[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 18 (Friday, January 29, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7547-7548]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-02002]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket ID ED-2020-FSA-0139]


Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program

AGENCY: 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 February 27, 2020, 
and will automatically expire on February 26, 2021.

DATES: Submit your comments on the proposed CMA on or before March 1, 
2021. The CMA will be effective March 1, 2021, unless comments have 
been received from interested members of the public requiring 
modification and republication of the notice.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal 
or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. We will not 
accept comments submitted by fax or by email or those 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.
    <bullet> 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 ``help'' tab.
    <bullet> Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery: If you 
mail or deliver your comments about this new CMA, address them to the 
person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    Privacy Note: ED'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, Wanamaker Building, U.S. Department of Education, Federal 
Student Aid, 100 Penn Square East, Suite 509.B10, Philadelphia, PA 
19107. 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 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.
    The CMA will continue for 18 months after the effective date of the 
CMA and may be extended for an additional 12 months thereafter, 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)), and in accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 
552a), have been met.
    Participating Agencies: The Department of Education (the 
Department) and the Department of Defense (DoD).
    Authority for Conducting the Matching Program: ED is authorized to 
participate in the matching program under sections 420R and 473(b) of 
the

[[Page 7548]]

HEA (20 U.S.C. 1070h and 20 U.S.C. 1087mm(b)) and in accordance with 
the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a).
    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.
    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 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), 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.
    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: Federal Student Aid 
Application File (18-11-01) last published in the Federal Register on 
October 29, 2019 (84 FR 57856). Routine Uses 1 and 13 apply to this 
CMA. (See https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/10/29/2019-23581/privacy-act-of-1974-system-of-records.) (Note: The ED Central 
Processing System [CPS] is the ED information system that processes 
data from the Federal Student Aid Application File.)
    DoD system of records: DMDC 01, Defense Manpower Data Center Data 
Base (76 FR 72391) (November 23, 2011), and DMDC 02 DoD Defense 
Enrollment Eligibility Reporting Systems (DEERS) (81 FR 49210) (July 
27, 2016).
    Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this 
document in an accessible format (such as, braille, large print, or 
audiotape) by contacting the contact person listed under FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT.
    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.

Mark Brown,
Chief Operating Officer Federal Student Aid.
[FR Doc. 2021-02002 Filed 1-27-21; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P