Committee IV Institutional Eligibility Issues

Fifth Meeting
May 26-28, 1999
Washington, DC

The fifth meeting of Committee IV commenced at approximately 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 26, 1999, and adjourned on Friday, May 28 at approximately 1:00 p.m. The meeting was held at Department of Education offices in Federal Building Six. The meeting was facilitated by and this meeting summary was written by Greg Bourne and Greg Sobel.

The facilitators began the meeting by providing an overview of activities since the last meeting and the proposed agenda for this meeting. During the first day of the meeting, the Draft Meeting #4 Summary was approved with one modification: on Page 3 of Attachment 1, under Section 668.46, "The Committee agreed with proposed language under this section with the following comments:" should be changed to "....with the following exceptions to be considered later:"

The primary focus of this meeting was to hear and review reports from the Subcommittees and respond to draft negotiating text and related materials prepared by the Department and other Committee members since the last meeting. In particular, the Accreditation and Campus Crime Reporting Subcommittees had worked on several issues and were prepared to report their progress to the Committee. Acknowledging the tentative agreements reached at previous meetings, the Committee focused on those few remaining issues where tentative agreement had not yet been reached.

The first order of business was to consider the remaining issues associated with campus crime reporting. After considerable discussion on a couple outstanding issues, final consensus was reached on all campus crime reporting issues. The Committee acknowledged the hard work of the Campus Crime Reporting Subcommittee and their role in helping bring consensus to these difficult and complex issues. Attachment 1 contains the agreements and modifications to the negotiating text dated May 26, 1999 for these and the other provisions addressed by Committee IV.

The next day, Thursday May 27, began with a caucus and then a report from the Accreditation Subcommittee. Subcommittee members reported significant progress on draft negotiating text but acknowledged five areas where reaching consensus remained a challenge. These were: 1) monitoring of third party litigation, 2) notice to the Secretary of non-final accrediting decisions, 3) Secretarial recognition for distance education accreditation, 4) definition of "representative of the public" and 5) the separate and independent requirement. After their report, they indicated they would meet again and hope to present a document for full consensus to the Committee the next day. The Committee then proceeded to discuss the remaining issues in Package II, followed by Packages III and I.

On Friday morning, May 28, the Accreditation Subcommittee held another meeting prior to the full Committee meeting. After caucusing to discuss proposals for resolving the outstanding issues, the full Committee reconvened and came to full agreement on a set of proposed regulations governing accreditation. The Committee expressed its appreciation to the Subcommittee for its hard work that provided the framework for full consensus on these provisions.

Of the remaining issues, the Committee achieved full consensus on all provisions except those related to the "90/10" rule, found on pages one through six of the May 26, 1999 version of Package 1. On these issues, the Committee concurred that consensus could not be reached based on some fundamental differences in interpretation of the statute that could not be reconciled. One of the key issues that could not be resolved is what should be regarded as revenue. The lack of consensus only on this one set of provisions means the Secretary of the Department will write the draft regulations for this section and that Committee members are free to comment on these provisions as specified in the Committee's protocols.

The final meeting of the regulatory negotiation for Committee IV on the Higher Education Amendments of 1998 ended with full consensus on all regulations with the one exception noted above. Committee members stated their support for the regulatory negotiation process and its outcomes, and commended the good faith effort on the part of all members to work through the many challenging issues faced during the course of the process.

ATTACHMENT I

Final agreements on Committee IV negotiating text, listed by section of regulations, based on documents and discussions dated May 26-28, 1999. All tentative agreements from previous meetings were adopted as part of the final consensus unless otherwise noted.

Package II

Sec. 668.46 Institutional Security Policies and Crime Statistics

The Committee reached final consensus on proposed language with the following modifications:

Under (b)(2)(i) -- after "...campus community" add "regarding the occurrence of crimes described in paragraph (c);".

Under (b)(4)(iii) -- change "Encourage pastoral counselors.....appropriate, to inform..." to language such as "Describe procedures, if any, that encourage pastoral counselors..... appropriate, informs...".

Under (b)(7) -- add "officially" before recognized.

Under (c)(8) -- change "...to obtain the required statistics, and may rely...." to language such as "...to obtain the required statistics. The institution may rely on the information supplied by a local or State police agency, but shall not be found in violation of this section based on the failure of the local or State police agency to provide accurate or complete information."

Under (g) -- change "...and on a form..." to "...and in a form..."

The Committee reached final consensus on these provisions with the following modifications.

Under (c)(3) -- change "The number of individuals..." to "The unduplicated headcount of individuals..."

Section 668.41 Reporting and Disclosure of Information

The Committee reached final consensus on these provisions with the following changes:

Under (a) -- change "Undergraduate students, for purposes of this section only,..." to "Undergraduate students, for purposes of 668.45 and 665.48,..."

Under (c)(1)(i) -- add (g) to "...paragraphs (d) and (e);"

Under (d)(2) -- change "668.44" to "668.43"

Under (e)(1), (e)(2), (e)(3), (e)(4), (f) and (g) -- suggest modifying each title to state recipient of information first, then the information provided; e.g. (e)(1) should read -- Enrolled students and Current Employees -- Annual Security Report.

Under (g)(1) -- address "make available upon request" in the preamble, indicating that the request does not need to be in writing.

Section 668.43 Institutional Information

The Committee reached final consensus on these provisions with the following modifications:

Delete (a)(4), including (i)-(vii), and replace with "A summary of the requirements under 668.22 for the return of Title IV grant or loan assistance." Also delete (a)(5).

Section 668.45 Information on Completion or Graduation Rates

The Committee reached final consensus on these provisions with the following modifications:

The preamble should clarify that these provisions focus on two-year institutions; they are optional for four-year institutions.

Wherever "transfer-out" is referred to, "if applicable" should be added.

Under (a)(2) -- replace "An institution that has as part of it mission providing...." with "An institution that determines its mission includes providing...".

Under (a)(4)(ii) -- the phrase "for at least 15 days" should be replaced with language such as "for programs lasting more than one academic year, 30 days; for shorter programs, 15 days."

Under (c) -- change "..., an institution must count..." to "..., an institution shall count..."; change "...program provided substantial preparation;" to "...program provides substantial preparation;"

Section 668.48 Report on Completion or Graduation Rates for Student-Athletes

The Committee reached final consensus on these provisions with the following modifications:

Wherever "transfer-out" is referred to, "if applicable" should be added.

Package III

The Committee reached final consensus on all provisions in this package with the following modifications:

Under Sec. 668.27, (a)(2) -- replace the "and" in the phrase "...in such manner and the Secretary shall prescribe" with "as".

For Sec. 668.92 (d) -- a proposed refinement to this section was handed out during the meeting on May 27; the agreed upon modifications to the May 27 text are: in (d)(1) -- change "...of the refund or return of Title IV funds not paid,..." to "...of the Title IV program funds not returned,..."; change "...to such refund or return..." to "...to those funds..."; in (d)(2)(ii) -- change "Is required to pay a refund of unearned institutional charges or to return..." to "Is required under Section 668.22 to return..."

Under Sec. 668.95 (d) -- under (d)(1), change "..., the Secretary will not fine the institution for that error." to "..., the Secretary will not limit, suspend, terminate or fine the institution for that error."

Package I

The Committee reached final consensus on all provisions in this package with the exception of those related to the "90/10" rule, on pages one through six. Modifications to the remaining provisions in this package agreed upon by the Committee are:

Under 600.6 (b)(3)(i) -- change (i) to (iii), and change "has been certified as an eligible institution of higher education;" to "has been certified as a branch campus:'

Accreditation

The Committee agreed with the draft May 17,1999 text as presented with the following modifications and suggestions:

Under 602.19 -- provisions in the regulations expressly addressing monitoring of third party litigation were deleted. The preamble will clarify that accrediting agencies are expected to monitor institutions and programs to ensure that education quality is maintained throughout the accreditation period; that agencies must have unambiguous authority to act when educational quality is at issue, even if the matters are being reviewed by other bodies, including courts; and that it is unacceptable for an agency to have as its policy that it will not look into and take appropriate action based upon information that comes to its attention through third-party litigation.

Under 602.26 -- provisions in the regulations requiring reporting to the Secretary of non-final agency decisions will be deleted. The preamble will encourage all agencies in the prevailing practice of sharing this kind of information with the Secretary, especially when it concerns fraud or the integrity of Title IV programs.

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