[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 214 (Tuesday, November 5, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59627-59628]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-24111]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission to OMB for 
Review and Approval; Public Comment Request; Scholarships for 
Disadvantaged Students, OMB No. 0915-0149--Revision

AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department 
of Health and Human Services.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, HRSA 
has submitted an Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. Comments submitted 
during the first public review of this ICR have been provided to OMB. 
OMB will accept further comments from the public during the review and 
approval period. OMB may act on HRSA's ICR only after the 30 day 
comment period for this Notice has closed.

DATES: Comments on this ICR should be received no later than December 
5, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, including the ICR Title, to the desk 
officer for HRSA, either by email to [email protected] or by 
fax to (202) 395-5806.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request a copy of the clearance 
requests submitted to OMB for review, email Lisa Wright-Solomon, the 
HRSA Information Collection Clearance Officer at [email protected] or 
call (301) 443-1984.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Information Collection Request Title: Scholarships for 
Disadvantaged Students Program OMB No. 0915-0149--Revision.
    Abstract: HRSA seeks to update the Scholarships for Disadvantaged 
Students (SDS) program-specific form to collect 3 years of student data 
instead of 1 year of student data from SDS program applicants. This 
will assist the agency in making funding decisions for SDS program 
awards. The form will reflect programmatic changes to the SDS program, 
made after consideration of the comments received in response to the 
request for public comment, published at 84 FR 23571, which will be 
finalized in the forthcoming SDS Policy Change Federal Register Notice.
    Need and Proposed Use of the Information: The purpose of the SDS 
Program is to make grant awards to eligible schools to provide 
scholarships to full-time, financially needy students from 
disadvantaged backgrounds enrolled in health professions programs. To 
qualify for participation in the SDS program, a school must be carrying 
out a program for recruiting and retaining students from disadvantaged 
backgrounds, including students who are members of racial and ethnic 
minority groups (section 737(d)(1)(B) of the Public Health Service 
(PHS) Act). To meet this requirement, a school must show that at least 
20 percent of the school's full-time enrolled students and graduates 
are from a disadvantaged background. HRSA previously required schools 
to demonstrate this percentage by submitting 1 year of data; a school 
must now provide this data for the most recent 3 year period.\1\ The 
proposed revisions to the SDS program-specific form will require 
applicants to provide the percentage of full-time enrolled students and 
graduates from a disadvantaged background over a 3-year period, 
consistent with this policy change.
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    \1\ The SDS program will allow an exception for newly 
established schools; that is, schools that have not been in 
existence long enough to have three years of enrollment and 
graduation data. However, these schools will be required to 
demonstrate that at least 20 percent of the school's full-time 
students are students from disadvantaged backgrounds, with at least 
two years of student enrollment, and at least one year of graduation 
data.
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    An additional change to the SDS program is that a 3 year average, 
instead of a 1 year average, will be used to calculate priority points, 
which are provided to eligible schools based on the proportion of 
graduating students going into primary care, the proportion of 
underrepresented minority students, and the proportion of graduates 
working in medically underserved communities (section 737(c) of the PHS 
Act). The proposed revisions to the SDS program-specific form will 
require applicants to provide a 3 year average for these percentages, 
consistent with this policy change, as opposed to the 1 year of data 
previously required.
    Likely Respondents: Institutions that apply for SDS program awards.
    Burden Statement: Burden in this context means the time expended by 
persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose or provide the 
information requested. This includes the time needed to review 
instructions; to develop, acquire, install, and utilize technology and 
systems for the purpose of collecting, validating, and verifying 
information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and 
providing information; to train

[[Page 59628]]

personnel and to be able to respond to a collection of information; to 
search data sources; to complete and review the collection of 
information; and to transmit or otherwise disclose the information. The 
total annual burden hours estimated for this ICR are summarized in the 
table below.

                                    Total Estimated Annualized Burden--Hours
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                                                     Number of                    Average burden
            Form name                Number of     responses per       Total       per response    Total burden
                                    respondents     respondent       responses      (in hours)         hours
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SDS Application Program Specific             323               1             323              31          10,013
 form...........................
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    Total.......................             323  ..............             323  ..............          10,013
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    From the last submission, the number of respondents has been 
updated with more recent application figures. There were 400 
applications received for the 2012 application cycle and 323 
applications from the 2016 cycle.

Maria G. Button,
Director, Executive Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 2019-24111 Filed 11-4-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4165-15-P