[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 211 (Thursday, October 31, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66390-66392]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-27697]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA NO. 84.031H]


Office of Postsecondary Education; Strengthening Institutions 
(SIP), American Indian Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities 
(TCCU), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions (ANNH) 
and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) Programs; Notice Inviting 
Applications for Designation as Eligible Institutions for Fiscal Year 
(FY) 2003

    Purpose of Programs: Under the SIP, TCCU, and ANNH Programs 
authorized under Part A of Title III of the Higher Education Act of 
1965, as amended (HEA), institutions of higher education are eligible 
to apply for grants if they meet specific statutory and regulatory 
eligibility requirements. Similarly, HSIs are eligible to apply for 
grants under the HSI Program, authorized under Title V of the HEA, if 
they meet specific statutory and regulatory requirements. In addition, 
an institution that is designated as an eligible institution under 
those programs may also receive a waiver of certain non-Federal share 
requirements under the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity 
Grant (FSEOG), the Federal Work Study (FWS), the Student Support 
Services (SSS) and the Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign 
Language (UISFL) Programs. The FSEOG, FWS and SSS Programs are 
authorized under Title IV of the HEA; the UISFL Program is authorized 
under Title VI of the HEA.
    Qualified institutions may receive these waivers even if they are 
not recipients of grant funds under the Title III Part A or Title V 
Programs.

    Special Note: To become eligible, your institution must satisfy 
a criterion related to needy student enrollment and one related to 
Educational and General (E&G) expenditures for a particular base 
year. Because we changed the collection processes for determining 
the thresholds for these criteria, we do not have base year data 
beyond 1999-2000. In order to award FY 2003 grants in a timely 
manner, we will use threshold data from base year 1999-2000 rather 
than a later base year. In completing your eligibility application, 
therefore, you are to use data from the base year 1999-2000.

    Eligible Applicants: To qualify as an eligible institution under 
the Title III Part A or Title V Programs, an accredited institution 
must, among other requirements, have a high enrollment of needy 
students, and its E&G expenditures per full-time equivalent (FTE) 
undergraduate student must be low in comparison with the average E&G 
expenditures per FTE undergraduate student of institutions that offer 
similar instruction. The complete eligibility requirements for the HSI 
Program are found in 34 CFR 606.2-606.5. The complete eligibility 
requirements for the Title III Part A Programs are found in 34 CFR 
607.2-607.5. The regulations may also be accessed by visiting the 
following Department of Education Web site: http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/finrule/1999-4/121599a.html.
    Enrollment of Needy Students: Under 34 CFR 606.3(a) and 607.3(a), 
an institution is considered to have a high enrollment of needy 
students if--(1) at least 50 percent of its degree students received 
financial assistance under one or more of the following programs: 
Federal Pell Grant, FSEOG, FWS, and Federal Perkins Loan Programs; or 
(2) the percentage of its undergraduate degree students who were 
enrolled on at least a half-time basis and received Federal Pell Grants 
exceeded the median percentage of undergraduate degree students who 
were enrolled on at least a half-time basis and received Federal Pell 
Grants at comparable institutions that offered similar instruction.
    To qualify under this latter criterion, an institution's Federal 
Pell Grant percentage for base year 1999-2000 must be more than the 
median for its category of comparable institutions provided in the 
table in this notice.
    Educational and Expenditures per Full-Time Equivalent Student: An 
institution should compare its 1999-2000 E&G expenditures per FTE 
student to the average E&G expenditure per FTE student for its category 
of comparable institutions contained in the table in this notice. If 
the institution's E&G expenditures for the 1999-2000 base year are less 
than the average for its category of comparable institutions, it meets 
this eligibility requirement.
    An institution's E&G expenditures are the total amount it expended 
during the base year for instruction, research, public service, 
academic support, student services, institutional support, operation 
and maintenance, scholarships and fellowships, and mandatory transfers.

[[Page 66391]]

    The following table identifies the relevant median Federal Pell 
Grant percentages and the relevant average E&G expenditures per FTE 
student for the base year, 1999-2000, for the four categories of 
comparable institutions:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          Median Pell
          Type of institution                grant       Average E&G per
                                           percentage          FTE
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2-year Public Institutions............             18.9           $8,348
2-year Non-Profit Private Institutions             31.0           20,101
4-year Public Institutions............             23.5           19,516
4-year Non-Profit Private Institutions             23.4           30,152
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Waiver Information: Institutions of higher education that are 
unable to meet the needy student enrollment requirement or the E&G 
expenditure requirement may apply to the Secretary for waivers of these 
requirements, as described in 34 CFR 606.3(b), 606.4(c) and (d), 
607.3(b) and 607.4(c) and (d). Institutions requesting a waiver of the 
needy student or the E&G expenditures requirement must include the 
detailed information as described in the instructions for completing 
the application.
    The needy student requirement waiver authority, provided in 34 CFR 
606.3(b)(2) and (3) and 607.3(b)(2) and (3), refers to ``low-income'' 
students and families. The regulations define ``low- income'' as an 
amount that does not exceed 150 percent of the amount equal to the 
poverty level in the 1999-2000 base year as established by the U.S. 
Bureau of the Census, 34 CFR 606.3(c) and 607.3(c).
    For the purposes of this waiver provision, the following table 
provides the low-income levels for the various sizes of families:

                                          1999 Annual Low-Income Levels
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Contiguous 48
                                                                 States, the
                     Size of family unit                         District of         Alaska           Hawaii
                                                                 Columbia and
                                                                   Outlying
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1............................................................          $12,360          $15,480          $14,235
2............................................................           16,590           20,760           19,095
3............................................................           20,820           26,040           23,955
4............................................................           25,050           31,320           28,815
5............................................................           29,280           36,600           33,675
6............................................................           33,510           41,880           38,535
7............................................................           37,740           47,160           43,395
8............................................................           41,970           52,440           48,255
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    For family units with more than eight members, add the following 
amount for each additional family member: $4,230 for the contiguous 48 
states, the District of Columbia and outlying jurisdictions; $5,280 for 
Alaska; and $4,860 for Hawaii.
    The figures shown as low-income levels represent amounts equal to 
150 percent of the family income levels established by the U.S. Bureau 
of the Census for determining poverty status. The Census levels were 
published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the 
Federal Register on March 18, 1999 (64 FR 13428-13430).
    In reference to the waiver option specified in 606.3(b)(4) and 
607.3(b)(4) of the regulations, information about ``metropolitan 
statistical areas'' may be obtained by requesting the Metropolitan 
Statistical Areas, 1999, order number PB99-501538, from the National 
Technical Information Service, Document Sales, 5285 Port Royal Road, 
Springfield, Virginia 22161, telephone number 1-800-553-6847. There is 
a charge for this publication.
    Applications Available: November 1, 2002.
    Deadline for Transmittal of Eligibility Applications: January 31, 
2003 for institutions that wish to apply for FY 2003 new grants under 
the Title III Part A or the Title V Programs; May 23, 2003 for 
institutions that wish to apply only for cost-sharing waivers under the 
FSEOG, FWS, SSS or UISFL Programs; January 31, 2003 for institutions 
that wish to apply for both a grant under the Title III Part A Programs 
or the Title V Program and a waiver of the cost sharing requirements 
under the FSEOG, FWS, SSS or UISFL Programs.
    Electronic Submission of Applications: For FY 2003, we are again 
offering institutions the option of submitting their Designation of 
Eligibility application in hard copy or sending it electronically to 
our eligibility Web site at: http://webprod.cbmiweb.com/Title3and5/index.html.
    To enter the Web site, you must use your institution's unique 8-
digit identifier, i.e., your Office of Postsecondary Education 
Identification Number (OPE ID number). If you receive a hard copy of 
the eligibility application and instructions from us in the mail, look 
for the OPE ID number on the address label. Otherwise, your business 
office or student financial aid office should have the OPE ID number. 
If your business office or student financial aid office does not have 
that OPE ID number, contact a Department of Education staff member 
using the e-mail address located at the end of the web page or the 
contact persons' telephone numbers or e-mail addresses included in this 
notice.
    You will find detailed instructions for completing the form 
electronically under the ``eligibility 2003'' link at either of the 
following Web sites: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OPE/HEP/idues/title3a.html or http://www.ed.gov/hsi.
    We encourage applicants to complete their form electronically and 
to complete it as soon as possible. For institutions of higher 
education that are unable to meet the needy student enrollment 
requirement or the E&G expenditure requirement and wish to request a 
waiver of one or both of those

[[Page 66392]]

requirements, you may complete your designation application form on-
line, print the form, and attach your narrative waiver request(s) to 
the printed form and mail both to the address in the next paragraph.
    Mail your Designation of Eligibility application request to: Ms. 
Darlene B. Collins, Team Leader, Institutional Development and 
Undergraduate Education Service, U.S. Department of Education, 1990 K 
Street, NW., Room 6032, Request for Eligibility Designation, 
Washington, DC 20202-8513.
    Applicable Regulations: (a) The Education Department General 
Administrative Regulations in 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 82, 85, 86, 
97, 98, and 99. (b) The regulations for the Title III Part A Programs 
in 34 CFR part 607, and for the Title V Program in 34 CFR part 606.
    For Applications and Further Information Contact: Thomas M. Keyes, 
Margaret A. Wheeler or Ellen Sealey, Institutional Development and 
Undergraduate Education Service, U.S. Department of Education, 1990 K 
Street, Room 6049, Request for Eligibility Designation, Washington, DC 
20202-8513. Mr. Keyes' telephone number is (202) 502-7577. Ms. 
Wheeler's telephone number is (202) 502-7583. Ms. Sealey's telephone 
number is (202) 502-7580. Mr. Keyes, Ms. Wheeler and Ms. Sealey may be 
reached via Internet: [email protected], [email protected], 
[email protected].
    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, audio tape, or computer 
diskette) on request to the contact persons listed under For 
Applications and Further Information Contact.
    Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of the application 
package in an alternative format by contacting those persons. However, 
the Department is not able to reproduce in an alternative format the 
standard forms included in the application package.

Electronic Access to This Document

    You may view this document, as well as all other Department of 
Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe 
Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site: 
www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister.
    To use PDF, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available 
free at this site. If you have questions about using the PDF, call the 
U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), 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. 1057-1059d, 1101-1103g.

    Dated: October 28, 2002.
Sally L. Stroup,
Assistant Secretary, Office of Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 02-27697 Filed 10-30-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P