[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 176 (Tuesday, September 11, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45910-45912]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-19738]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket ID ED-2018-FSA-0063]


Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of a new matching program.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended by the 
Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988 and the Computer 
Matching and Privacy Protections Amendments of 1990 (Privacy Act), and 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance on the conduct of 
matching programs, notice is hereby given of the re-establishment of 
the matching program between the Department of Education (ED or 
Department) (recipient agency) and the Social Security Administration 
(SSA) (source agency).

DATES: The period of this matching program is estimated to cover the 
18-month period from October 10, 2018 through April 9, 2020. However, 
the computer matching agreement (CMA) will become applicable at the 
later of the following two dates: October 10, 2018 or 30 days after the 
publication of this notice, on September 11, 2018, unless comments have 
been received from interested members of the public requiring 
modification and republication of the notice. The matching program will 
continue for 18 months after the applicable date and may be extended 
for an additional 12 months, if the respective agency Data Integrity 
Boards (DIBs) determine that the conditions specified in 5 U.S.C. 
552a(o)(2)(D) have been met.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal 
or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. We will not 
accept comments submitted by fax or by email or those submitted after 
the comment period. To ensure that we do not receive duplicate copies, 
please submit your comments only once. In addition, please include the 
Docket ID at the top of your comments.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to 
submit your comments electronically. Information on using 
Regulations.gov, including instructions for accessing agency documents, 
submitting comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site 
under the ``help'' tab.
     Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery: If you 
mail or deliver your comments about this new matching program, address 
them to: Marya Dennis, Management and Program Analyst, U.S. Department 
of

[[Page 45911]]

Education, Federal Student Aid, Union Center Plaza, 830 First Street 
NE, Washington, DC 20202-5454. Telephone: (202) 377-3385.
    Privacy Note: The Department's policy is to make all comments 
received from members of the public available for public viewing in 
their entirety on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 
www.regulations.gov. Therefore, commenters should be careful to include 
in their comments only information that they wish to make publicly 
available.
    Assistance to Individuals with Disabilities in Reviewing the 
Rulemaking Record: On request we will provide an appropriate 
accommodation or auxiliary aid to an individual with a disability who 
needs assistance to review the comments or other documents in the 
public rulemaking record for this notice. If you want to schedule an 
appointment for this type of accommodation or auxiliary aid, please 
contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marya Dennis, Management and Program 
Analyst, U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid, Union 
Center Plaza, 830 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20202-5454. 
Telephone: (202) 377-3385.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with the Privacy Act; OMB 
Final Guidance Interpreting the Provisions of Public Law 100-503, the 
Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988, published in the 
Federal Register on June 19, 1989 (54 FR 25818); and OMB Circular No. 
A-108, notice is hereby provided of the re-establishment of the 
matching program between SSA and ED to assist ED in the verification of 
Social Security numbers (SSNs) and confirmation of citizenship status 
as recorded in SSA records in order to verify the eligibility of 
applicants for student financial assistance under title IV of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA).

Participating Agencies

    ED and SSA.

Authority for Conducting the Matching Program

    ED is authorized to participate in the matching program under 
sections 428B(f) (20 U.S.C. 1078-2(f)), 483(a)(12) (20 U.S.C. 
1090(a)(12)), 484(g) (20 U.S.C. 1091(g)), and 484(p) (20 U.S.C. 
1091(p)) of the HEA.
    SSA is authorized to participate in the matching program under 
section 1106 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1306)) and the 
regulations promulgated pursuant to that section (20 CFR part 401).

Purpose(s)

    The purpose of this matching program between ED and SSA is to 
assist the Secretary of Education with verification of immigration 
status and SSNs under 20 U.S.C. 1091(g) and (p). SSA will verify the 
issuance of an SSN and a date of death (if applicable) to students and 
the parent(s) of dependent students, and will confirm the citizenship 
status of those students applying for financial assistance programs 
authorized under title IV of the HEA. Verification of this information 
by SSA will help ED satisfy its obligation to ensure that individuals 
applying for financial assistance meet eligibility requirements of the 
HEA.
    Verification by this matching program effectuates the purpose of 
the HEA because it provides an efficient and comprehensive method of 
verifying the accuracy of each individual's SSN, date of death if 
applicable and claim to a citizenship status that permits that 
individual to qualify for title IV, HEA assistance.

Categories of Individuals

    ED's systems of records involved in the matching program maintain 
information on individuals who apply for Federal student financial 
assistance through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) 
and on individuals who apply to receive Person Authentication Service 
(PAS) Credentials, a user ID and password to electronically access 
their FAFSA record.
    SSA's system of records involved in the matching program maintains 
records about each individual who has applied for, and obtained an, 
SSN.

Categories of Records

    ED's systems of records involved in the matching program contain 
(1) the information to determine an applicant's eligibility for Federal 
student financial assistance, and (2) the applicant's information to 
receive PAS Credentials, a user ID and password. The specific data 
elements that ED will transmit to SSA are: Students' and parent(s) of 
dependent students' SSN, first name, last name, and date of birth 
(DOB).
    SSA's system of records involved in the matching program maintains 
information required to apply for, and obtain, an SSN. The specific 
data elements that SSA will send back to ED include: SSN, first name, 
last name, DOB, and an SSA verification code on each record to indicate 
the match results. The verification codes are: 1 = No match on SSN, 3 = 
SSN match, name match, no match on DOB, 5 = SSN match, no match on 
name, DOB not checked, 6 = SSN not verified, Blank = SSN match, name 
match, DOB match. SSA will also send a date of death if one is present 
on SSA's database for the record. Records returned from SSA also will 
include a citizenship status code as follows: A = U.S. citizen, B = 
legal alien, eligible to work, C = legal alien, not eligible to work, D 
= other, E = alien, student restricted, F = conditionally legalized 
alien, * = foreign born, Blank = domestic born (U.S. citizen), N = 
unable to verify citizenship due to no match on name, DOB, or SSN.

System(s) of Records

    There are two ED systems of records involved in this matching 
program. The first is entitled ``Federal Student Aid Application File'' 
(18-11-01) last published on August 3, 2011 (76 FR 46774), and the 
second is entitled ``Person Authentication Service (PAS)'' (18-11-12) 
published on March 20, 2015 (80 FR 14981).
    SSA's system of records involved in this matching program is 
entitled, ``Master Files of Social Security Number (SSN) Holders and 
SSN Applications'' (Enumeration System) 60-0058, last published in full 
on December 29, 2010 (75 FR 82121), modified on July 5, 2013 (78 FR 
40542), February 13, 2014 (79 FR 8780), and July 3, 2018 (83 FR 31250) 
and (83 FR 31251).
    Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this 
document in an accessible format (e.g., Braille, large print, 
audiotape, or compact disc) by contacting the contact person listed in 
the preceding paragraph.
    Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this 
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may 
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of 
Federal Regulations via the Federal Digital System at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys. At this site you can view this document, as well as all other 
documents of this Department published in the Federal Register, in text 
or Portable Document Format (PDF). To use PDF you must have Adobe 
Acrobat Reader, which is available free at this site. You may also 
access documents of the Department published in the Federal Register by 
using the article search feature at: www.federalregister.gov. 
Specifically, through the advanced search feature at this site, you can 
limit your search to documents published by the Department.


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    Dated: September 6, 2018.
James F. Manning,
Acting Chief Operating Officer, Federal Student Aid.
[FR Doc. 2018-19738 Filed 9-10-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4000-01-P