Perpetual Education Fund

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The Perpetual Education Fund (PEF) is a program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, first announced by President Gordon B. Hinckley on March 31, 2001. The PEF is consistent with the aim of the church to provide members with a good education and a way to eliminate poverty.

The LDS church has made similar efforts in the past to provide for the needs of its members. The program is modeled after the Perpetual Emigration Fund, which provided loans to 19th century Latter-day Saint immigrants looking to settle in the Salt Lake Valley. In 1903, there was a Church Education Fund established in order to provide aspiring school teachers with loans to put them through school.[1] A similar effort was made when in 1936, church president Heber J. Grant set up a welfare system in order to provide a means for people to earn a living during the Great Depression.

Contents

[edit] Operation

The Perpetual Education Fund provides loans to members of the LDS church seeking additional education, mainly vocational school but in some instances for university education (for those already part of the International Education Fund program). The LDS church has made loans to students in Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, Mexico, Mongolia, Peru, the Philippines and over thirty other countries. The fund functions as an endowment, with all loans made from interest on the corpus. All donations made to the fund go to the fund corpus. All administrative costs, such as time and expertise, are donated by volunteers in the Church. Donations are made by members and friends of the LDS church. The program is directed through the oversight of the LDS church's institute program.

As part of the "perpetual" aspect of the fund, each person receiving a loan, after completing his or her studies, is asked to give back to the fund generously, according to their ability.

[edit] Administration

The managing director of the PEF is currently former general authority and Church Historian John K. Carmack; the director of finance is Richard E. Cook.

[edit] Progress

In 2004, 3 years after its commencement, approximately 10,000 young adults received loans from the fund. Three years after that, its loans totaled to 27,000 students in 39 different countries [2].

[edit] References

  1. ^ Amazon.com: A Bright Ray Of Hope: The Perpetual Education Fund: Books: John K. Carmack
  2. ^ Deseret Morning News | An LDS conference outside the U.S.?

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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