Negotiated Rulemaking for Higher Education
Committee III
Refunds, Program and Student Eligibility Issues
Fourth Meeting
May 3-5, 1999
Washington, DC
The fourth meeting of Committee III commenced as scheduled at approximately 9:00 a.m. on Monday, May 3, 1999, and adjourned on Wednesday, May 5, 1999, at approximately 12:00 p.m. The meeting was held at the Department of Education offices in Federal Building Six. The meeting was facilitated by and this report was written by Greg Bourne and Greg Sobel.
The meeting began with the facilitators and spokespersons introducing themselves. Next the facilitators provided an overview of activities since the last meeting and the proposed agenda for this meeting. The Draft Meeting #3 Summary was approved without change.
Concerning the issue of preambles, the Department re-emphasized that the Committee should not expect to "negotiate" preambles. As a general rule, issues of critical importance to Committee members should be addressed in the regulations as appropriate. If time permits, however, opportunities for review and comment on preambles will be provided, particularly for those areas where preamble language is important to Committee members.
The Committee then turned to the primary focus of the meeting - to respond to draft negotiating text and related materials prepared by the Department and other Committee members since the last meeting.
Attachment I summarizes the major outcomes from the discussions of the draft negotiating text. Where agreement was reached on either new language or deletions from existing regulatory language, these are noted. If agreements were contingent on the refinement of proposed language or the resolution of outstanding concerns, the remaining issues are highlighted.
After addressing several provisions on which general agreement existed, considerable discussion and disagreement occurred about the definition of how "community" should be defined for the purposed of Section 675.2 (b)(1). A small work group was formed, comprised of Chocka, Bud, Pat Hurley, and Maureen to try to craft some language that met everyone's interests. They reported back to the group the second day of the meeting and will continue to work on this issue.
The next issue requiring additional attention involved direct crediting of student accounts. After some discussion, a small work group, comprised of Debra, Alisa, Jason and Janel, was established to develop a proposal dealing with the appropriate amount of time to repay the student in the event of a credit balance. Related to this issue, the Department agreed to consider three modifications: 1) reconciling regulations so as to not contradict state requirements related to direct deposit, 2) differentiating between authorizations for direct deposit versus authorizations for payments toward student accounts at institutions, and 3) inserting "at the request of the student" in relation to these authorizations.
Extensive discussion occurred around the issues concerning Return of Title IV Aid. Several issues were highlighted that need to be given further consideration. One is the requirement for making late disbursements. Another is the need to differentiate how grants and loans are treated. Finally, it was reported that a small work group was continuing to try to reconcile differing perspectives on issues related to subsection (e) Percentage of Payment Period or Period of Enrollment Completed. The group will continue to work "offline" and report back to the whole Committee as soon as possible.
The next and final scheduled meeting of the Committee is May 24-26, 1999, beginning at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, May 24and adjourning by 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 26. The meeting will be held at Department of Education offices in Federal Building Six located at 400 Maryland Avenue, S.W. The specific meeting rooms will be announced in the near future.
The agenda for the upcoming meeting is to complete discussions of the negotiating text prepared by the Department and other Committee members. As the last scheduled meeting of the Committee, areas of "final" consensus will identified. If consensus can not be reached on certain provisions, they will be noted and differentiated from the remainder of the provisions for which consensus exists. Preambles will be discussed only if time permits since the primary focus of the process is to reach agreement on proposed regulatory language.
Note: At this stage of the process all agreements noted in the meeting summary and Attachment I are preliminary. The Committee will determine its final agreements only after all provisions have been thoroughly considered.
ATTACHMENT I
Preliminary agreements on Committee III negotiating text, listed by section of regulations, based on discussions held May 3-5, 1999.
Federal Pell Grant Program Provisions
Sec. 668.8 Teacher Certification Candidates
The Committee agreed with the proposed language under (h)(1) and (2) with the following suggested change under (h)(1): delete "....,which for this purpose includes the..." and replace with "...or a postbaccalaureate teacher certificate or licensing..."
Sec. 668.32 Student Eligibility - General
The Committee agreed with the proposed language throughout this section with one exception: under (c)(2)(ii), a reference to "(c)(2)" should be added after the reference to "(c)(1)."
Sec. 690.6 Duration of Student Eligibility
The Committee agreed with the proposed language throughout this section. It was suggested, however, related to (c)(1), that language be included in the preamble to address that a student must be a "regular student" and that "recognized educational credential" includes an official transcript notation. It was further suggested to add to the end of (d) the phrase "for all Title IV purposes."
Sec. 690.7 Institutional Participation (Loss of Institutional Eligibility for High Default Rates)
The Committee agreed with the proposed language and strategy for this section, which is to allow Committee II to address this issue in detail.
Campus-Based Programs Common Provisions
The Committee agreed with the proposed language for all the provisions related to this topics, including Sections 674.10, 675.10 and 676.10. This also includes the Section 673.5 dealing with Treatment of Veterans/Americorps Benefits.
FSEOG
Sec. 676.18 Use of Funds
The Committee agreed with the proposed language for this section.
Federal Work Study
Sec. 675.2 Definitions
The Committee is continuing to work on differences in how "community" is defined in the context of child care services; the Department will consider several suggestions made by the Committee, one in particular proposed by the work group: "Enrolled students who are permanent residents of the community and whose children receive child care services at the campus day care center shall be considered part of the community;" consideration will be given to whether this level of prescription should be in the preamble rather than the regulations.
The Committee agreed with proposed language under Section 675.2 (b)(3).
Sec. 675.8 Program Participation Agreement
The Committee agreed with the proposed deletion of 675.8 (d) as it existed.
Sec. 675.18 Use of Funds
The Committee agreed with changing the date from May 15 to May 1 under (f) and with the proposed language under (g)(1), although suggested changing "student" to "student(s)" in (g)(1)(i) and (g)(1)(ii).
The Committee agreed with proposed language under (g)(2). The Committee recommended in (h) separating training and travel into two sentences.
Sec. 675.20 Eligible Employers and General Conditions and Limitation on Employment
The Committee agreed with the proposed language under (d) with the following exceptions:
- Under (d)(1) "These types of jobs include..." should be changed to "These types of jobs include, but are not limited to..."
- Under (d)(2)(i) the Committee suggested changing "Paid any less pay than he or she would if..." to "Paid less than he or she would be if..."
- Under (d)(2)(iii), change the provision to read "Paid unless the employer would normally pay the person for the same position"; this suggestion will be taken under consideration.
Sec. 675.23 Employment Provided by a Private For-Profit Organization
The Committee agreed with the proposed language.
Sec. 675.26 FWS Federal Share Limitations
The Committee agreed with the proposed language in the entirety of this section.
Sec. 675.45 Allowable Costs, Federal Share and Institutional Share
The Committee agreed with proposed language.
FWS - Direct Crediting of Student Accounts
Sec. 668.161 Scope and Purpose
The Committee agreed with proposed language under (a)(4).
Sec. 675.16 Payments to Students
The Committee agreed with all the proposed language in this section with two general exceptions: insert the term "at the request of the student" where appropriate to make sure it is known which are voluntary actions on the part of the student; and, reconcile the numbers of days allowable for paying student credit balances to the student based on several proposals made by the Committee.
Student Eligibility for Federal Financial Aid
Home Schooled Students
Sec. 668.32 Student Eligibility - General
The Committee agreed with proposed language in this section with one exception: under (e)(4)(i), change "Obtain a home school completion..." to "Obtain a secondary school completion..."
Telecommunications Courses
Sec. 668.38 Enrollment in Telecommunication and Correspondence Courses
The Committee agreed with the proposed language in this section with one exception: in (b)(1)(ii) and (b)(2)(ii) change "...latest complete award year..." to "...latest completed award year..."
Drug Offenses
Sec. 668.32 Student Eligibility - General
The Committee agreed with the proposed language under this section.
Section 668.40 Conviction for Possession or Sale of Illegal Drugs
The Committee extensively discussed issues related to this provision, in particular the concern about (d), provisions related to a drug rehabilitation program. Eventually, the Committee agreed with the proposed language in this entire section with two exceptions:
- Under (a)(2), change "...,or erased from..." to "..., or removed from..."; and
- Under (d)(2)(iv) consider changing "...administered or approved..." to "...administered, referred or approved..."
Another issue discussed was how the attestation of drug convictions will occur. The specific concern was that this not fall to institutions, and the suggestion was made that this could be dealt with in the preamble.
Return of Title IV Aid
Sec. 668.22 Treatment of Title IV Funds When a Student Withdraws
Under (a)(1), the Committee suggested that the Department provide clarification on what portion, if any, of the institutional FSEOG matching funds would be included in the calculation of the treatment of Title IV aid with a student withdraws.
Under (a)(2)(i) and (a)(2)(ii), the Committee suggested adding, where appropriate, "after the school becomes aware the student has withdrawn." Also under (a)(2)(ii), the suggestion was made to change "must be disbursed" to "must be offered," and the Committee agreed that reference should be made to (a)(3) at the end of this sub-section.
Under (b)(1)(i) and (ii), the Committee suggested moving the phrases .."if the student withdraws...period," to the beginning of those subsections.
The Committee generally agreed that (b)(2) should follow parallel construction with (b)(1).
Under (c), Approved Leave of Absence, the Committee made several suggestions:
- Under (1)(vii), change "...complete the course work he..." to "complete the course work or reasonable alternative he..."
- Under (2)(i), restate that the cumulative total cannot exceed 180 days.
- Under (2)(i), keep the section general by adding "special circumstances as determined the institution."
- Under (2)(i), reiterate the concept of withdrawal due to illness, accident, etc. previously stated in paragraph (b)(2)(i)(D).
- Under (2)(ii), provide some examples but leave this to professional judgement.
Under (d)(4)(ii), the Committee suggested adding an exception for re-entry and transfer students.
Under (e)(2), the Department will consider adding to the end of the sentence, "...as defined by the institution."
Under (f)(1)(ii)(C), the Department will consider changing "...and other charges..." to "...and other educationally related or billable charges..."
The Committee agreed with the proposed language in (g).
The Committee agreed with the proposed language under (i)(1) and (i)(2), with one exception: under (i)(1)(ii), 10 days should be changed to 30 days.
The Committee agreed with the proposed language under (k) with the following suggestions:
- Under (3)(i) and (3)(ii), move ending clause "...for a student who..." to the beginning of these subsections.
- Add (iii) "Failure to Return from a Leave of Absence" and attempt to improve clarity on this issue.
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