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Advance, unofficial copy now available of the second package of final regulations.


Within the next several days, we will publish in the Federal Register the final regulations developed after the Department’s review of public comments received in response to the July 29, 2013 NPRM.  We are providing in PDF format a copy of the *final regulations*.  **Please note that the official version of this document is the document published in the Federal Register.**  download filesPDF (1.19MB)

On July 29, 2013, the Department published in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). Through this NPRM, the Secretary proposes to reflect changes made to the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), by the SAFRA Act included in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010; incorporate other recent statutory changes in the Direct Loan Program regulations; update, strengthen, and clarify various areas of the Student Assistance General Provisions, Perkins Loan, FFEL, and Direct Loan program regulations; and provide for greater consistency in the regulations governing the Title IV student loan programs. These proposed regulations would ensure that the Title IV Federal student aid programs operate as efficiently as possible.

Within the next several days, the Department will publish a second Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register resulting from these negotiated rulemaking sessions.  We are providing in PDF format a copy of the NPRM: download filesPDF (1.37MB)

The following documents show all proposed changes to 34 CFR Part 682 and 34 CFR Part 685 that are included in the July 2013 notice.

- download files34 CFR 682 NPRM2 Changes (PDF, 2.03MB)
- download files34 CFR 685 NPRM2 Changes (PDF, 894K)

download filesReasonable and Affordable Payment Form (PDF, 92K)

On November 1, 2012 the Department published final regulations.  The final regulations implement a new Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) plan in the Direct Loan program based on the President’s “Pay As You Earn” repayment initiative, incorporate recent statutory changes to the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plan in the Direct Loan and FFEL programs, and streamline and add clarity to the total and permanent disability (TPD) discharge process for borrowers in Title IV loan programs. The final regulations implementing a new ICR plan and the statutory changes to the IBR plan will assist borrowers in repaying their loans, while the changes to the TPD discharge process will reduce burden for borrowers who are disabled and seeking a discharge of their Title IV debt.

The following is a list of the supporting information cited in the preambles of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and the final regulations. (All documents are reprinted with permission.)

1. *Digest of Education Statistics 2010* (U.S. Department of Education, April 2011) (pages 493–495, page 498, page 504 (Table 354)) download files | PDF (7.57MB)
2. Table 4A:  Average Tuition and Fees in Current Dollars, 1981–82 to 2011–12, *Trends in College Pricing*. © 2011.  The College Board. www.collegeboard.org | download filesMS Excel (40K) | PDF (187K)

The full report is available from The College Board.
3. *Digest of Education Statistics: 1995* (United States Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, October, 1995) (Table 309) download filesMS Excel (223K) | PDF (47K)
4. Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, *The College Payoff: Education, Occupations, Lifetime Earnings*, Anthony P. Carnevale, Stephen J. Rose and Ban Cheah (page 3)   download filesPDF (11MB)
5. *Recent College Graduates and the Job Market*, Bart Hobijn, Colin Gardiner, and Theodor Wiles download filesPDF (93K)

Reprinted from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Economic Letter 2011-09. March 21, 2011. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of the management of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, or of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

The full publication is also available at http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2011/el2011-09.html
6. Oreopoulos, Philip, Till von Wachter, and Andrew Heisz. 2012.  *The Short- and Long-Term Career Effects of Graduating in a Recession*. American Economic Journal:  Applied Economics, 2012, 4 (1): 1-29.   download filesPDF (580K)
7. Press release of the National Association of Colleges and Employers, *Fall 2011 Salary Survey*   download filesPDF (69K)  [Reprinted with the permission of the National Association of Colleges and Employers]
8. Repayment Plans and Calculators

On July 17, 2012, the Department published in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). Through this NPRM, the Secretary proposed to implement a new Income Contingent Repayment plan in the Direct Loan program based on the President's "Pay As You Earn" repayment initiative, incorporate recent statutory changes to the Income Based Repayment plan in the Direct Loan and FFEL programs, and streamline and add clarity to the total and permanent disability discharge process for borrowers in the Title IV, HEA loan programs.

**To access the public comments** submitted in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking pertaining to repayment options for student loans, go to www.regulations.gov,  and search docket number **ED–2012–OPE–0010**.

On October 28, 2011, the Department published a **notice in the Federal Register** announcing our intention to establish a negotiated rulemaking committee to prepare proposed regulations governing the student loan programs authorized under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA). The committee will include representatives of organizations or groups with interests that are significantly affected 
by the topics proposed for negotiation. Through this notice, we request nominations for individual negotiators who represent key stakeholder constituencies for the issues to be negotiated to serve on the committee and we set a schedule for committee meetings. | PDF

**Electronic Announcement** regarding Special Direct Consolidation Loans.

List of Negotiators: download filesMS Word (48K) | PDF (202K)

**Session One:  January 9-13, 2012**

- Organizational Protocols: download filesMS Word (56K) | PDF (215K)
- Agenda: download filesMS Word (38K) | PDF (88K)
- Negotiated Rulemaking Approved Issue Agenda: download filesMS Word (26K) | PDF (53K)
- Approved Final Student Loan Issue Papers: download filesMS Word (107K) | PDF (250K)

**Session Two:  February 13-17, 2012**

- Agenda: download filesMS Word (29K) | PDF (271K)
- Meeting Summary:  download filesMS Word (58K) | PDF (215K)
- Issue Papers 2-10: download filesPDF (584K)
- Issue Paper 11: download filesPDF (2MB)
- Issue Paper 12: download filesPDF (1.09MB)
- Issue Papers 13-25: download filesPDF (889K)

**Session Three:  March 26-30, 2012**

- Agenda: download filesMS Word (29K) | PDF (271K)
- Meeting Summary:  download filesMS Word (56K) | PDF (214K)
- Issue Papers 1-25 in contextual format: download filesZip (697K)

**Loans II Small Entity Compliance Guide:** This guide explains the actions a small entity is required to take to comply with a rule or group of rules. The guide is written using sufficiently plain language likely to be understood by affected small entities.   MS Word (60K)



Negotiated Rulemaking 2011 Page | OPE Policy Page