Perpetual Education Fund - Operation and Administration

Operation and Administration

The Perpetual Education Fund functions as an endowment, meaning that all loans are made from interest, while the corpus (or body of the fund) remains intact. All donations made to the fund go to the fund corpus. Anyone may donate to the PEF, regardless of affiliation with the LDS Church and donations have been made by members and non-members alike. Because the program is administered through the LDS Church, all donations go directly toward the loans. The executive director of the PEF from its inception through September 2012 was former general authority and Church Historian John K. Carmack; with Richard E. Cook, another former general authority, as the managing director. In September 2012, the church's First Presidency announced Robert C. Gay, of the First Quorum of the Seventy, as the new chairman of the fund.

The Perpetual Education Fund provides loans to members of the LDS Church seeking additional education, mainly through vocational school and technical training. In connection with the more recent PEF-B program, (and for those already part of the International Education Fund program) opportunities for university education are also available. In 2005, career training options requested included: school teacher, network administrator, computer science, systems analyst, human resource specialist, flight attendant, managerial, clinical lab technician, computer support technician, university faculty, political analyst, physician's assistant, physical and corrective therapy assistant, lawyer and judge.

Potential loan recipients first complete a short training program on personal finance, budgeting and career planning and work with a loan administrator to select viable vocational and educational options for their particular region. Recipients are encouraged to work, if possible, during their schooling to provide for their own living expenses. Loans for tuition and fees are paid directly by the fund to the educational institution, further reducing the potential for mismanagement. During the course of the loan, recipients make small, manageable payments and participate in regular progress reviews. PEF loans average about $800 and the average training program of a Perpetual Education Fund loan recipient lasts 2.6 years. More substantial payments on the loan begin 90 days after graduation and the loans are usually scheduled to be paid off, with a modest 3-4% interest, over the course of 2–6 years. Recipients are also encouraged to make further contributions to the fund as their circumstances allow. Loan repayments and subsequent donations are channeled back into the fund corpus, making it a truly “perpetual” resource.