[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 76 (Thursday, April 22, 2021)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 21213-21216]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-08265]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Maritime Administration

46 CFR Part 310

[Docket No. MARAD-2020-0142]
RIN 2133-AB92


Admission and Training of Midshipmen at the United States 
Merchant Marine Academy; Amendment Providing an Emergency Waiver for 
Scholastic Requirements

AGENCY: Maritime Administration, Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Final rule; response to comments on interim final rule.

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SUMMARY: This final rule adopts, without change, an October 22, 2020, 
interim final rule (IFR) amending Maritime Administration (MARAD) 
regulations governing admission to the United States Merchant Marine 
Academy (USMMA). The amendments allow the MARAD Administrator to waive 
the requirement for USMMA applicants to have taken the College Board's 
Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) or the American College Testing Program 
(ACT) examination in the event of a State or national emergency. The 
ability to waive SAT and ACT requirements for prospective students is 
necessary to address testing disruptions caused by the coronavirus 
disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and to provide for future emergencies.

DATES: This final rule is effective April 22, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mitch Hudson, Office of the Chief 
Counsel, at (202) 366-9373 or [email protected]. The mailing address 
for the Maritime Administration, Office of the Chief Counsel is 1200 
New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. Executive Summary
II. Background
III. Agency's Response
IV. Comments and Immediate Effective Date
V. Regulatory Analyses and Notices

I. Executive Summary

    Institutions of higher education across the Nation have been 
severely impacted by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, 
which has not only required them to adapt teaching methods and 
practices, but also admissions processes and criteria. USMMA, along 
with many other institutions, is faced with the dilemma

[[Page 21214]]

of how to ensure the selection of qualified candidates given the 
current situation. The USMMA admissions policy is currently governed by 
46 CFR 310.55--Scholastic requirements, which provides in paragraph 
(b)(1) that ``[a]pplicants shall qualify in either the College Board's 
Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT) or the American College Testing Program 
(ACT) examinations, administered nationally on scheduled dates at 
convenient testing centers.'' Prior to the Department's October 22, 
2020 IFR (85 FR 67299), paragraph (d) further provided that ``[n]o 
waivers of scholastic requirements will be granted.''
    Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, student access to test centers and 
the opportunity to take the SAT and ACT have been greatly reduced. 
Requiring SAT or ACT test scores from students during the COVID-19 
pandemic by strictly adhering to the regulation as currently written 
will significantly affect the application process, selection, and 
appointment of prospective candidates.
    This final rule adopts as final without change, the interim final 
rule published on October 22, 2020, in response to an emergency waiver 
request submitted by USMMA seeking a revision to its governing 
regulations that would provide for a waiver of the scholastic 
requirements in an emergency situation. After considering the issues 
raised in the USMMA request and public comments received on the IFR, 
MARAD agrees that the unprecedented disruptions caused by the COVID-19 
pandemic continue to make compliance by prospective candidates with the 
requirement impracticable and warrant appropriate regulatory relief. 
Accordingly, MARAD issues this final rule to give the MARAD 
Administrator the ability to issue a waiver of the scholastic 
requirements in the event of a State or national emergency that 
significantly limits the ability of applicants to take either the SAT 
or ACT.

II. Background

    USMMA operates on a rolling admissions cycle. Aside from a limited 
number of appointments made by the Secretary of Transportation, 
candidates for admission must first be nominated by their respective 
Senator or Representative to receive an appointment to the Academy. The 
nomination process is independent from the application process; each 
nominating official decides what requirements they deem appropriate. 
However, nominating officials often take into consideration a 
candidate's standardized test scores. Therefore, the lack of ACT/SAT 
standardized testing availability could prevent candidates from even 
receiving a nomination.
    An application is considered complete when all required documents 
are submitted, the required standardized test scores are received, and 
the Candidate Fitness Assessment has been passed. Only then will 
candidates be offered an appointment. The process will end when the 
candidate submits acceptance of the offer in late Spring.
    According to the ACT website, there will be continued limitations 
in test center capacity and inevitable cancellations throughout the 
remainder of the 2021 test dates.\1\ In a February 2021 post on its 
website, ACT stated, ``To mitigate COVID-related test cancellations, 
ACT added three national test dates to its fall 2020 national testing 
schedule, increased school day testing (state and district testing) and 
unveiled strategically placed pop-up testing sites across the nation to 
meet customer demand. Where possible, we [ACT] provided make-up testing 
for students who were displaced by last-minute cancellations and/or 
weather-related events.'' The College Board, which administers the SAT, 
also reported that a substantial number of students who registered were 
unable to take the test as a result of testing center closures or 
reduction in capacity due to COVID-19 mitigation measures.\2\ This is 
on top of the College Board cancelling SAT administrations from March 
through May of 2020.\3\ Test sites continue to face issues of capacity 
for Spring 2021, as they need to test all students whose testing was 
postponed due to COVID-19 plus all future high school graduates who 
will require scores for college entrance in 2022. For example, 
according to the College Board, each of the 41 SAT test centers in New 
York State was closed for the most recent test date (March 13); only 
one of those centers projected a re-opening date.\4\ As of February 1, 
2021, USMMA had received 1792 applications, of which 897 (or 50%) were 
submitted without ACT or SAT scores.
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    \1\ Rescheduled Test Centers. (September 19, 2020). www.ACT.org. 
Retrieved September 22, 2020, from https://www.act.org/content/act/en/products-and-services/the-act/test-day/rescheduled-test-centers.html.
    \2\ What to Know Before the September and October SAT 
Administration, (September 22, 2020). www.collegeboard.org. https://www.collegeboard.org/releases/2020/what-to-know-sept-oct-sat-admins.
    \3\ College Board Cancels May SAT in Response to Coronavirus, 
(March 16, 2020), www.collegeboard.org, https://www.collegeboard.org/releases/2020/college-board-cancels-may-sat-response-coronavirus.
    \4\ Retrieved March 22, 2021 from https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/register/test-center-closings.
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III. Discussion of Comments to the Docket

    In response to the October 22, 2020 interim final rule, MARAD 
received two timely submitted comments to the docket from private 
individuals. One was in support of the revision to USMMA admissions 
regulations and one was opposed.
    With respect to the comment supporting the revision, MARAD and the 
USMMA agree that students should not be made ineligible for admission 
to the USMMA on the sole basis that they were unable to take the SAT/
ACT exams due to the COVID19 pandemic. This final rule will ensure that 
COVID19 and any other national emergency does not adversely impact our 
ability to consider otherwise qualified applicants for admission to the 
USMMA.
    The comment opposing the regulatory revision stated that MARAD 
should instead work to assist applicants in locating available test 
locations and to facilitate applicants taking the standardized 
examinations. MARAD and the USMMA are not positioned to undertake such 
an expansive process. Instead, because it remains imperative that we 
are not deterred from our mission to foster and maintain a strong U.S. 
merchant marine, we are taking this action to protect against 
disruptions to the USMMA admission process when faced with a national 
emergency.

IV. Justification for the Final Rule

    After considering the information provided in the USMMA request and 
the public comments received, evaluating the risks posed to maintaining 
a vibrant and qualified U.S. merchant marine, and assessing the ongoing 
hardships stemming from the pandemic, MARAD has decided that there 
exists a need to add flexibility to the regulations governing USMMA 
admissions by giving the MARAD Administrator the ability to waive SAT 
and ACT testing requirements in emergency situations.
    The College Board stated in 2020 that many schools and test centers 
would have reduced capacity because of social distancing guidelines and 
may encounter unexpected closures.\5\ ACT

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rescheduled its April 2020 national and international tests in response 
to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.\6\ All students 
registered for April 2020 test dates were notified of the postponement 
with instructions for rescheduling to future test dates.\7\ Both the 
ACT and SAT websites continue to show many postponed/cancelled exams 
across the 50 States. These exams are conducted in high schools and 
other public buildings, some of which are not yet re-opened and many of 
which when re-opened have reduced capacity.
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    \5\ College Board Asks Colleges to Show Flexibility in 
Admissions This Year to Reduce Stress for Students, Citing 
Challenges in Providing Universal Access to the SAT During the 
Coronavirus Pandemic. (2020, June 2). www.College Board.org. 
Retrieved September 22, 2020 from https://www.collegeboard.org/releases/2020/cb-asks-colleges-show-flexibility-admissions-reduce-stress-students-challenges-universal-access-sat-coronavirus-pandemic?fbclid=IwAR3SbHTa4VIKpryc95KqFDeOTnCktwy0q4NOlcd8StS3Wrx1Bj6
MOzFkAy0.
    \6\ ACT Reschedules April 2020 National ACT Test Date to June. 
(2020, March 16). ACT News Room and Blog. Retrieved September 22, 
2020 from https://leadershipblog.act.org/2020/03/act-reschedules-april-2020-national-act.html.
    \7\ Id.
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    The SAT and ACT are typically taken in the Spring, but due to the 
COVID-19 pandemic, Spring test dates in 2020 were canceled and 
rescheduled for the Summer or Fall. There are continued limitations in 
test center capacity, and there are likely to be additional 
cancellations throughout the remainder of the 2021 test dates. The 
decision on whether a test center closes rests largely within a State's 
own discretion, based on guidelines set forth by the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention. Simply stated, as it was in 2020, the 
availability of testing in 2021 is highly unpredictable.
    In response, many colleges and universities have now resorted to 
making the SAT/ACT test optional for admissions. More than 60% of 4-
year colleges and universities in the U.S. will not require applicants 
to submit ACT or SAT scores for Fall 2021 admission.\8\ All of the 
Federal service academies were confronted with this situation brought 
on by the COVID-19 pandemic. United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), 
United States Military Academy (USMA), United States Naval Academy 
(USNA), and the United States Coast Guard Academy (USCG) have all 
modified their own requirements for standardized tests from applicants 
making SAT and ACT scores optional again for the Fall 2022 admission.
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    \8\ Three-Fifths of Four-Year Colleges and Universities Are 
Test-Optional for Fall 2021 Admission; Total of Schools Not 
Requiring ACT/SAT Exceeds 1,450. (2020, August 12). www.fairtest.org 
Retrieved September 22, 2020 from https://www.fairtest.org/threefifths-fouryear-colleges-and-universities-are.
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    Based on the foregoing, MARAD similarly concludes that there is a 
need to revise its regulations governing USMMA scholastic requirements 
by giving the MARAD Administrator the ability to waive SAT and ACT 
testing requirements for USMMA applicants in emergency situations. Due 
to forces beyond the control of prospective students, the uniform 
availability of standardized testing is not assured, and therefore, the 
strict requirement to include such test scores with applications is 
detrimental to USMMA's ability to offer admission to worthy student 
candidates.
    Accordingly, MARAD issues this final rule providing an exemption to 
the scholastic requirements. This final rule is intended to provide 
needed relief to prospective students because of the COVID-19 pandemic 
and to ensure that the Maritime Administrator can take similar action 
in the future if the need arises.

V. Regulatory Analyses and Notices

a. Executive Orders 12866, 13563, and DOT Rulemaking Procedures

    Executive Order (E.O.) 12866, E.O. 13563, and the Department of 
Transportation's administrative rulemaking procedures set forth in 49 
CFR part 5, subpart B, provide for determining whether a regulatory 
action is ``significant'' and therefore subject to Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) review and to the requirements of E.O. 12866.
    Today's final rule is not significant and has not been reviewed by 
OMB under E.O. 12866. This rule is limited to giving the MARAD 
Administrator the ability to waive the regulatory requirement to 
include SAT or ACT scores in applications for admission to USMMA in 
emergency situations. This rule does not actually waive any regulatory 
requirements. Therefore, this rule does not result in any costs or 
benefits.

b. Regulatory Flexibility Act

    Pursuant to the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), MARAD has 
considered the impacts of this rulemaking action on small entities (5 
U.S.C. 601 et seq.). Rules that are exempt from notice and comment are 
also exempt from the RFA requirements, including conducting a 
regulatory flexibility analysis, when among other things the agency for 
good cause finds that notice and public procedure are impracticable, 
unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest. See 5 U.S.C. 603(a). 
Because this rule adopts as final, without change, the interim final 
rule previously published as exempt from the APA notice and comment 
requirements, MARAD is not required to conduct a regulatory flexibility 
analysis.

c. Executive Order 13132, Federalism

    MARAD has examined the final rule pursuant to E.O. 13132 (64 FR 
43255, August 10, 1999) and concluded that no additional consultation 
with States, local governments, or their representatives is mandated 
beyond the rulemaking process. The Agency has concluded that the 
rulemaking would not have sufficient federalism implications to warrant 
consultation with State and local officials or the preparation of a 
federalism summary impact statement. The final rule will not have 
``substantial direct effects on the States, on the relationship between 
the national government and the States, or on the distribution of power 
and responsibilities among the various levels of government.''

d. The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act

    The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4) requires 
agencies to prepare a written assessment of the costs, benefits, and 
other effects of proposed or final rules that include a Federal mandate 
likely to result in the expenditure by State, local, or tribal 
governments, in the aggregate, or by the private sector, of more than 
$100 million annually. This action will not result in additional 
expenditures by State, local, or tribal governments or by any members 
of the private sector. Therefore, the Agency has not prepared an 
economic assessment pursuant to the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.

e. Paperwork Reduction Act

    Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), a person is not 
required to respond to a collection of information by a Federal agency 
unless the collection displays a valid OMB control number. This final 
rule includes no new collection of information and will not change any 
existing collections of information as it does not actually waive any 
regulatory requirements.

f. Privacy Act

    Anyone can search the electronic form of all comments received into 
any of our dockets by the name of the individual submitting the comment 
(or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an association, 
business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's complete Privacy Act 
Statement in the Federal Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 
19477-78), or you may visit http://dms.dot.gov.

List of Subjects in 46 CFR Part 310

    Grant programs-education, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, 
Schools, Seamen.

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PART 310--MERCHANT MARINE TRAINING

0
In consideration of the foregoing, MARAD adopts the interim final rule 
amending 46 CFR part 310 that published at 85 FR 67299 on October 22, 
2020, as final without changes.

    Signed in Washington, DC.
T. Mitchell Hudson, Jr.,
Secretary, Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. 2021-08265 Filed 4-21-21; 8:45 am]
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