[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 173 (Friday, September 8, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62069-62071]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-19446]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket ID ED-2023-FSA-0088]


Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program

AGENCY: Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of a new matching program.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended by the 
Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988 and the Computer 
Matching and Privacy Protection Amendments of 1990 (Privacy Act) and 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance on the conduct of 
matching programs, notice is hereby given of the re-establishment of 
the matching program between the U.S. Department of Education (ED or 
Department), as the recipient agency, and the Social Security 
Administration (SSA), as the source agency, to assist the Department in 
meeting its obligations under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 
1965, as amended (HEA), including to ensure that applicants for title 
IV, HEA program assistance satisfy eligibility requirements.

DATES: The period of this matching program is estimated to cover the 
12-month period from October 11, 2023, through October 10, 2024. 
However, the computer matching agreement (CMA) will become applicable 
at the later of the following two dates: October 11, 2023, or 30 days 
after the publication of this notice, on September 8, 2023, unless 
comments have been received

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from interested members of the public requiring revision to and 
republication of the notice. The matching program will continue for 12 
months after the applicable date and may be extended for up to an 
additional 12 months, if the respective agency Data Integrity Boards 
(DIBs) 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. 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 generally to make 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, 
Philadelphia, PA 19107. Telephone: (215) 656-3249.
    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: 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 SSA and ED to assist ED in the verification of 
Social Security numbers (SSNs), confirmation of citizenship status as 
recorded in SSA records, and death indicators (when applicable) of 
individuals who initiate the steps associated with accessing programs 
authorized by title IV of the Higher Education Act, or participating in 
the application process for such assistance, to assist ED in meeting 
its obligations under title IV of the HEA, including to ensure that 
applicants for Title IV, HEA program assistance satisfy eligibility 
requirements.

Participating Agencies

    ED and SSA.

Authority for Conducting the Matching Program

    ED's legal authority to enter into the CMA includes:
     Section 484(p) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1091(p)) (which will 
be section 484(o) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1091(o)) following 
implementation of the FAFSA Simplification Act on July 1, 2024);
     Section 484(g) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1091(g));
     Section 483(a)(12) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1090(a)(12)) 
(which will be section 483(a)(2)(B) (20 U.S.C. 1090(a)(2)(B)) following 
implementation of the FAFSA Simplification Act);
     Section 428B(f) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1078-2(f));
     Sections 427, 432, 451, 483, and 484 of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 
1077, 1082, 1087a, 1090, and 1091); and
     Subsection (b)(3) of the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 
552a(b)(3)).
    SSA is authorized to participate in the matching program under 
section 1106 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1306) and the 
regulations promulgated pursuant to that section (20 CFR part 401), and 
subsection (b)(3) the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3)). Section 7213 
of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 
provides SSA authority to add a death indicator to verification 
routines that SSA determines to be appropriate.

Purpose(s)

    The CMA establishes the terms, safeguards, and procedures under 
which the SSA will provide to ED SSN verification, citizenship status 
as recorded in SSA records, and death indicators (when applicable) of 
individuals who initiate the steps associated with accessing programs 
authorized by title IV of the HEA, or participating in the application 
process for such assistance, to assist ED in meeting its obligations 
under title IV of the HEA, including to ensure that applicants for 
title IV, HEA program assistance satisfy eligibility requirements.

Categories of Individuals

    Under the CMA, ED will send to SSA records on individuals who apply 
for Federal student financial assistance through the Free Application 
for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA[supreg]) and on individuals who initiate 
the steps associated with accessing programs administered under the 
authority of title IV of the HEA. These individuals also include the 
parents of dependent students and applicants for Federal PLUS loans.
    Under the CMA, SSA will match ED's records to its files on each 
individual who has applied for, and obtained, an SSN.

Categories of Records

    The specific data elements that ED will transmit to SSA are: SSN, 
first name, last name, and date of birth (DOB).
    SSA's system of records involved in the matching program maintains 
information required to apply for, and obtain, an SSN. The specific 
data elements that SSA will send back to ED include: SSN, first name, 
last name, DOB, and an SSA verification code on each record to indicate 
the match results. The verification codes are: 1 = No match on SSN, 3 = 
SSN match, name match, no match on DOB, 5 = SSN match, no match on 
name, DOB not checked, 6 = SSN not verified, Blank = SSN match, name 
match, DOB match. SSA will also send a death indicator if one is 
present on SSA's database for the record. Records returned from SSA 
also will include a citizenship status code as follows: A = U.S. 
citizen, B = legal alien, eligible to work, C = legal alien, not 
eligible to work, D = other, E = alien, student restricted, F = 
conditionally legalized alien, * = foreign born, Blank = domestic born 
(U.S. citizen), N = unable to verify citizenship due to no match on 
name, DOB, or SSN.

System(s) of Records

    There are two ED systems of records notices that cover information 
disclosed by ED to SSA in this matching program. The first is entitled, 
``Aid Awareness and Application Processing'' (AAAP)(18-11-21), and was 
last fully published in the Federal Register on June 15, 2023 (88 FR 
39233-39248) (available at: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/06/15/2023-12831/privacy-act-of-1974-system-of-records). Note: The 
Central Processing System (CPS) and FAFSA Processing System (FPS) are 
the ED information systems that process FAFSA data. CPS will process 
this data through September 30, 2024, for Award

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Year (AY) 2023-2024. FPS will become operational on or after December 
1, 2023, and begin processing FAFSA data for AY 2024-25. After 
September 30, 2024, CPS will be decommissioned and be fully replaced by 
FPS. FPS will process data for all AYs thereafter. The second system of 
records notice is entitled, ``Person Authentication Service (PAS)'' 
(18-11-12) and was last fully published in the Federal Register on July 
28, 2023 (88 FR 48817-48824) (available at: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/07/28/2023-16001/privacy-act-of-1974-system-of-records). This is the system of records that covers the 
records of applicants for FSA IDs. In addition, ED will maintain the 
information that it receives back from SSA in the ``Common Origination 
and Disbursement (COD) System'' (18-11-02), for which ED last fully 
published a system of records notice in the Federal Register on June 
28, 2023 (88 FR 41942-41951) (available at: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/06/28/2023-13698/privacy-act-of-1974-system-of-records).
    SSA's system of records involved in this matching program is 
entitled, ``Master Files of Social Security Number (SSN) Holders and 
SSN Applications'' (Enumeration System) 60-0058, last fully published 
in the Federal Register on January 4, 2022 (87 FR 263-267).
    Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this 
document in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, or 
audiotape) by contacting the contact person listed in the preceding 
paragraph.
    Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this 
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may 
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by the Department.

Richard Cordray,
Chief Operating Officer Federal Student Aid.
[FR Doc. 2023-19446 Filed 9-7-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P