Perkins Grant – Assistance for CTE Students

PERKINS at John A. Logan College

PERKINS is a Federal grant, funded by U.S. taxpayers, and is designed to improve the economy by building a stronger career and technical workforce. The grant was named after Kentucky Representative Carl Dewey Perkins in honor of his many years of dedicated service helping disadvantaged college students.

Career and Technical Education, also known as Workforce Education or just CTE, is designed to provide students with the knowledge and workplace skills necessary for certification and immediate employment in a given career or technical field, such as nursing, law enforcement, construction, or business management. CTE programs at John A. Logan College use real-life environments and hands-on exercises to appropriately prepare students for work in the 21st Century. Students in these programs are trained to “adapt, innovate, and lead the way” as problem-solvers and productive team-members in their chosen careers. CTE programs are usually two years or less in length and provide graduates with the degrees, certificates, and/or licensure necessary to immediately enter the workforce.

John A. Logan College has been receiving PERKINS funding since 1993 and uses those funds to support our CTE programs through classroom improvements, faculty training, and financial assistance for qualified students. If you are interested in being an efficient, innovative problem-solver who can be counted-on to help a company grow, please consider applying for PERKINS. To qualify for Perkins at John A. Logan College, you must be enrolled in a CTE program and meet the qualifying requirements below.

Do You Qualify for PERKINS Assistance?

To find out if you are enrolled in a CTE program at John A. Logan College, please click on one of the department links below, then on “Degrees and Certificates” from the left-hand list to show the available CTE programs. Clicking on your degree or certificate program will take you to the curriculum guide for your program. In the top right-hand corner of the curriculum guide is a box - all CTE programs will have a top line that reads “Career Curriculum”. If your program is not listed under one of these departments, check with your Academic Advisor for more information (go to the Advisement Office in C204, or the Admissions window to make an appointment).

Being enrolled in a CTE program is the first step in qualifying for Perkins Assistance. Perkins Assistance is awarded to qualified CTE students who are serious about dedicating the appropriate resources for completing their CTE programs on time. These students set valid goals for entering the workforce and develop objectives for reaching these goals. Perkins Assistance is designed to remove specific obstacles to completion and is limited each semester to the reimbursement of a specific amount of textbook, mileage and/or childcare expense for each qualified student.

The two remaining qualifiers are listed below, both are required:

Current documentation showing the CTE student is in at least one of the six Special Populations listed below, as defined by the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006 - go to SPECIAL POPULATIONS for details.
1. Displaced Homemaker – if managing your household has been your primary occupation, and your primary source of income has changed (possibly due to illness, injury, death, divorce), you may be considered a “Displaced Homemaker”
2. Individual with Limited English Proficiency – if English is your second language, you may be considered an “Individual with Limited English Proficiency”
3. Individual with a Disability – if you have a disability that interferes with a major life function, you may be considered an “Individual with a Disability”
4. Individual with an Economic Disadvantage – if you are receiving financial aid, public aid, or living at or below the national poverty level or the self-sufficiency level for the State of Illinois, you may be considered “Economically Disadvantaged”
5. Individuals Preparing for Nontraditional Occupations for their Gender – if you are preparing for an occupation where your gender comprises 25% or less of the employees in that occupation, you may be considered an “Individual Preparing for a Nontraditional Occupation”
6. Single Parents, including Single Pregnant Women – if you are unmarried or legally separated and 1) have minor children for whom you have custody or 2) are pregnant, you may be considered a “Single Parent”
An undergraduate grade-point average (GPA) of 2.0 or higher, and a schedule showing full-time enrollment (12 or more credit hours from their program’s curriculum guide) for the application semester (the full-time requirement is lifted for students enrolled in an official Part-Time Degree Program, a Certificate Program requiring less-than 12 credit hours, and/or students in the last semester of a CTE program - provided the student is following the prescribed load for that program.)

Perkins Services is another component of the Perkins Program (Perkins Assistance is the other) and includes an array of career services for CTE students such as goal setting, resume writing, and the development of appropriate interview and workplace skills. Unlike Perkins Assistance, these services are available to all CTE students. Click on the following link to find out more about Perkins Services.

The PERKINS Assistance Process

American taxpayers provide the funding for PERKINS and students receiving Perkins Assistance are expected to be responsible with these resources. Shown below is a simplified view of the Perkins Assistance Process – read all instructions before starting the application process:

Register for Next Semester’s Courses – You must register for your next semester’s courses before applying for Perkins; you must have at least 12 credit hours from your program’s curriculum guide.

Assemble Your Qualification Packet - Qualifying students must assemble a qualification packet containing copies of their supporting documentation. This packet will be used for reference during the application process and must contain copies of the following:

Your Schedule for the semester you are applying for
Your curriculum guide
Your driver’s license or photo ID
Your financial aid award letter or public assistance documentation (if claiming Economic Disadvantage)
You child’s birth certificate (if claiming Single Parent)
Your disability documentation (if claiming Student with a Disability)

Apply Online - The Perkins application process is online only and is structured as a Moodle learning module. Your enrollment in Moodle will be automatic when you click on the Perkins Application link; there is no cost or credit associated with Perkins module enrollment. If you are not logged-in to Moodle, you will be prompted with the LOGIN screen – enter your username and password to proceed to the application (click here for an instructional video of the Moodle login process). NOTE: Your VolMail account (JALC email) must be activated before proceeding because Moodle is tied to VolMail. To activate your account, go to Volmail for JALC students and follow the prompts.

Complete Your Perkins Assignments – There are several Perkins assignments that must be completed in the first five weeks of the semester. Failure to complete these assignments by their due dates will move you to the end of the qualification list. Do not wait until the last minute to complete your assignments!

Complete Feedback – Near the end of the semester you will have a couple of feedback assignments to complete; this information is important for improving our CTE programs.

Perkins Assistance is allotted to qualified students on a first-come, first-served basis, so the earliest (and best) time to apply for Perkins Assistance is immediately after you register for your next semester’s classes. In order to provide fair access to Perkins funding, all qualified students must submit a new application each semester; please contact the Perkins Coordinator in G103 if you have any questions.

You will need the following information on-hand to complete your Perkins Application:

Your student number
A copy of your curriculum guide – you can get a copy from your advisor or print one from the Department link above (see “Do you Qualify for Perkins Assistance?” above)
A copy of your class schedule - you can get a copy from your advisor or print from WEBLINK, under “View My Schedule” (link is on the JALC homepage, under “My JALC” – password is the two-digit month, two-digit day, and two-digit year of your birth)
Your CTE Program Code and Major – copy and paste from your schedule, it is located directly below Year/Term
Your Undergraduate GPA - found on WebLink, under Academic History

When you are ready, please click on the following link: PERKINS APPLICATION (temporarily deactivated for system maintenance) and sign into Moodle. Click on the Fall 2013 Perkins Application course link, then on the application link, and fill-in your application; click the “Submit” button at the end to complete your application. A copy of your application will be sent to your Volmail account – this is your proof of application, be sure you have it and do not throw it away.

If you have any questions, please contact the Perkins Coordinator, Gary Spoerre at garyspoerre@jalc.edu or call extension 8226. When you have registered for your courses and completed your application, you may submit your Qualification Packet (copies, no originals) to the Perkins Coordinator in Room G103 to complete your application (slide under the door if the office is closed). Your packet should be complete and stapled in the following order:

Your Schedule
Your Curriculum Guide
Your Driver's License or State ID
Your proof of Special Population:
1. For Economic Disadvantage - financial aid award letter (showing valid semester and award amount) or public aid award statement (showing current or applicable date)
2. For Single Parent – a copy of your child’s birth certificate
3. For Student with a Disability – a copy of your disability documentation
4. If you will be requesting childcare assistance, you will also need to include a copy of the State license of your childcare provider or a copy of their Registration with the Dept. of Human Services.

Once an award has been granted, you will be contacted via email at the addresses you have listed with Admissions. Once you have completed your assignments (during the first five weeks of the semester), please fill out the printable Perkins Mileage Form (PDF), Perkins Textbook Form (PDF), or Perkins Childcare Form (PDF) as necessary and return them to G103.

All information is confidential, as with the paper application process. John A. Logan College does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, or gender orientation.