[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.
[[Page 45912]]
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]
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