Program for one year.

Perkins Loan advocates, we appreciate your support in getting us to this point, but the debate is not quite finished. Now, the Senate needs to act as well, and your support may help this extension across the finish line. The request is simple—Please contact your Senators to support the passage of H.R 3594. And please do it as soon as possible.

COHEAO has sent a message to each Senate office, but contacts from institutions and constituents in the state have the greatest impact. We have attached spreadsheets with contact information for the relevant education staff. Please reach out directly as well as alerting the top officials at your institution or organization about the current situation and how they can help. We have attached sample text to assist individual institutions in contacting Senate offices with this Spark.

For our commercial members, in addition to contacting Senate offices directly, we are also asking you to explain the importance of Perkins to executives at your organization and to help in spreading the word to colleges and universities. It is important that Congress know the impact of eliminating this program, both in terms of aid available to students and jobs and economic development within the state or district.

We also encourage you to visit the COHEAO Perkins Loan Advocacy Page.

If you have any questions, please make use of the resources on the COHEAO Perkins Loan advocacy page and please do not hesitate to contact the COHEAO staff or any members of the COHEAO Board of Directors.

Wes Huffman
Associate Director, COHEAO
202-289-3910