WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, applauded the 2-year extension of the Perkins Loan Program – a federal student loan program that is a critical lifeline for many low-income students, but expired on September 30 due to inaction by Congressional leadership.

Since its expiration, Murphy and a bipartisan coalition of Senators have twice attempted to reauthorize the program with a “unanimous consent" request. Murphy also joined a bipartisan group of his colleagues in urging Senate leadership to take up and pass the Higher Education Extension Act, legislation to reauthorize the Perkins Loan Program.

“As someone still carrying student debt, I know the challenge of paying for college all too well. The Perkins Loan Program makes it possible for students all across the country – including almost a thousand in Connecticut – to go to college at no additional cost to taxpayers,” said Murphy. “Republicans’ decision to let the program lapse, cutting off loans in the middle of the school year, betrayed students everywhere. 

“I’m relieved that we passed a two-year extension of this program today, but I won’t stop fighting to ensure every student can afford college,” Murphy added.

The Perkins Loan Program, the nation’s older federal student loan program, has existed with broad bipartisan support since 1958 and has provided more than $28 billion in loans through almost 26 million awards to students in all 50 states. In the last academic year alone, the program lent $1.1 billion to more than half a million students with financial need across more than 1,500 institutions of higher education.