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f e d e r a l r e g i s t e r

TuesdayAugust 10, 1999

Part IX

Department ofEducation

34 CFR Part 668Student Assistance General Provisions;Proposed Rule

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Federal Register

/Vol. 64, No. 153/Tuesday, August 10, 1999/Proposed Rules

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION34 CFR Part 668

RIN 1845–AA03

Student Assistance General Provisions

AGENCY

Department of Education.

ACTION

Notice of proposed rulemaking.

SUMMARY

These proposed regulationswould govern the disclosure of institutional and financial assistanceinformation provided to students underthe student financial assistanceprograms under Title IV of the HigherEducation Act of 1965, as amended(Title IV). These programs include theFederal Pell Grant Program, the campus-based programs (Federal Perkins Loan,Federal Work-Study (FWS), and FederalSupplemental Educational OpportunityGrant (FSEOG) programs), the WilliamD. Ford Federal Direct Loan (DirectLoan) Program, the Federal FamilyEducation Loan (FFEL) Program, andthe Leveraging Educational AssistancePartnership (LEAP) Program (formerlycalled the State Student Incentive Grant(SSIG) Program). The proposedregulations implement changes made tothe Higher Education Act of 1965, asamended (HEA), by the HigherEducation Amendments of 1998 (1998Amendments).

DATES

We must receive your commentson or before September 15, 1999.

ADDRESSES

Address all comments aboutthese proposed regulations to PaulaHusselmann, U.S. Department of Education, P.O. Box 23272, Washington,DC 20026–3272. If you prefer to sendyour comments through the Internet,use the following address:ifainprm@ed.govIf you want to comment on theinformation collection requirements,you must send your comments to theOffice of Management and Budget at theaddress listed in the Paperwork Reduction Act section of this preamble.You may also send a copy of thesecomments to the Departmentrepresentative named in this section.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

Paula Husselmann or Lloyd Horwich.Telephone (202) 708–8242. If you use atelecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may call the FederalInformation Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339.Individuals with disabilities mayobtain this document in an alternateformat (e.g., Braille, large print,audiotape, or computer diskette) onrequest to the contact persons listed inthe preceding paragraph.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Invitation To Comment

We invite you to submit commentsregarding these proposed regulations.To ensure that your comments havemaximum effect in developing the finalregulations, we urge you to identifyclearly the specific section or sections of the proposed regulations that each of your comments addresses and to arrangeyour comments in the same order as theproposed regulations.We invite you to assist us incomplying with the specificrequirements of Executive Order 12866and its overall requirement of reducingregulatory burden that might result fromthese proposed regulations. Please let usknow of any further opportunities weshould take to reduce potential costs orincrease potential benefits whilepreserving the effective and efficientadministration of the program.During and after the comment period,you may inspect all public commentsabout these proposed regulations atRegional Office Building 3, 7th and DStreets, SW, Room 3045, Washington,DC, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and4:00 p.m., Eastern time, Mondaythrough Friday of each week exceptFederal holidays.

Assistance to Individuals WithDisabilities in Reviewing theRulemaking Record

On request, we will supply anappropriate aid, such as a reader orprint magnifier, to an individual with adisability who needs assistance toreview the comments or otherdocuments in the public rulemakingrecord for these proposed regulations. If you want to schedule an appointmentfor this type of aid, you can call (202)205–8113 or (202) 260–9895. If you usea TDD, you may call the FederalInformation Relay Service at 1–800–877–8339.

General

These proposed regulations wouldrevise the current Student AssistanceGeneral Provisions, 34 CFR part 668,concerning the disclosure of institutional and financial assistanceinformation to students under thefinancial assistance programsauthorized under Title IV. The revisionsimplement the Higher EducationAmendments of 1998, Public Law 105–244, enacted October 7, 1998.

Negotiated Rulemaking Process

Section 492 of the HEA requires that,before publishing any proposedregulations to implement programsunder Title IV of the Act, the Secretaryobtain public involvement in thedevelopment of the proposedregulations. After obtaining advice andrecommendations, the Secretary mustconduct a negotiated rulemakingprocess to develop the proposedregulations. All published proposedregulations must conform to agreementsresulting from the negotiatedrulemaking process unless the Secretaryreopens the negotiated rulemakingprocess or provides a writtenexplanation to the participants in thatprocess why the Secretary has decidedto depart from the agreements.To obtain public involvement in thedevelopment of the proposedregulations, we published a notice inthe

Federal Register

(63 FR 59922,November 6, 1998) requesting adviceand recommendations from interestedparties concerning what regulationswere necessary to implement Title IV of the HEA. We also invited advice andrecommendations concerning whichregulated issues should be subjected toa negotiated rulemaking process. Wefurther requested advice andrecommendations concerning ways toprioritize the numerous issues in TitleIV, in order to meet statutory deadlines.Additionally, we requested advice andrecommendations concerning how toconduct the negotiated rulemakingprocess, given the time available and thenumber of regulations that needed to bedeveloped.In addition to soliciting writtencomments, we held three publichearings and several informal meetingsto give interested parties an opportunityto share advice and recommendationswith the Department. The hearings wereheld in Washington, D.C., Chicago, andLos Angeles, and we posted transcriptsof those hearings to the Department’sInformation for Financial AidProfessionals website (http:// ifap.ed.gov).We then published a second notice inthe

Federal Register

(63 FR 71206,December 23, 1998) to announce theDepartment’s intention to establish fournegotiated rulemaking committees todraft proposed regulationsimplementing Title IV of the HEA. Thenotice announced the organizations orgroups believed to represent theinterests that should participate in thenegotiated rulemaking process andannounced that the Department wouldselect participants for the process fromnominees of those organizations orgroups. We requested nominations foradditional participants from anyonewho believed that the organizations orgroups listed did not adequatelyrepresent the list of interests outlined insection 492 of the HEA. Once the fourcommittees were established, they metto develop proposed regulations over

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the course of several months, beginningin January.The proposed regulations containedin this notice of proposed rulemaking(NPRM) reflect the final consensus of Committee IV. Committee IV was madeup of the following members:

American Association of Collegiate Registrarsand Admissions OfficersAmerican Association of CommunityCollegesAmerican Association of CosmetologySchoolsAmerican Association of State Colleges andUniversitiesAmerican Council on EducationAssociation of American UniversitiesAssociation of Jesuit Colleges andUniversitiesCareer College AssociationCouncil for Higher Education AccreditationCouncil of Recognized National AccreditingAgenciesCouncil for Regional AccreditingCommissionsEducation Finance CouncilLegal Services Counsel (a coalition)National Association of College andUniversity Business OfficersNational Association of Equal Opportunity inHigher EducationNational Association of Independent Collegesand UniversitiesNational Association of State Student Grantand AidPrograms/National Council of HigherEducation Loan Programs (a coalition)National Association of State Universitiesand Land-Grant CollegesNational Association of Student FinancialAid AdministratorsNational Direct Student Loan CoalitionNational Women’s Law CenterState Higher Education Executive OfficersAssociationThe College BoardThe College Fund/United Negro CollegeFundUnited States Department of EducationUnited States Student AssociationUS Public Interest Research Group

The following organizations weremembers of the committee for thepurpose of developing proposedregulations relating to the reporting of campus crime only:

American Psychological AssociationInternational Association of Campus LawEnforcement AdministratorsInternational Association of Chiefs of PoliceSecurity on Campus, Inc. (C. & H. Clery)Society of Professional Journalists

As stated in the committee protocols,consensus means that there must be nodissent by any member in order for thecommittee to be considered to havereached agreement. Consensus wasreached on all of the proposedregulations in this document.

Subpart D—Student Consumer Information Services

The proposed regulations would (1)retitle Subpart D as Institutional andFinancial Assistance Information forStudents, to conform the title to that of section 485 of the HEA, and (2)renumber the sections.The proposed regulations wouldremove current §668.42 and incorporateit into proposed §668.41. Therefore, theproposed regulations would renumbercurrent §§668.43–668.49 as §§668.42–668.48. The headings in this section forproposed §§668.43–668.48 reflect theproposed renumbering. There is nodiscussion of proposed §668.42 (current§668.43), because there is no proposedchange other than the renumbering.

Section 668.41Reporting and Disclosure of Information

Prior to the 1998 Amendments,section 485(a) of the HEA required aninstitution to provide specifiedinformation about the institution and itsadministration of the Title IV, HEAprograms to all current students, andupon request to prospective students.The 1998 Amendments provided that,instead of providing the information tocurrent students, an institution mustprovide current students a list of theinformation to which they are entitled.The 1998 Amendments did not affect aninstitution’s responsibility concerningprospective students.The proposed regulations wouldamend §668.41 to comply with thechanges made to the HEA by the 1998Amendments, to make the informationdisclosure process more understandableand less burdensome to institutions, andto make the information more accessibleto students, parents, employees, andother interested parties. These proposedregulations would move definitionsfrom the various sections under SubpartD and consolidate them into §668.41. Inaddition, these proposed regulationsrepeat many existing provisions forwhich no changes are proposed, butwhich are included to provide contextfor the proposed changes. Thesechanges are discussed in the followingparagraphs.As stated previously, the 1998Amendments require an institution toprovide each enrolled student with a listof the various information that theinstitution must provide, upon request,to the student. Proposed §668.41(c)implements this requirement. Proposed§668.41(c) would require an institutionto include with the list a brief description of the required disclosures.The description should be sufficient toallow the student to understand thenature of the disclosure and make aninformed decision whether to requestthe full disclosure. The following is anexample of such a description:

A copy of [name of institution]’s annualsecurity report. This report includes statisticsfor the previous three years concerningreported crimes that occurred on campus; incertain off-campus buildings or propertyowned or controlled by [name of institution];and on public property within, orimmediately adjacent to and accessible from,the campus. The report also includesinstitutional policies concerning campussecurity, such as policies concerning alcoholand drug use, crime prevention, the reportingof crimes, sexual assault, and other matters.You can obtain a copy of this report bycontacting [name of office] or by accessingthe following website [address of website].

The proposed regulations wouldgroup together an institution’s reportingand disclosure obligations, what mustbe disclosed, and to whom thedisclosure must be made. Theseproposed regulations also would allowan institution to use the Internet or, forcurrent students and current employees,an Intranet website, to make most of therequired disclosures under Subpart D.The committee thought that use of theInternet or an Intranet would benefitinstitutions by reducing theirpublication costs and benefitindividuals interested in theinformation by making the informationmore accessible.However, an institution could not relyon the Internet or an Intranet to discloseto a prospective student-athlete and hisor her parents the graduation orcompletion rate information and, if applicable, transfer-out rate information,required under §668.48. The HEArequires an institution to provide thisinformation to a student and thestudent’s parents at the time theinstitution offers the student athleticallyrelated student aid.The Secretary believes that becauseCongress singled out this group of prospective students and identified astudent-specific time when theinstitution must make the disclosure, itwould be inappropriate to allow theinstitution to use the Internet, a broaddistribution medium, to disclose theinformation. Disclosure of thisinformation as a posting on the Internetwould not ensure that the student andhis or her parents receive theinformation at the time the HEArequires. An institution may provide theinformation in paper form or throughelectronic mail.An institution that chooses to use anInternet website, or an Intranet website,to make a required disclosure would berequired to provide a notice, to each