[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 128 (Thursday, July 6, 2023)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 43064-43065]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-14289]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

34 CFR Parts 600, 668, 674, 682, and 685

[Docket ID: ED-2021-OPE-0077]
RIN 1840-AD53, 1840-AD59, 1840-AD70, 1840-AD71


Institutional Eligibility Under the Higher Education Act of 1965, 
as Amended; Student Assistance General Provisions; Federal Perkins Loan 
Program; Federal Family Education Loan Program; and William D. Ford 
Federal Direct Loan Program; Corrections

AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education.

ACTION: Final regulations; technical corrections and correcting 
amendments.

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SUMMARY: On November 1, 2022, the Department of Education (Department) 
published in the Federal Register final regulations relating to loans 
under the Federal Perkins Loan (Perkins) Program, the Federal Family 
Education Loan (FFEL) Program and the William D. Ford Federal Direct 
Loan (Direct Loan) Program. This document corrects technical errors in 
the regulations and preamble. This document does not contain any 
substantive changes to the regulations.

DATES: These corrections are effective July 6, 2023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, contact Rene 
Tiongquico at (202) 453-7513 or by email at [email protected].
    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: On November 1, 2022, the Department 
published in the Federal Register final regulations relating to loans 
under the Perkins Loan Program, the FFEL Program, and the Direct Loan 
Program (87 FR 65904), effective July 1, 2023. Those final regulations 
contain technical errors.

Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking, Negotiated Rulemaking, and Delayed 
Effective Date

    In accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. 
553, the Department generally offers interested parties the opportunity 
to comment on proposed regulations. However, the APA provides that an 
agency is not required to conduct notice-and-comment rulemaking when 
the agency, for good cause, finds that notice and public comment 
thereon are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public 
interest (5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3)(B)). There is good cause to waive 
rulemaking here as unnecessary.
    Rulemaking is ``unnecessary'' in those situations in which ``the 
administrative rule is a routine determination, insignificant in nature 
and impact, and inconsequential to the industry and to the public.'' 
Utility Solid Waste Activities Group v. EPA, 236 F.3d 749, 755 (D.C. 
Cir. 2001), quoting U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General's 
Manual on the Administrative Procedure Act 31 (1947) and South Carolina 
v. Block, 558 F. Supp. 1004, 1016 (D.S.C. 1983). The regulatory changes 
in this document are necessary to correct technical errors and do not 
establish any new substantive rules and do not make substantive changes 
to this regulation. Therefore, the Department has determined that 
publication of a proposed rule is unnecessary under 5 U.S.C. 
553(b)(3)(B).
    In addition, under section 492 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, 
as amended (HEA) (20 U.S.C. 1098a), all regulations proposed by the 
Department for programs authorized under title IV of the HEA are 
subject to negotiated rulemaking requirements. Section 492(b)(2) of the 
HEA provides that negotiated rulemaking may be waived for good cause 
when doing so would be ``impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the 
public interest.'' There is likewise good cause to waive the negotiated 
rulemaking requirement in this case, since, as explained above, notice 
and comment rulemaking is unnecessary.
    The APA generally requires that regulations be published at least 
30 days before their effective date, unless the agency has good cause 
to implement its regulations sooner (5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3)). As previously 
stated, because the final regulations correct errors, there is good 
cause to waive the delayed effective date in the APA and make the final 
regulations effective July 6, 2023.
    Accessible Format: On request to the program contact person 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

[[Page 43065]]

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.

Technical Corrections

    In FR Doc. 2022-23447, published in the Federal Register on 
November 1, 2022 (87 FR 65904), we make the following technical 
corrections:
    1. On page 65912, in the first column, in the last line of footnote 
25, remove ``Sec.  206(c)(1)'' and add, in its place, ``Sec.  
685.206(c)(1)''.
    2. On page 65922, in the third column, revise footnote 60 to read 
as follows: ``34 CFR 685.222(f)(3).''
    3. On page 65928, in the first column, in the 14th line from the 
top of the first full paragraph, after ``determines'', remove ``and'' 
and add, in its place, ``an''.
    4. On page 65942, in the third column, in footnote 102, remove 
``222(e)(1)(ii)'' and add, in its place, ``685.222(e)(1)(ii)''.
    5. On page 65952, in the first column, revise footnote 122 to read 
as follows: ``See, e.g., 34 CFR 685.222(e)(7)(iii)(B)-(C).''
    6. On page 66004, in the first column, in footnote 179, in the 
sixth line, remove ``Printing'' and add, in its place, ``Publishing''.
    7. On page 66006, in the first column, revise footnote 183 to read 
as follows: ``Oreopoulos, Philip and Uros Petronijevic (2013). ``Making 
College Worth It: A Review of the Returns to Higher Education,'' The 
Future of Children, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 41-65.''
    8. On page 66008:
    a. In the second column, revise the text of the sentence before the 
citation to footnote 192 to read as follows: ``A more detailed version 
of the loan volumes will be available on the Department's Federal 
Student Aid Data Center website.''
    b. Revise footnote 192 to read as follows: ``https://
studentaid.gov/data-center.''
    9. On page 66009, in the first column, revise footnote 193 to read 
as follows: ``The table above is a summary. The complete table is 
available at www.regulations.gov using the Docket ID ED-2021-OPE-
0077.''
    10. On page 66019, in the first column, in the fourth line, remove 
``bureau'' and add, in its place, ``Bureau''.

List of Subjects

34 CFR Part 674

    Loan programs--education, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, 
Student aid.

34 CFR Part 685

    Administrative practice and procedure, Colleges and universities, 
Education, Loan programs-education, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Student aid, Vocational education.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble, the Department of 
Education corrects parts 674 and 685 of title 34 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations by making the following correcting amendments:

PART 674--FEDERAL PERKINS LOAN PROGRAM

0
1. The authority citation for part 674 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  20 U.S.C. 1070g, 1087aa-1087hh; Pub. L. 111-256, 124 
Stat. 2643; unless otherwise noted.


Sec.  674.33  [Amended]

0
2. In Sec.  674.33, amend paragraph (g)(1)(ii)(A) by adding the word 
``date'' before the second instance of the word ``determined''.

PART 685--WILLIAM D. FORD FEDERAL DIRECT LOAN PROGRAM

0
3. The authority citation for part 685 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1070g, 1087a, et seq., unless otherwise 
noted.


Sec.  685.213  [Amended]

0
4. In Sec.  685.213, amend paragraph (b)(6) heading by adding ``on'' 
after ``certification,''.


Sec.  685.214  [Amended]

0
5. In Sec.  685.214:
0
a. Amend paragraph (d)(1)(i)(B) by removing ``paragraph (i)'' and 
adding, in its place, ``paragraph (h)''.
0
b. Amend paragraph (d)(1)(iii)(B) by removing ``paragraph (d)'' and 
``paragraph (e)'' and adding, in their places, ``paragraph (e)'' and 
``paragraph (f)'', respectively.
0
c. Amend paragraph (g)(7) by removing ``that borrower'' and adding, in 
its place, ``the borrower''.


Sec.  685.219  [Amended]

0
6. In Sec.  685.219:
0
a. Amend paragraph (b) by:
0
i. In the definition of Non-governmental public service, removing 
``personnel military'' and adding, in its place, ``personnel, 
military''.
0
ii. In the definition of Public interest law, removing ``is'' and 
adding, in its place, ``means''.
0
b. Amend paragraph (g)(1) by removing ``[EFFECTIVE DATE OF FINAL 
RULE]'' and adding, in its place, ``July 1, 2023''.


Sec.  685.406  [Amended]

0
7. In Sec.  685.406, amend paragraph (g)(4) introductory text by 
removing the phrase ``the dates in paragraph (g)(1) of this section'' 
and adding, in its place, ``receipt of a materially complete 
application''.

Miguel A. Cardona,
Secretary of Education.
[FR Doc. 2023-14289 Filed 7-5-23; 8:45 am]
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