[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 9 (Friday, January 12, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2216-2217]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-00584]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket ID ED-2023-FSA-0180]


Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program

AGENCY: Federal Student Aid, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of a new matching program.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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 a 
matching program between the U.S. Department of Education (Department), 
as the recipient agency, and the Social Security Administration (SSA), 
as the source agency, to enable the Department to contact individuals 
whom SSA identifies as disabled using Medical Improvement Not Expected 
(MINE) data, to inform them that the Department will issue Total and 
Permanent Disability (TPD) discharges of their balances of loans under 
title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), their 
title IV HEA loans that have been written off due to default, or, their 
outstanding service or repayment obligations under the Teacher 
Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant 
Program unless they opt out of the TPD discharge. Such TPD discharges 
will occur no earlier than 61 days from the date that the Department 
sends the notification to those individuals, unless those individuals 
choose to have their loans or outstanding service or repayment 
obligations discharged earlier, or choose to opt out of the TPD 
discharge within 60 days from the date that the Department sends the 
notification to them.

DATES: Submit your comments on the proposed re-establishment of the 
matching program on or before February 12, 2024.
    The matching program will go into effect on the later of the 
following three dates: (1) March 30, 2024; (2) at the expiration of the 
60-day period following the Department's transmittal of a report 
concerning the matching program to OMB and to the appropriate 
Congressional Committees, along with a copy of the Computer Matching 
Agreement, unless OMB waives any of this 60-day review period for 
compelling reasons, in which case, 60 days minus the number of days 
waived by OMB from the date of the Department's transmittal of the 
report of the matching program; or (3) at the expiration of the 30-day 
public comment period following the Department's publication of notice 
of this matching program in the Federal Register, assuming that the 
Department receives no public comments or receives public comments but 
makes no changes to the Matching Notice as a result of the public 
comments, or 30 days from the date on which the Department publishes a 
Revised Matching Notice in the Federal Register, assuming that the 
Department receives public comments and revises the Matching Notice as 
a result of public comments. If the latest date occurs on a non-
business day, then that date will be counted for purposes of this 
paragraph as occurring on the next business day.

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 
we do 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 ``FAQ''.
    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: Ron Bennett, Group Director Program 
Technical & Business Support Group, Federal Student Aid, U.S. 
Department of Education, 830 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20202-
5320. Telephone: (202) 377-3181. Email: [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: 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 given of the re-establishment of a matching 
program between the Department and SSA to enable the Department to 
contact certain individuals with loans under title IV of the HEA or 
outstanding service or repayment obligations under the TEACH Grant 
Program whom SSA identifies as disabled using MINE disability data to 
inform them that, should they wish, the Department will facilitate a 
TPD discharge of their loans under title IV of the HEA or TEACH Grant 
service or repayment obligations.

Participating Agencies

    The Department and SSA.

Authority for Conducting the Matching Program

    The Department's legal authority to enter into the matching program 
and to disclose information thereunder includes sections 420N(c), 
437(a)(1), 455(a)(1), and 464(c)(1)(F)(ii & iii) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 
1070g-2(c), 1087(a)(1), 1087e(a)(1)), and 1087dd((c)(1)(F)(ii & iii)).
    SSA's legal authority to disclose information under this Agreement 
is section 1106 of the Act (42 U.S.C. 1306) and the regulations 
promulgated pursuant to that section (20 CFR part 401). Subsection 
(b)(3) of the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3) allows SSA to make the 
disclosure without the prior written consent of the individuals to whom 
the records pertain.

Purpose(s)

    This matching program will enable the Department to send notices to 
certain borrowers with loans under title IV of the HEA and TEACH Grant

[[Page 2217]]

recipients whom SSA identifies as disabled based on MINE disability 
data to inform them that the Department will discharge the individuals' 
title IV loans or TEACH Grant service or repayment obligations no 
earlier than 61 days from the date that the Department sends the 
notification to the individual, unless the individual chooses to have 
their loans or service or repayment obligations discharged earlier or 
chooses to opt out of the TPD discharge within 60 days from the date 
that the Department sends the notification to the individual.

Categories of Individuals

    Under the Computer Matching Agreement (CMA) for this matching 
program, the Department will disclose information to SSA from the 
system of records entitled ``National Student Loan Data System 
(NSLDS)'' (18-11-06) on individuals who owe a balance on one or more 
title IV, HEA loans, who have had a title IV, HEA loan written off due 
to default, or who have an outstanding service or repayment obligation 
under the TEACH Grant Program.
    Under the CMA for this matching program, SSA will disclose 
information to the Department from the Disability Control File (DCF), 
which originates from the ``Completed Determination Record--Continuing 
Disability Determinations'' (60-0050) system of records, on individuals 
whom SSA identifies as disabled using MINE disability data.

Categories of Records

    The Department will disclose to SSA from the system of records 
entitled ``National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS)'' (18-11-06) the 
name, date of birth (DOB), and Social Security number (SSN) of the 
individuals identified in the preceding section. These individuals will 
be matched with SSA data recorded in the DCF, which originates from the 
``Completed Determination Record--Continuing Disability 
Determinations'' (60-0050) system of records, in order to provide the 
Department with MINE disability data.

System(s) of Records

    The Department will disclose records to SSA from its system of 
records identified as ``National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS)'' 
(18-11-06), as last published in the Federal Register in full on June 
28, 2023 (88 FR 41934).
    SSA will disclose records back to the Department from its systems 
of records identified as the ``Completed Determination Record--
Continuing Disability Determinations'' (60-0050), which was last fully 
published in the Federal Register at 71 FR 1813 on January 11, 2006, 
and updated on December 10, 2007 (72 FR 69723), November 1, 2018 (83 FR 
54969), and April 26, 2019 (84 FR 17907).
    The Department will maintain matched records that it receives from 
SSA in the aforementioned system of records identified as ``National 
Student Loan Data System (NSLDS)'' (18-11-06), along with the 
Department's system of records identified as ``Common Services for 
Borrowers (CSB)'' (18-11-16), last published in the Federal Register in 
full on July 27, 2023 (88 FR 48449).
    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 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. 2024-00584 Filed 1-11-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P