[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 2, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5032-5034]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-2384]


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CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The Corporation for National and Community Service (hereinafter the 
``Corporation''), has submitted the following two public information 
collection requests (ICRs) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for review and approval in accordance with the Paper Reduction Act of 
1995, (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). Copies of these 
individual ICRs, with applicable supporting documentation, may be 
obtained by calling the Corporation for National and Community Service, 
National Service Trust, Attn: Levon Buller, (202) 606-5000, Extension 
383. Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TTY/
TDD) may call (1-800) 833-3722 between the hours of 9:00 am and 5:00 pm 
Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.
    Comments should be sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Attn: Mr. Danny Werfel, OMB Desk Officer for the Corporation 
for National and Community Service, Office of Management and Budget, 
Room 10235, Washington, DC, 20503, (202) 395-7316, within 30 days from 
the date of this publication in the Federal Register.
    The OMB is particularly interested in comments which:
     Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the 
Corporation, including whether the information will have practical 
utility;
     Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the 
burden of the proposed collection of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
     Propose to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
     Propose to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on those who are to respond, including the use of 
appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., 
permitting electronic submissions of responses.
    Two ICR documents have been submitted to OMB for consideration. The 
first, Forbearance Request for National Service, is a proposed revision 
to an earlier form approved by OMB under a different name (OMB Number 
3045-0030). The second document, Interest Accrued During National 
Service, is a new form. Both forms are important for AmeriCorps members 
who have outstanding qualified student loans during the period they are 
involved in national service.
    The two documents were published in the Federal Register on April 
2, 1998, for a 60-day pre-clearance public comment period. Two 
organizations responded to the notice: one was a student loan holder/
servicer and the other was an association that represents student loan 
holders/servicers. Most of their suggestions have been incorporated 
into the versions now being presented for consideration by OMB. The 
Corporation contacted representatives from both organizations to 
discuss their comments, especially those suggestions that were not 
incorporated into this version of the forms. Each form is discussed 
separately below. Since most of the comments that were received as a 
result of the 60-day public comment period are related to both forms, 
all comments are discussed together in the Analysis of Comments 
Received section.

Forbearance Request for National Service

    Type of Review: Renewal/Revision.
    Agency: Corporation for National and Community Service.
    Title: Forbearance Request for National Service (form is currently 
titled Federal Education Loan Forbearance Request).
    OMB Number: OMB #3045-0030.
    Agency Number: None.
    Affected Public: AmeriCorps participants and the holders of their 
qualified student loans.
    Total Respondents: 6,000 annually.
    Frequency: Average of once per year per loan.
    Average Time Per Response: 10 minutes for the AmeriCorps member to 
complete the form (it will take student loan holders time to process 
the request for forbearance once they receive the form).
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1,000 hours.
    Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): N/A.
    Total Burden Cost (operating/maintenance): N/A.
    Description: By law, AmeriCorps members are eligible for a 
forbearance on the repayment of their qualified student loans while 
they are serving in an approved national service position. This form 
will serve as both the member's official request to the loan holders 
for the forbearance and the Corporation's verification that the 
borrower is serving in an approved national service position.
    Currently, AmeriCorps members use an OMB-approved form titled 
Federal Education Loan Forbearance Request to request a forbearance and 
to obtain certification that they are eligible for a forbearance based 
on their service. Forbearance can be granted only by the loan holder 
and not the Corporation. The Corporation's role is to verify that the 
borrower is an AmeriCorps member and is eligible for this mandatory 
forbearance on qualified student loans. An AmeriCorps member completes 
one part of the form, requesting forbearance, and sends it to the 
office of the National Service Trust. The Trust completes a second part 
verifying service dates and sends it to the loan holder at the address 
provided by the AmeriCorps member. The loan holder then acts upon the 
request.
    The form currently in use has been adopted by many of the larger 
loan holders (e.g., Sallie Mae) and is given to their borrowers with 
the loan holders' own logos at the top of the form. The form was 
originally developed with the assistance of representatives of several 
student loan associations. Having a separate form for forbearance based 
on AmeriCorps service clearly distinguishes it from forbearance 
requests based on one of the other conditions for which a borrower may 
be

[[Page 5033]]

eligible--e.g., military service, employment in certain low income 
areas, student status.
    Several other loan holders have chosen to modify their own 
forbearance request forms by including an additional option--
``AmeriCorps service'' or ``national service''--with the choices 
already available. The Corporation verifies national service 
participation using all types of forms presented to it, be it a loan 
holder's unique form or the Corporation's OMB approved form.
    The Corporation seeks to continue using this particular form, 
although in a revised version. The form needs some minor revisions. 
First, the Corporation proposes changing the name of the form to better 
reflect its actual purpose--it is a form used by a borrower to request 
forbearance on a qualified student loan based on involvement in 
national service. Experience has shown that the existing form could use 
a better set of instructions for explaining the process for requesting 
forbearance and for completing the form.
    This is a voluntary form. It is one way to provide verification to 
a loan holder that one of their borrowers is eligible for the mandatory 
forbearance, at the same time allowing the borrower to request the 
forbearance of the loan company. The Corporation will continue its 
policy of verifying AmeriCorps participation on any form the loan 
holder wishes to use.

Interest Accrued During Nation Service

    Type of Review: New.
    Agency: Corporation for National and Community Service.
    Title: Interest Accrued During National Service.
    OMB Number: None yet.
    Agency Number: N/A.
    Affected Public: AmeriCorps members and the holders of their 
qualified student loans.

Total Respondents: 6,000 annually.

Frequency: Average of once per year per loan.

    Average Time Per Response: 10 minutes, total (three minutes for the 
AmeriCorps member to complete the form and seven minutes for the loan 
holder to report the amount of interest accrued).

Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1,000 hours.

Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): N/A.

Total Burden Cost (operating/maintenance): N/A.

    Description: The Corporation pays all or a portion of the interest 
that accrues during a period of national service for those who 
successfully complete their service and have had their loans in 
forbearance during the service. Currently, AmeriCorps members ask their 
loan holders to report to the Corporation the amount of interest that 
accrued on their qualified student loans while they were in their 
national service position. When the Corporation receives this 
information, it is reviewed for accuracy and is either paid or returned 
to the member or loan holder for additional information.
    This information comes to the Corporation in many formats, such as 
letters, statements, and printouts, with varying degrees of clarity and 
accuracy. Frequently, an amount of interest is reported without any 
accompanying dates--there is no indication of the period of time upon 
which the calculation was based. The Corporation can only pay interest 
that accrued while the borrower was in the AmeriCorps program; 
sometimes the amount of interest the loan holder reports includes 
interest that began accruing well before or well after the national 
service period. Many times the Corporation receives from a loan holder 
a printout of the member's account, from which it is difficult or 
impossible to determine the amount of interest that accrued during the 
service period. All of these have to be returned to obtain the correct 
information and this takes time--time, during which the unpaid loan 
continues to accrue additional interest.
    This proposed form is intended to obtain clear and accurate 
information from loan holders in order to expedite the interest 
payments for AmeriCorps members. Members will complete the top section 
and indicate their dates of service. They will then mail the form to 
their loan holders where the loan company will indicate the total 
amount of interest that accrued between those dates or indicate a daily 
accrual amount. The loan holder will fill in the address where the 
payment should be sent, and return the form to the National Service 
Trust for payment.

Analysis of Comments Received During the Public Comment Period

    The bulk of the comments received from the commentors were related 
to increasing the consistency between these two forms--using the same 
format, font, and terminology. The Corporation concurred and adopted 
these changes into the forms being presented to OMB. Both commentors 
questioned the Corporation's original estimated time to complete the 
forms. The Corporation agrees and changed the estimated time to a 
mutually accepted 10 minutes for each form.
    Both commentors suggested making the interest accrual form one 
which could be filled out once for several loan holders, rather than 
the originally proposed one form for each loan holder. This would 
significantly reduce the burden for members who have multiple student 
loans. The Corporation agrees and has made space on the front of the 
form for two loan holders with directions to include additional loan 
holders on the back side of the form, if necessary. An attempt was made 
to include four loan holders on the front of the form rather than two, 
but the form appeared too cluttered.
    One commentor suggested not providing an option for the loan holder 
to give a daily interest accrual rate. The argument being that if a 
loan holder knows the daily interest accrual rate and the forbearance 
period, using simple multiplication they should be able to provide the 
total amount accrued. While the Corporation agrees with this logic, 
when this form was developed originally, some members of the loan 
community argued to include this option. It is also useful information 
when incorrect service dates are included on the form. Rather than 
having to return the form for correct information, the Corporation's 
database will calculate the accrued interest using the daily rate. The 
other commentor had no opinion on the matter and the first, after 
discussion, had no problem including it. So it remains on the form as 
an option. Both commentors had suggestions for including additional 
language in the top section of the forbearance form that explained to 
the member the availability of an administrative forbearance to resolve 
any delinquency that might exist prior to the mandatory forbearance for 
national service. The Corporation agreed and included a version of the 
language suggested by the commentors that included both their thoughts.
    Both commentors questioned the instructions directing the forms to 
be sent through the local AmeriCorps projects to the Trust for 
verification rather than instructing the members to send them directly 
and individually to the Trust. Due to timing issues related to when the 
Trust receives official enrollment information from the various

[[Page 5034]]

projects, the Corporation believes this is the best way to facilitate 
the prompt processing of these requests. The commentors agreed that if 
this is the fastest and most accurate way to obtain verification, it 
should be used. The Corporation will continue its practice of 
processing all forms, regardless if they came to the Trust through the 
projects or directly from members.
    Both commentors suggested moving the item which asks for service 
dates from the section to be completed by the member to the section to 
be completed by the Corporation. The concern was that an AmeriCorps 
member may use incorrect dates. However, if a member enters an 
incorrect date, the Corporation can correct it. When the Corporation 
signs the form it is verifying that the dates are correct, regardless 
of who enters them. The commentors agreed to this.

    Dated: January 27, 1999.
Thomas L. Bryant,
Acting General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 99-2384 Filed 2-1-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6050-28-P