[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 64 (Tuesday, April 4, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19941-19943]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-06937]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket ID ED-2022-FSA-0152]


Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program

AGENCY: Federal Student Aid, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of a New Matching Program.

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SUMMARY: This provides notice of the establishment of the matching 
program between the U.S. Department of

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Education (Department) and the Department of Defense (DoD), which sets 
forth the terms, safeguards, and procedures under which the DoD will 
disclose data to the Department on service members deployed to areas 
that qualify for imminent danger pay (IDP) or hostile fire pay (HFP) as 
described in Defense Manpower Data Center Base (DMDC 01) System of 
Records Notice, routine use 15.b. This matching program will enable the 
Department to provide no-interest accrual benefits on qualifying loans 
made under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended 
(HEA) during the time those service members were deployed to qualifying 
locations.

DATES: Submit your comments on the proposed matching program on or 
before May 4, 2023.
    The matching program will go into effect 30 days after the 
publication of this notice, on April 4, 2023, 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 effective date and may be renewed for an additional 
12 months if, within 3 months prior to the expiration of the 18 months, 
the respective Data Integrity Boards of the Department and DoD 
determine that the conditions specified in 5 U.S.C. 552a(o)(2)(D) have 
been met.

ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking 
Portal at regulations.gov. Information on using Regulations.gov, 
including instructions for finding a rule on the site and submitting 
comments, is available on the site under ``FAQ.'' If you require an 
accommodation or cannot otherwise submit your comments via 
regulations.gov, please contact one of the program contact persons 
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. The Department will not 
accept comments submitted by fax or by email or comments submitted 
after the comment period closes. To ensure that the Department does not 
receive duplicate copies, please submit your comment only once. 
Additionally, please include the Docket ID at the top of your comments.
    Privacy Note: The Department's policy is to generally 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ron Bennett, Group Director, Program 
Technical & Business Support Group, Partner and Participation 
Oversight, Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education, 830 First 
Street NE, Washington, DC 20202-5320.
    If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and 
wish to access telecommunications relay services, please dial 7-1-1.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We provide this notice in accordance with 
Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (Privacy Act) (5 U.S.C. 552a); Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB) Final Guidance Interpreting the 
Provisions of Public Law 100-503, the Computer Matching and Privacy 
Protection Act of 1988, 54 FR 25818 (June 19, 1989); and OMB Circular 
No. A-108.
    Participating Agencies: The U.S. Department of Education and the 
U.S Department of Defense.
    Authority for Conducting the Matching Program: The Department's 
legal authority to enter into this matching program is section 455(o) 
of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1087e(o)), and the Department is authorized to 
disclose records to DoD by subsection (b)(3) of the Privacy Act (5 
U.S.C. 552a(b)(3)).
    DoD's legal authority for this matching program is provided by 
section 455(o) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1087e(o)), and DoD is authorized 
to disclose records to the Department by subsection (b)(3) of the 
Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3)).
    Purpose(s): The matching program will assist the Department in its 
obligation to ensure that borrowers who have loans first disbursed on 
or after October 1, 2008, made under the William D. Ford Federal Direct 
Loan Program (20 U.S.C. 1087a et seq.) or a TEACH grant first disbursed 
on or after October 1, 2008, under the TEACH Grant Program (20 U.S.C. 
1070g et seq.), which are collectively referred to herein as ``title IV 
loans'', with outstanding balances receive the no-interest accrual 
benefit on their eligible title IV loans during the period of time they 
received IDP or HFP pay. The Department will proactively apply the no-
interest accrual benefit to the borrower's eligible title IV loans and 
notify the borrower that, as a result of the matching program, the 
borrower does not need to submit further documentation of the 
borrower's eligibility for the benefit. The Department's notice also 
will inform the borrower that the Department will accept DoD matched 
information in lieu of the borrower's submission of DoD payroll 
documentation, thereby making it easier for the borrower to receive the 
no-interest accrual benefit.
    Categories of Individuals: The matching program involves borrowers 
who have title IV loans with outstanding balances who are listed on the 
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) website at https://scra.dmdc.osd.mil/scra/#/home as military servicemembers and who are 
identified by DoD as being deployed to areas that qualify for IDP or 
HFP.
    Categories of Records: The records to be used in the matching 
program are described as follows: The Department will disclose to DoD 
the name (first, middle and last), and Social Security Number (SSN) of 
borrowers from the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) (18-11-06) 
who the Department identifies as being military servicemembers via the 
SCRA website. DoD will then disclose to the Department the name (first 
middle and last), DOB, and SSN of all service members who served in a 
qualifying IDP or HFP deployment along with their beginning and ending 
deployment dates and the total number of days deployed for each 
qualified deployment.
    The Department will match the data elements of name, DOB, and SSN 
received from DoD with the Department's records on borrowers of title 
IV loans with balances on such loans.
    System(s) of Records: The Department will disclose records to DoD 
from its system of records identified as ``National Student Loan Data 
System (NSLDS)'' (18-11-06), which was last published in full in the 
Federal Register on September 22, 2022 (87 FR 57873) pursuant to 
routine use (1)(a) and will pass the relevant matched borrower data to 
the identified loan servicer to apply the no-interest benefit covered 
by the ``Common Services for Borrowers'' (CSB) (18-11-16) system, as 
last published in the Federal Register in full on September 13, 2022 
(87 FR 56003). The Department has determined that the NSLDS system and 
CSB system of records notice contains appropriate routine use 
disclosure authority and that the use is compatible with the purpose 
for which the information is collected.
    DoD will disclose records back to the Department from its system of 
records identified as ``Defense Manpower Data Center Data Base (DMDC 
01), which was last published in full in the Federal Register on 
February 27, 2019 (84 FR 6383) and subsequently modified on April 16, 
2019 (84 FR 15605), pursuant to routine use 15.b. DoD has determined 
that the DMDC 01 system of records

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notice contains appropriate routine use disclosure authority and that 
the use is compatible with the purpose for which the information is 
collected.
    The Department will then match the information provided by DoD with 
records in the Department's NSLDS system of records.
    Accessible Format: On request to the program contact person(s) 
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, individuals with 
disabilities can obtain this document in an accessible format. The 
Department will provide the requestor with an accessible format that 
may include Rich Text Format (RTF) or text format (txt), a thumb drive, 
an MP3 file, braille, large print, audiotape, or compact disc, or other 
accessible format.
    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 at www.govinfo.gov. 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 
the 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.

Richard Cordray,
Chief Operating Officer, Federal Student Aid.
[FR Doc. 2023-06937 Filed 4-3-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P