[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 234 (Wednesday, December 5, 2001)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 63203-63204]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-30260]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

34 CFR Chapter VI


Student Financial Assistance

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of intention to establish negotiated rulemaking 
committees on issues for programs authorized under Title IV of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended.

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SUMMARY: We announce our intention to establish two negotiated 
rulemaking committees to prepare proposed regulations under Title IV of 
the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA). Each committee will 
include representatives with interests that are significantly affected 
by the subject matter of the proposed regulations. We also announce a 
meeting to discuss the agenda and the procedures for the negotiated 
rulemaking sessions. We request nominations for members who represent 
individuals and organizations of key stakeholder constituencies that 
are involved in the student financial assistance programs authorized 
under Title IV of the HEA to serve on these committees.

DATES: We must receive your nominations for membership on the 
committees on or before December 19, 2001. We will hold a public 
meeting on December 14, 2001, at the Department of Education in 
Washington, DC for interested parties to discuss the agenda and the 
procedures for the negotiated rulemaking sessions.

ADDRESSES: Please send your nominations to Rose Fletcher, U.S. 
Department of Education, 1990 K Street, NW., Room 8061, Washington, DC 
20006, or fax to Rose Fletcher at (202) 502-7873. You may also email 
your nominations to: [email protected].
    The meeting on December 14, 2001 will be held at the GSA 
Auditorium, Regional Office Building #3, 7th and D Street, SW., 
Washington, DC from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. Anyone interested in attending 
the meeting should contact Rose Fletcher at (202) 502-7812.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about the meetings and 
the nomination submission process: Rose Fletcher, U.S. Department of 
Education, 1990 K Street, NW., Room 8061, Washington, DC 20006. 
Telephone: (202) 502-7812.
    For information about negotiated rulemaking: Carney McCullough, 
U.S. Department of Education, 1990 K Street, NW., Room 8071, 
Washington, DC 20006. Telephone (202) 502-7639.
    If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) you may 
call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
    Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an 
alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer 
diskette) on request to the contact person for information about the 
meetings listed in the preceding paragraph.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The meeting site is accessible to 
individuals with disabilities. If you will need an auxiliary aid or 
service to participate in the meeting (e.g., interpreting service, 
assistive listening device, or materials in alternative format), notify 
the contact person for information about the meeting listed in this 
notice in advance of the scheduled meeting date. Although we will 
attempt to meet a request we receive, we may not be able to make 
available the requested auxiliary aid or service because of 
insufficient time to arrange it.

Regulatory Issues

    We intend to act on regulatory proposals to streamline the current 
Federal student financial assistance program regulations while 
maintaining or improving program integrity. Many of these proposals 
were submitted by individuals and organizations in response to a 
request for such recommendations from the affected public made on May 
24, 2001 by Representative Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon and Representative 
Patsy Mink, the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on 21st 
Century Competitiveness of the Education and the Workforce Committee of 
the U.S. House of Representatives. The Subcommittee received over 3,000

[[Page 63204]]

responses on the regulations between May and the end of July 2001. 
Those proposals that would not in fact require statutory amendments 
have been provided to the Department for consideration.
    In acting on these proposals and minor changes from the Department, 
we intend to advance the Administration's management reform priorities 
by taking steps that will provide immediate, concrete and measurable 
results in the near term. In reforming the Federal Government, 
President Bush has called for an ``active, but limited'' role for the 
Federal Government that empowers citizens to make decisions, ensures 
results through accountability, and promotes innovation through 
competition. To advance these goals, we intend to place priority on 
changes that will reduce the expense and difficulty of complying with 
the current Federal student financial assistance regulations, reduce 
the operating costs of administering the programs through greater use 
of e-commerce, simplify processes and improve service, and effect other 
changes that will improve program management and the integrity of the 
student financial assistance programs.

Structure of the Committees

    We anticipate having two negotiating committees. The ultimate goal 
of negotiated rulemaking is to reach a consensus on proposed 
regulations through discussion and negotiation among interested and 
affected parties, including the Department of Education. With this in 
mind, we will conduct these negotiations within a structure that is 
designed to meet this goal fairly and efficiently. One negotiating 
committee will focus on student loan issues while the other will focus 
on other program issues. Our goal is to establish committees that are 
large enough to allow significantly affected parties to be represented 
while keeping the committees' size manageable.
    Nominations of individuals from coalitions of individuals and 
organizations representing the constituencies identified below are 
strongly encouraged. Moreover, the Department encourages nominations of 
individuals who are actively involved in administering the Federal 
student financial assistance programs or whose interests are 
significantly affected by the regulations. The committees may also 
create subgroups on particular topics that would involve additional 
individuals who are not members of the committees. Individuals who are 
not selected as members of the committees will be able to attend the 
meetings, have access to the individuals representing their 
constituency, and will also be able to participate in informal working 
groups on various issues between the meetings. The meetings will be 
open to the public.
    The Department has identified the constituencies listed below as 
having interests that are significantly affected by the subject matter 
of the negotiated rulemakings. The Department anticipates that 
individuals representing each of these constituencies will participate 
as members of one or both of the negotiated rulemaking committees. 
These constituencies are:
     Students.
     Legal assistance organizations that represent students.
     Financial aid administrators at institutions of higher 
education.
     Business officers and bursars at institutions of higher 
education and institutional servicers (including collection agencies).
     Institutions of higher education eligible to receive 
Federal assistance under Title III, Parts A and B and Title V of the 
HEA, which includes Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 
Hispanic-Serving Institutions, American Indian Tribally Controlled 
Colleges and Universities, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving 
Institutions, and other institutions with a substantial enrollment of 
needy students as defined in Title III.
     Two-year public institutions of higher education.
     Four-year public institutions of higher education.
     Private, non-profit institutions of higher education.
     Private, for-profit institutions of higher education.
     Guaranty agencies and guaranty agency servicers (including 
collection agencies).
     Lenders, secondary markets, and loan servicers.
    While an individual selected to represent a constituency may be a 
representative of a group, institution, or industry participant, the 
individual will be expected to represent the interests of the entire 
constituency on the committee and to confer with other individuals and 
representatives of groups within that constituency.
    Nominations should include:
     The name of the nominee and a description of the interests 
that he or she represents.
     Evidence of support from individuals or groups of the 
constituency that he or she will represent.
     The nominee's commitment that he or she will actively 
participate in good faith in the development of the proposed 
regulations.

Schedule for Negotiations

    We will hold a total of three meetings of each committee, all of 
which will be held at the Department of Education in Washington, DC. 
The following is the tentative schedule for negotiations for the 
committees. This schedule is subject to change.

Meeting 1: Week of January 14, 2002
Meeting 2: Week of March 4, 2002
Meeting 3: Week of April 22, 2002

    The committee will use electronic mail to exchange documents and 
discuss proposals between meetings.
    The schedule outlined above is expected to allow sufficient time 
for us to provide the public with a 60-day comment period for the 
proposed regulations, as well as to provide sufficient time to address 
any issues raised in the comment period, while meeting the November 1 
statutory deadline for publishing student financial assistance 
regulations.

Electronic Access to This Document

    You may view this document, in Text or Adobe Portable Document 
Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site: http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister.
    To use the PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is 
available free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF, 
call the U.S. Government Printing Office toll free at 1-888-293-6498; 
or in the Washington, DC area at (202) 512-1530.


    Note: The official version of this document is the document 
published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the 
official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal 
Regulations is available on GPO access at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html.


    Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1098a.

    Dated: December 3, 2001.
Rod Paige,
Secretary of Education.
[FR Doc. 01-30260 Filed 12-4-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-U