[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 148 (Thursday, August 3, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51306-51307]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-16563]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket ID ED-2023-FSA-0056]


Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program

AGENCY: Federal Student Aid, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of a new computer matching agreement.

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SUMMARY: This document provides notice of a new Computer Matching 
Agreement (CMA) between the U.S. Department of Education (the 
Department) and the Department of Defense (DoD). The current 18-month 
CMA was recertified for an additional 12 months on September 1, 2022, 
and will automatically expire on August 31, 2023. (Note: The intention 
of the CMA is to match only those originally or currently covered by 
section 473(b)(3)(A) of the HEA.)

DATES: Submit your comments on the proposed CMA on or before September 
5, 2023.
    The CMA will be effective the later of: (1) September 1, 2023, or 
(2) 30 days after the publication of this notice, on August 3, 2023, 
unless comments have been received from interested members of the 
public requiring modification and republication of the notice. The CMA 
will continue for 13 months after the effective date of the CMA if the 
conditions specified in sections 420R and 473(b) of the Higher 
Education Act (HEA) (20 U.S.C. 1070h), 473(b) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 
1087mm(b)(3)) (prior to FAFSA Simplification Act implementation on July 
1, 2024) and section 401(c) of the HEA (following FAFSA Simplification 
Act implementation), and in accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as 
amended (5 U.S.C. 552a), have been met. (Note: The intention of the 
matching program is to match applicants seeking eligibility for the DoD 
Iraq Afghanistan Service Grant (IASG) only through Award Year 2023-
2024. The period between July 1 and September 30, 2024, will only be 
for ``reconciliation'' transactions for AY 2023-2024 applicants, who 
are subject to the pre-FAFSA Simplification Act requirements of the 
HEA).

ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking 
Portal at regulations.gov. However, if you require an accommodation or 
cannot otherwise submit your comments via regulations.gov, please 
contact the program contact person 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. To ensure that 
the Department does 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 
``FAQ'' tab.
    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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gerard Duffey, Management and Program 
Analyst, U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid. Telephone: 
(215) 656-3249.

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 ED and DoD.
    The Secretary of Defense must provide the Secretary of Education 
with information to identify the children of military personnel who 
have died as a result of their performing military service in Iraq or 
Afghanistan after September 11, 2001, to determine if the child is 
eligible for increased amounts of title IV, HEA program assistance.
    Participating Agencies: The Department of Education (the 
Department) and the Department of Defense (DoD).
    Authority for Conducting the Matching Program: ED and DoD are 
authorized to participate in the matching program under sections 420R 
and 473(b) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1070h and 20 U.S.C. 1087mm(b)) (prior 
to FAFSA Simplification Act implementation on July 1, 2024) and section 
401(c) of the HEA (following FAFSA Simplification Act implementation). 
The legal authority for ED and DoD to disclose information under the 
matching program also includes subsection (b)(3) of the Privacy Act (5 
U.S.C. 552a(b)(3)).
    Purpose(s): The purpose of this matching program between ED and DoD 
is to identify children whose parent or guardian was a member of the 
Armed Forces of the United States and died as a result of performing 
military service in Iraq or Afghanistan after September 11, 2001. These 
children (referred to as qualifying students) may be eligible for a 
greater amount of title IV, HEA program assistance. A qualifying 
student must have been age 24 or younger at the time of the parent's or 
guardian's death, or, if older than 24, enrolled part-time or full-time 
in an institution of higher education at the time of the parent's or 
guardian's death. (Note: The intention of the matching program is to 
match applicants seeking eligibility for the DoD IASG only through 
Award Year 2023-2024. The period between July 1 and September 30, 2024, 
will only be for ``reconciliation'' transactions for AY 2023-2024 
applicants, who are subject to the pre-FAFSA Simplification Act 
requirements of the HEA).
    Verification by this matching program provides an efficient and 
comprehensive method of identifying students whose parent or guardian 
was a member of the Armed Forces of the United States and died as a 
result of performing military service in Iraq or Afghanistan after 
September 11, 2001.
    Categories of Individuals: The individuals whose records are 
included in this matching program are dependents of service personnel 
who

[[Page 51307]]

died as a result of performing their Armed Forces military service in 
Iraq or Afghanistan after September 11, 2001, whose records are located 
in the DoD Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) Database (76 FR 72391) 
(November 23, 2011), and the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting 
System (DEERS) (81 FR 49210) (July 27, 2016), and all students who 
complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
    Categories of Records: DoD uses the following data elements in this 
matching program: Dependent's Name, Date of Birth and Social Security 
Number (SSN)--extracted from DEERS; and Parent or Guardian's Date of 
Death--extracted from the DMDC Data Base. ED uses the SSN, date of 
birth, and the first two letters of an applicant's last name to match 
applicant records.
    System(s) of Records: ED system of records: Aid Awareness and 
Application Processing (18-11-21)--published in the Federal Register on 
September 13, 2022 (87 FR 56026), and available at: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/09/13/2022-19890/privacy-act-of-1974-system-of-records. Note: The Central Processing System (CPS) will 
process data from the FAFSA for applicants seeking eligibility for the 
DoD IASG only through Award Year 2023-2024. The period between July 1 
and September 30, 2024, will only be for ``reconciliation'' 
transactions for AY 2023-2024 applicants, who are subject to the pre-
FAFSA Simplification Act requirements of the HEA. This CMA will not be 
used for applicants after AY 2023-2024.
    DoD system of records: DMDC 01, Defense Manpower Data Center Data 
Base (87 FR 32145) (May 25, 2022), and DMDC 02 DoD Defense Enrollment 
Eligibility Reporting Systems (DEERS) (87 FR 32384) (May 25, 2022).
    Accessible Format: By 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 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. 2023-16563 Filed 8-2-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P