[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 43 (Monday, March 8, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13355-13356]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-04710]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket ID ED-2020-FSA-0145]


Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program

AGENCY: Federal Student Aid, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of a New Matching Program.

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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 Protections 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 
the matching program between the Department of Education (ED or 
Department) (recipient agency) and the Social Security Administration 
(SSA) (source agency) to assist the Department in its obligation to 
ensure that applicants for student financial assistance under title IV 
of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), satisfy 
eligibility requirements.

DATES: The period of this matching program is estimated to cover the 
18-month period from April 11, 2021 through October 10, 2022. However, 
the computer matching agreement (CMA) will become applicable at the 
later of the following two dates: April 11, 2021, or 30 days after the 
publication of this notice, on March 8, 2021, unless comments have been 
received from interested members of the public requiring modification 
and republication of the notice. The matching program will continue for 
18 months after the applicable date and may be extended for up to an 
additional 12 months, if the respective agency Data Integrity Boards 
(DIBs) determine that the conditions specified in 5 U.S.C. 
552a(o)(2)(D) have been met.

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 matching program, address 
them to: 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.
    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: 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

[[Page 13356]]

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 SSA and ED to assist ED in the verification of 
Social Security numbers (SSNs) and confirmation of citizenship status 
as recorded in SSA records in order to verify the eligibility of 
applicants for student financial assistance under title IV of the HEA.

Participating Agencies

    ED and SSA.

Authority for Conducting the Matching Program

    ED is authorized to participate in the matching program under 
sections 428B(f) (20 U.S.C. 1078-2(f)), 483(a)(12) (20 U.S.C. 
1090(a)(12)), 484(g) (20 U.S.C. 1091(g)), and 484(p) (20 U.S.C. 
1091(p)) of the HEA.
    SSA is authorized to participate in the matching program under 
section 1106 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1306)) and the 
regulations promulgated pursuant to that section (20 CFR part 401). 
Section 7213 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 
2004 provides SSA authority to add a death indicator to verification 
routines that SSA determines to be appropriate.
    The legal authority for ED and SSA to disclose information under 
the matching program also includes subsection (b)(3) of the Privacy Act 
((5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3)).

Purpose(s)

    The purpose of this matching program between ED and SSA is to 
assist the Secretary of Education with verification of immigration 
status and SSNs under 20 U.S.C. 1091(g) and (p). SSA will verify the 
issuance of an SSN and a date of death (if applicable) to students and 
the parent(s) of dependent students, and will confirm the citizenship 
status of those students applying for financial assistance programs 
authorized under title IV of the HEA. Verification of this information 
by SSA will help ED satisfy its obligation to ensure that individuals 
applying for financial assistance meet eligibility requirements of the 
HEA.
    Verification by this matching program effectuates the purpose of 
the HEA because it provides an efficient and comprehensive method of 
verifying the accuracy of each individual's SSN, date of death if 
applicable, and claim to a citizenship status that permits that 
individual to qualify for title IV, HEA assistance.

Categories of Individuals

    ED's systems of records involved in the matching program maintain 
information on individuals who apply for Federal student financial 
assistance through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) 
and on individuals who apply to receive Person Authentication Service 
(PAS) Credentials, a user ID, and a password to electronically access 
their FAFSA record.
    SSA's system of records involved in the matching program maintains 
records about each individual who has applied for, and obtained, an 
SSN.

Categories of Records

    ED's systems of records involved in the matching program contain 
(1) the information to determine an applicant's eligibility for Federal 
student financial assistance, and (2) the applicant's information to 
receive PAS Credentials, a user ID, and a password. The specific data 
elements that ED will transmit to SSA are: students' and parent(s) of 
dependent students' SSN, first name, last name, and date of birth 
(DOB).
    SSA's system of records involved in the matching program maintains 
information required to apply for, and obtain, an SSN. The specific 
data elements that SSA will send back to ED include: SSN, first name, 
last name, DOB, and an SSA verification code on each record to indicate 
the match results. The verification codes are: 1 = No match on SSN, 3 = 
SSN match, name match, no match on DOB, 5 = SSN match, no match on 
name, DOB not checked, 6 = SSN not verified, Blank = SSN match, name 
match, DOB match. SSA will also send a date of death if one is present 
on SSA's database for the record. Records returned from SSA also will 
include a citizenship status code as follows: A = U.S. citizen, B = 
legal alien, eligible to work, C = legal alien, not eligible to work, D 
= other, E = alien, student restricted, F = conditionally legalized 
alien, * = foreign born, Blank = domestic born (U.S. citizen), N = 
unable to verify citizenship due to no match on name, DOB, or SSN.

System(s) of Records

    There are two ED systems of records involved in the disclosure of 
information from ED to SSA in this matching program. The first is 
entitled, ``Federal Student Aid Application File'' (18-11-01), last 
published in the Federal Register on October 29, 2019 (84 FR 57856). 
(See https://www2.ed.gov/notices/ed-pia.html#fsa) (Note: the ED Central 
Processing System (CPS) is the ED information system that processes 
data from the Federal Student Aid Application File). The second is 
entitled, ``Person Authentication Service (PAS)'' (18-11-12) published 
in the Federal Register on March 20, 2015 (80 FR 14981). In addition, 
ED will maintain the information that it receives back from SSA in the 
foregoing ED systems of records and in the Common Origination and 
Disbursement (COD) system of records (18-11-02), which was last 
published in the Federal Register on August 16, 2019 (84 FR 41979). 
(See https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/08/16/2019-17615/privacy-act-of-1974-system-of-records.)
    SSA's system of records involved in this matching program is 
entitled, ``Master Files of Social Security Number (SSN) Holders and 
SSN Applications'' (Enumeration System) 60-0058, last published in the 
Federal Register on December 29, 2010 (75 FR 82121), July 5, 2013 (78 
FR 40542), February 13, 2014 (79 FR 8780), July 3, 2018 (83 FR 31250), 
and November 1, 2018 (83 FR 54969).
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Mark Brown,
Chief Operating Officer Federal Student Aid.
[FR Doc. 2021-04710 Filed 3-5-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P