Perkins Loans are student loans offered by the United States Federal Government to US college students with financial need. They are named after Carl D. Perkins, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky.

Perkins Loans carry a fixed interest rate of 5% for the duration of the ten-year repayment period. The Perkins Loan Program has a nine-month grace period, so that borrowers begin repayment in the tenth month after graduation or withdrawal from their college or university. Because the Perkins Loan is subsidized by the government, interest does not begin to accrue until the borrower begins to repay the loan.

The program has been slated for elimination under President Bush's FY 2007 budget, describing the program as "redundant and duplicative, given the broad availability of need-based, subsidized, relatively low-interest loans through the two larger student loan programs (Federal Family Education Loans and Ford Direct Student Loans)."

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