Perkins Childcare Cancellation: Compare Local Salaries

For Perkins borrowers in Head Start, pre-kindergarten or childcare, the salary comparison is one cancellation condition to check before counting on relief.

First confirm program, role and service

Federal Student Aid’s 2026–27 handbook describes full-time professional staff carrying out the program’s educational work. It defines pre-kindergarten as a state-funded program for children from birth through age six, addressing cognitive, social, emotional and physical development.

Pre-kindergarten and childcare programs must also be state licensed or regulated. Qualifying service for those programs must include August 14, 2008, or begin later; the program must operate for a complete academic year or its equivalent.

For each complete academic year or equivalent of full-time teaching service, cancellation is 15% of original principal, plus interest accruing on the unpaid balance during the qualifying year.

The salary condition compares borrower pay with that of a comparable employee in the local educational agency serving the program’s area. Meeting it does not settle the other requirements.

Federal Student Aid handbook: early childhood education cancellation.

Read “does not exceed” carefully

UT Austin’s Perkins guidance also describes the comparison with a comparable employee in the local school district. This is a local employment comparison, not a single national dollar limit.

Consider a fictional example. Assume the loan reviewer accepts $48,000 as the correct comparison salary for the relevant position and period:

• A borrower salary of $47,000 is below it.
• A borrower salary of $48,000 equals it and does not exceed it.
• A borrower salary of $48,001 exceeds it.

The example illustrates the comparison only. It does not identify a valid comparator or award cancellation. A higher-paying, unrelated job in the district does not automatically supply the right benchmark. Ask the reviewer which position and salary evidence it will accept before relying on a pay figure.

UT Austin: Head Start and early-education Perkins guidance.

Prepare the evidence and the unanswered questions

The University of Michigan’s December 2025 form illustrates why the job description matters: it requests an official description, full-time employment dates and employer certification. That is a school-specific form, not a universal application.

For your own review, gather the program and job records, your salary evidence and any proposed local comparison record. Ask the school that made your Perkins Loan or its billing service:

• Which local educational agency and comparable role apply?
• What service period and salary documentation should be used?
• How should differences in contract length, hours or additional pay be handled?
• Who must certify the employment and what supporting records are needed?

These are questions to resolve, not an assumed calculation method. Do not convert unequal contracts into annual amounts and treat the result as an approved comparison. Use your lender’s current instructions rather than submitting another school’s example form.

University of Michigan: Head Start, pre-K and childcare form.