Federal Updates

U.S. Department of Education

November, 26, 2019 – In a notice published in the Federal Register, the Department issues interim final regulations to amend and update the regulations for total and permanent disability student loan discharge for veterans by removing administrative burdens that may have prevented at least 20,000 totally and permanently disabled veterans from obtaining discharges of their student loans, as the law provides. 

November, 27, 2019 – The Department published a notice in the Federal Register, proposing a revision of the information collection system, the Accrediting Agencies Reporting Activities for Institutions and Programs—Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institution and Programs (DAPIP). The proposed information collection outlines categories of terminology used by accrediting agencies to describe actions and statuses, and provides guidance to federally recognized accrediting agencies on the information to be reported to the Department under 34 CFR 602.26 and 602.27(a)(6) and (a)(7).

The Department published a notice in the Federal Register, seeking a revision of the information collection supporting the policies and reporting requirements contained in Subpart E of Part 668—Verification and Updating of Student Aid Application Information. This subpart governs the verification and updating of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid used to calculate an applicant's Expected Family Contribution for purposes of determining an applicant's need for student financial assistance under Title IV of Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended. The collection of this documentation helps ensure that students (and parents in the case of PLUS loans) receive the correct amount of Title IV program assistance by providing accurate information to calculate an applicant's expected family contribution.

November, 29. 2019 – In a notice published in the Federal Register, the Secretary of Education proposed to establish six priorities for discretionary grant programs that would expand the Department of Education's (the Department's) flexibility to give priority to a broader range of applicants with varying experience in administering Federal education funds (Proposed Priorities 1 and 2), applicants proposing to serve rural communities (Proposed Priorities 3 and 4), applicants that demonstrate a rationale for their proposed projects (Proposed Priority 5), or applicants proposing to collect data after the grant's original project period (Proposed Priority 6).

December 2, 2019 –  The Department published a notice in the Federal Register requesting a revision of the current information collection associated with the Borrower Defenses Regulations, OMB Control Number 1845-0142, due to an increase in the number of borrowers asserting a borrower defense to repayment claim. The only change to the collection is an update to increase the number of respondents, responses and burden hours.

The Department published a notice in the Federal Register proposing to renew OMB control number 1845-0147 for the collection of URLs hosting institutional contracts and contract data relating to campus banking agreements. The Department has also created a central repository for the information provided by the institution that includes the contract data and the web addresses that is publicly available for research and comparison purposes. Both of these are located on studentaid.gov. The database allows interested parties, such as students, families, press, institutions, and researchers to easily access and compare banking agreements available at different institutions.

December 3, 2019 – The Department recently published a notice in the Federal Register proposing an extension of the approval for the reporting and recordkeeping requirements that are contained in the information collection 1845-0049 for Student Assistance General Provision in the regulations in Subpart J-Approval of Independently Administered Tests; Specification of Passing Score; Approval of State Process. The administration of approved ability to benefit (ATB) tests may be used to determine a student's eligibility for assistance for the Title IV student financial assistance programs authorized under the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA) when, among other conditions, the student does not have a high school diploma or its recognized equivalent.

December 13, 2019 – Deadline for every organization enrolled for a Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) account to review and validate its assigned TG numbers and Electronic Services user accounts.

Looking Ahead – 2019 FSA Training Conference. The Federal Student Aid Office has opened registration for the 2019 FSA Training Conference scheduled for December 3 to 6 in Reno, Nevada. The FSA Training Conference is training provided for financial aid professionals by the government for those institutions receiving Title IV funds and is the largest training program in the United States serving the financial aid community. In 2018 more than 2,000 unique schools registered for the conference. Registration is free.

U.S. Congress – Newly Introduced Legislation of Note

No Recently Introduced Legislation Since Last Week’s Wink