Typically, you have ten years to pay back any funds disbursed under the Federal Perkins Loan program, and you make your checks out directly to your school. You have a grace period of nine months after you graduate, leave school, or fall below part-time status before you must begin to repay your Perkins loan.

If you want to minimize the amount of your EFC, keep assets in your name alone, joint with your spouse, or in the name of another relative outside the household. If your child has accumulated assets since birth — for example, in a Coverdell ESA spend down these assets first.