Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 35 / Tuesday, February 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 8013 

proposed does not include a Federal 

mandate that may result in estimated 

costs of $100 million or more to either 

State, local, or tribal governments in the 

aggregate, or to the private sector. This 

Federal action proposes to approve and 

disapprove pre-existing requirements 

under State or local law, and imposes 

no new requirements. Accordingly, no 

additional costs to State, local, or tribal 

governments, or to the private sector, 

result from this action. 

E. Executive Order 13132, Federalism 

Federalism (64 FR 43255, August 10, 

1999) revokes and replaces Executive 

Orders 12612 (Federalism) and 12875 

(Enhancing the Intergovernmental 

Partnership). Executive Order 13132 

requires EPA to develop an accountable 

process to ensure ‘‘meaningful and 

timely input by State and local officials 

in the development of regulatory 

policies that have federalism 

implications.’’ ‘‘Policies that have 

federalism implications’’ is defined in 

the Executive Order to include 

regulations that have ‘‘substantial direct 

effects on the States, on the relationship 

between the national government and 

the States, or on the distribution of 

power and responsibilities among the 

various levels of government.’’ Under 

Executive Order 13132, EPA may not 

issue a regulation that has federalism 

implications, that imposes substantial 

direct compliance costs, and that is not 

required by statute, unless the Federal 

government provides the funds 

necessary to pay the direct compliance 

costs incurred by State and local 

governments, or EPA consults with 

State and local officials early in the 

process of developing the proposed 

regulation. EPA also may not issue a 

regulation that has federalism 

implications and that preempts State 

law unless the Agency consults with 

State and local officials early in the 

process of developing the proposed 

regulation. 

This rule will not have substantial 

direct effects on the States, on the 

relationship between the national 

government and the States, or on the 

distribution of power and 

responsibilities among the various 

levels of government, as specified in 

Executive Order 13132, because it 

merely proposes to approve or 

disapprove a State rule implementing a 

federal standard, and does not alter the 

relationship or the distribution of power 

and responsibilities established in the 

Clean Air Act. Thus, the requirements of 

section 6 of the Executive Order do not 

apply to this rule. 

F. Executive Order 13175, Coordination 

With Indian Tribal Governments 

Executive Order 13175, entitled 

‘‘Consultation and Coordination with 

Indian Tribal Governments’’ (65 FR 

67249, November 9, 2000), requires EPA 

to develop an accountable process to 

ensure ‘‘meaningful and timely input by 

tribal officials in the development of 

regulatory policies that have tribal 

implications.’’ This proposed rule does 

not have tribal implications, as specified 

in Executive Order 13175. It will not 

have substantial direct effects on tribal 

governments, on the relationship 

between the Federal government and 

Indian tribes, or on the distribution of 

power and responsibilities between the 

Federal government and Indian tribes. 

Thus, Executive Order 13175 does not 

apply to this rule. 

EPA specifically solicits additional 

comment on this proposed rule from 

tribal officials. 

G. Executive Order 13045, Protection of 

Children From Environmental Health 

Risks and Safety Risks 

EPA interprets Executive Order 13045 

(62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997) as 

applying only to those regulatory 

actions that concern health or safety 

risks, such that the analysis required 

under section 5–501 of the Executive 

Order has the potential to influence the 

regulation. This rule is not subject to 

Executive Order 13045, because it 

approves a state rule implementing a 

Federal standard. 

H. Executive Order 13211, Actions That 

Significantly Affect Energy Supply, 

Distribution, or Use 

This rule is not subject to Executive 

Order 13211, ‘‘Actions Concerning 

Regulations That Significantly Affect 

Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use’’ (66 

FR 28355, May 22, 2001) because it is 

not a significant regulatory action under 

Executive Order 12866. 

I. National Technology Transfer and 

Advancement Act 

Section 12 of the National Technology 

Transfer and Advancement Act 

(NTTAA) of 1995 requires Federal 

agencies to evaluate existing technical 

standards when developing a new 

regulation. To comply with NTTAA, 

EPA must consider and use ‘‘voluntary 

consensus standards’’ (VCS) if available 

and applicable when developing 

programs and policies unless doing so 

would be inconsistent with applicable 

law or otherwise impractical. 

The EPA believes that VCS are 

inapplicable to this action. Today’s 

action does not require the public to 

perform activities conducive to the use 

of VCS. 

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52 

Environmental protection, Air 

pollution control, Intergovernmental 

relations, Particulate matter, Reporting 

and recordkeeping requirements. 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq. 

Dated: February 10, 2010. 

Jared Blumenfeld, 

Regional Administrator, Region IX. 

[FR Doc. 2010–3513 Filed 2–22–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND 

COMMUNITY SERVICE 

45 CFR Parts 2510, 2522, 2525, 2526, 

2527, 2528, 2529, 2530, 2531, 2532, 

2533, 2550, 2551, and 2552 

RIN 3045–AA51 

Serve America Act Amendments to the 

National and Community Service Act 

of 1990 

AGENCY: Corporation for National and 

Community Service. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: On April 21, 2009, President 

Obama signed into law the Edward M. 

Kennedy Serve America Act (‘‘The Serve 

America Act’’ or ‘‘SAA’’). The Serve 

America Act reauthorizes and expands 

national service programs administered 

by the Corporation for National and 

Community Service (‘‘the Corporation’’) 

by amending the National and 

Community Service Act of 1990 

(‘‘NCSA’’ or ‘‘the Act’’) and the Domestic 

Volunteer Service Act of 1973 (‘‘DVSA’’). 

The Corporation publishes this 

proposed rule to implement changes to 

the operation of the National Service 

Trust under the Serve America Act. This 

proposed rule provides flexibility for 

exceptions to the 80 percent cost 

reimbursement requirement for Senior 

Companion and Foster Grandparent 

programs based on hardship. In 

addition, this proposed rule reorders 

and renumbers certain parts of the 

existing regulations, adds new 

definitions, and makes several minor 

technical edits. 

DATES: To be sure your comments are 

considered, they must reach the 

Corporation or or before April 26, 2010. 

ADDRESSES: You may send your 

comments electronically through the 

Federal government’s one-stop 

rulemaking Web site at http:// 

www.regulations.gov. You may also mail 

or deliver your comments to Amy 

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8014 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 35 / Tuesday, February 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

Borgstrom, Docket Manager, 

Corporation for National and 

Community Service, 1201 New York 

Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20525. 

Members of the public may review 

copies of all communications received 

on this rulemaking at http:// 

www.regulations.gov or at the 

Corporation’s Washington, DC 

headquarters. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Amy Borgstrom, Docket Manager, 

Corporation for National and 

Community Service, 

aborgstrom@cns.gov, TDD 606–3472. 

Persons with visual impairments may 

request this rule in an alternate format. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Invitation To Comment 

We invite you to submit comments 

about these proposed regulations. To 

ensure that your comments have 

maximum value in helping us develop 

the final regulations, we urge you to 

identify clearly the specific section or 

sections of the proposed regulations that 

each comment addresses and to arrange 

your comments in the same order as the 

proposed regulations. During and after 

the comment period, you may inspect 

all public comments about these 

proposed regulations on http:// 

www.regulations.gov or by contacting 

the Docket Manager listed in this notice. 

Assistance to Individuals With 

Disabilities in Reviewing the 

Rulemaking Record 

On request, we will supply an 

appropriate aid, such as a reader or 

print magnifier, to an individual with a 

disability who needs assistance to 

review the comments or other 

documents in the public rulemaking 

record for these proposed regulations. If 

you want to schedule an appointment 

for this type of aid, please contact Amy 

Borgstrom, Docket Manager, 

Corporation for National and 

Community Service, 

aborgstrom@cns.gov, TDD 606–3472. 

II. Background 

On April 21, 2009, President Obama 

signed into law the Edward M. Kennedy 

Serve America Act (Serve America Act). 

The Serve America Act reauthorizes and 

expands national service programs 

administered by the Corporation by 

amending the NCSA and DVSA. The 

Corporation engages four million 

Americans in service each year, 

including approximately 75,000 

AmeriCorps members, 492,000 Senior 

Corps Volunteers, 1.1 million Learn and 

Serve America students, and 2.2 million 

additional community volunteers 

mobilized and managed through agency 

programs. 

Section 6101 of the Serve America 

Act authorizes the Chief Executive 

Officer of the Corporation to issue such 

regulations as may be necessary to carry 

out the amendments required under the 

Act. To fulfill that responsibility, on 

September 10, 2009, the Corporation 

issued an interim final rule to 

implement time-sensitive changes to the 

Corporation’s AmeriCorps State and 

National, Senior Corps, and Learn and 

Serve America program regulations. (74 

FR 46495). The changes resulting from 

the interim final rule were required as 

a result of amendments to the NCSA 

and DVSA by the Serve America Act, 

which took effect for most purposes on 

October 1, 2009. 

In that rule, we stated our intention to 

engage in full notice and comment 

rulemaking to implement those 

amendments mandated by the Serve 

America Act that did not require 

immediate regulatory action. This rule 

primarily proposes amendments and 

additions to existing regulations 

regarding the National Service Trust, 

including limitations on education 

award receipt, the available uses of 

education awards, eligibility to receive 

an education award, eligibility to 

transfer an education award, and the 

amount of an education award. This 

proposed rule also addresses the 

limitation on the number of terms an 

individual may serve in an AmeriCorps 

State and National program. The 

proposed rule allows flexibility in 

managing match requirements for 

Senior Companion and Foster 

Grandparent programs facing hardship. 

Finally, this rule makes several 

technical corrections inadvertently 

omitted from the interim final rule, 

including an amendment to the 

provision on pre-approval of Subtitle C 

formula programs, amendments to the 

AmeriCorps State and National 

selection criteria, and an amendment to 

include a reference to the Department of 

Education’s new Public Service Loan 

Forgiveness Program. An overview of 

specific changes for each program is set 

out below. 

III. Proposed Rule 

Definitions (§§ 2510.20, 2525.20) 

The National Service Trust is an 

account in the U.S. Treasury authorized 

to disburse education awards to national 

service participants. Prior to passage of 

the Serve America Act, the Corporation 

was authorized to disburse one type of 

education award from the National 

Service Trust—a national service 

education award, also known as a Segal 

AmeriCorps education award, available 

upon successful completion of a term of 

service in an approved AmeriCorps 

position. An ‘‘approved AmeriCorps 

position’’ is one of the positions 

described in Sec. 123 of the Act, 

including a position in AmeriCorps 

State and National, AmeriCorps NCCC, 

AmeriCorps VISTA, and the newly 

authorized ServeAmerica Fellowship 

program. 

The Serve America Act authorizes 

two new types of education awards: (1) 

A Silver Scholar education award of 

$1,000, available upon successful 

completion of a term of service in an 

approved Silver Scholar position; and 

(2) a Summer of Service education 

award of between $500 and $750, 

available upon successful completion of 

a term of service in an approved 

Summer of Service position. To align 

with the amended statute, this proposed 

rule amends § 2525.20 by adding three 

separate definitions for ‘‘AmeriCorps 

education award,’’ ‘‘Silver Scholar 

education award,’’ and ‘‘Summer of 

Service education award.’’ 

Each of these awards is based upon 

successful completion of a term of 

service in an approved position. For a 

position of any type to be considered 

‘‘approved,’’ the Corporation must have 

agreed to provide a corresponding 

education award upon successful 

completion of a term of service in that 

position. This proposed rule amends 

§ 2510.20 by adding definitions to 

clarify that in order for a Summer of 

Service or Silver Scholar position to be 

considered approved, it must be 

approved by the Corporation for the 

receipt of a Silver Scholar or Summer of 

Service education award, respectively. 

There are different service 

requirements for each type of education 

award. A term of service in an approved 

AmeriCorps position is for at least 1,700 

hours during a period of not more than 

one year, with options for part-time or 

reduced part-time terms of service, as 

defined in § 2522.220, for AmeriCorps 

State and National members. A term of 

service in an approved Silver Scholar 

position must be for at least 350 hours 

during a period of one year. A term of 

service in an approved Summer of 

Service position must be for at least 100 

hours ‘‘during the summer months.’’ To 

clarify that what constitutes a term of 

service will vary depending upon the 

program, this proposed rule amends the 

definition of ‘‘term of service’’ in 

§ 2525.20 to align with the NCSA by 

providing separate descriptions for 

terms of service in approved 

AmeriCorps, Silver Scholar, and 

Summer of Service positions. 

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As stated above, a Summer of Service 

education award will generally be $500. 

However, the NCSA authorizes the 

Corporation to establish a Summer of 

Service award of $750 for ‘‘economically 

disadvantaged youth.’’ The Corporation 

proposes in this rule to define 

‘‘economically disadvantaged youth’’ for 

the purposes of the larger Summer of 

Service education award as a child who 

is eligible for a free lunch and breakfast 

under the Richard B. Russell National 

School Lunch Act. This proposed rule 

amends § 2525.20 to add this definition. 

Eligibility To Receive an Education 

Award (§ 2526.10) 

The Serve America Act created two 

new types of education awards: Silver 

Scholar education awards and Summer 

of Service education awards, for $1000 

and $500 respectively, available upon 

successful completion of an approved 

Silver Scholar or Summer of Service 

position. This proposed rule amends 

§ 2526.10 to include individuals who 

successfully complete terms of service 

in approved Silver Scholar or Summer 

of positions as eligible to receive an 

education award from the National 

Service Trust. 

Previously, the list of eligibility 

criteria to receive an education award in 

§ 2526.10 has reflected the eligibility 

criteria to serve in AmeriCorps State 

and National, AmeriCorps NCCC, and 

AmeriCorps VISTA, including age and 

education criteria that would 

necessarily exclude individuals in 

Summer of Service positions, which are 

available for ‘‘youth who will be 

enrolled in any of grades 6 through 12 

at the end of the summer’’ (42 U.S.C. 

12563(c)(8)). To align with the amended 

statute, this proposed rule amends 

§ 2526.10 to defer to the eligibility 

criteria of individual programs for 

program-specific criteria. 

Under the proposed rule, for an 

individual to be eligible to receive an 

education award, the organization 

responsible for the individual’s 

supervision must certify: (1) That the 

individual met the applicable eligibility 

requirements for the approved national 

service position, approved Silver 

Scholar position, or approved Summer 

of Service position, as appropriate; (2) 

that the individual successfully 

completed the term of service in the 

AmeriCorps, Silver Scholar, or Summer 

of Service program; and (3) that the 

individual is a citizen, national, or 

lawful permanent resident alien of the 

United States. 

Successful Completion of a Term of 

Service (§ 2526.15) 

Sec. 146 of the NCSA directs the 

Corporation to determine a process by 

which an organization responsible for 

the supervision of a national service 

participant may determine whether the 

participant successfully completed a 

term of service. This proposed rule adds 

a new § 2526.15 specifying the process 

for determining whether an individual 

successfully completed a term of service 

for the purposes of receiving an 

education award from the National 

Service Trust. Under this rule, 

organizations supervising AmeriCorps 

State and National participants would 

continue to use the existing process 

detailed at § 2522.220(d). For all other 

programs, the organization would be 

required to conduct an end-of-term 

evaluation for each participant to 

determine whether: (1) The individual 

completed the required number of 

service hours for the respective term of 

service; (2) the individual performed 

satisfactorily on assignments, tasks, or 

projects; and (3) the individual met any 

other performance criteria as 

communicated to the member by the 

organization. What is considered 

‘‘satisfactory performance’’ is within the 

discretion of the program. While the 

Corporation encourages programs to 

keep records of end-of-term evaluations 

of member performance for their own 

purposes, for the purpose of this 

requirement certification that an 

individual did or did not successfully 

complete a term of service will be 

deemed to incorporate an end-of-term 

evaluation. A certification will not, 

however, suffice as documentation of 

hours served. 

Release for Compelling Personal 

Circumstances (§§ 2526.20–25) 

Sec. 147 of the NCSA authorizes the 

Corporation to make education awards 

in five different amount categories: (1) 

An amount for successful completion of 

a full-time approved national service 

position; (2) an amount for successful 

completion of a part-time approved 

national service position; (3) an amount 

for partial completion of service, 

available upon release for compelling 

personal circumstances from an 

approved national service position; (4) 

an amount for a Silver Scholar 

education award for successful 

completion of an approved Silver 

Scholar position; and (5) an amount for 

a Summer of Service education award 

for successful completion of an 

approved Summer of Service position. 

Partial awards are described only in the 

context of release for compelling 

personal circumstances from an 

approved national service position. In 

describing types of service positions in 

Sec. 146, the Act distinguishes between 

approved national service positions 

(which are described in Sec. 123 to 

include AmeriCorps State and National, 

AmeriCorps VISTA, AmeriCorps NCCC, 

and ServeAmerica Fellows), approved 

Silver Scholar positions, and approved 

Summer of Service positions, and does 

not provide for a pro-rated award for a 

release for compelling personal 

circumstances from an approved Silver 

Scholar or Summer of Service position. 

In summary, there is no authority for a 

partial award for a release for 

compelling personal circumstances from 

a Silver Scholar or Summer of Service 

position. 

This proposed rule amends § 2526.20 

and adds a new § 2526.25 to clarify that 

partial awards will not be available for 

individuals who are released early from 

Silver Scholar or Summer of Service 

positions, even for compelling reasons. 

This proposed rule also amends 

§ 2526.20 to reflect the statutory 

requirement that an individual must 

have performed satisfactorily prior to 

being released for compelling personal 

circumstances in order to receive a 

partial education award. 

Limitation on Amount of Award 

Disbursed to Institution of Higher 

Education (§§ 2528.30–40) 

Prior to the effective date of the Serve 

America Act, under Sec. 148(c)(6) of the 

NCSA, the Corporation’s disbursement 

from an individual’s education award 

for any period of enrollment at an 

institution of higher education could 

not exceed the difference between that 

individual’s cost of attendance for that 

period of enrollment and the sum of (1) 

the individual’s estimated financial 

assistance for that period under part A 

of title IV of the Higher Education Act 

and (2) the individual’s veterans’ 

benefits as defined under section 480(c) 

of the Higher Education Act. The Serve 

America Act amended Sec. 148(c)(6) to 

no longer consider an individual’s 

veterans’ benefits in this manner. This 

proposed rule amends §§ 2528.30 and 

40 to align with amended Sec. 148(c)(6) 

by removing any consideration of an 

individual’s veterans’ benefits when 

determining the maximum amount of 

the individual’s education award that 

may be disbursed to an institution of 

higher education. 

Use of Education Award for a Program 

of Education Approved by the Secretary 

of Veterans Affairs (§§ 2528.10, 60–80) 

The Serve America Act amended Sec. 

148 of the NCSA to add a fifth available 

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8016 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 35 / Tuesday, February 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

use for an education award. Under the 

amended law, the education award is 

available ‘‘to pay expenses incurred in 

enrolling in an educational institution 

or training establishment that is 

approved under chapter 36 of title 38, 

United States Code, or other applicable 

provisions of law, for offering programs 

of education, apprenticeship, or on-job 

training for which educational 

assistance may be provided by the 

Secretary of Veterans Affairs.’’ (42 U.S.C. 

12604(a)(4)). This proposed rule amends 

§ 2528.10 to add this use to the list of 

available uses, and adds rules on the 

process for using the award for this 

purpose. Benefits offered under chapter 

36 of title 38, U.S.C., were authorized 

under the Montgomery G.I. Bill and the 

Post 9/11 G.I. Bill, and will be referred 

to hereinafter as ‘‘G.I. Bill education 

benefits.’’ Likewise, courses and 

programs approved under that chapter 

will be referred to as ‘‘G.I.-approved.’’ 

This proposed rule would require that 

the institution or training establishment 

at which an individual requests to use 

an education award certify under 

penalty of law that the amount 

requested would be used to pay all or 

part of the individual’s expenses 

attributable to a course, program of 

education, apprenticeship, or job 

training program offered by that 

institution or training establishment, 

and certify under penalty of law that the 

course or program for which the 

individual is requesting to use the 

education award has been and is 

currently approved by the State 

approving agency for the State where 

the institution or establishment is 

located, or by the Secretary of Veterans 

Affairs. The Department of Veterans 

Affairs is the agency responsible for 

approving courses or programs of 

education under chapter 36 of title 38, 

U.S. Code, and the Corporation defers to 

the decisions made by the State 

approving agencies and the Secretary of 

Veterans Affairs regarding approving— 

or withdrawing approval—of a program 

of education; if an institution or 

establishment cannot verify that a 

course or program of education has 

received the requisite approval, the 

Corporation will not disburse the funds 

to the school. 

Unlike G.I. education benefits, which 

may be disbursed directly to an 

individual, under this proposed rule, 

the education award would be 

disbursed directly to the educational 

institution or training establishment. 

If an individual for whom the 

Corporation has disbursed an education 

award withdraws or fails to complete 

the period of enrollment at an 

educational institution or training 

establishment in a program of education 

approved by the Secretary of Veterans 

Affairs, this proposed rule would 

require the educational institution or 

training establishment to provide a prorated refund to the Corporation. 

Payment of Accrued Interest (2529.10) 

This proposed rule amends § 2529.10, 

which currently provides for interest 

forbearance to individuals serving in 

approved AmeriCorps positions, to 

clarify that individuals who 

successfully complete terms of service 

in approved Silver Scholar positions 

may also be eligible for payments of 

interest accrued on qualified student 

loans while serving. The proposed rule 

does not include Summer of Service 

positions, as Summer of Service 

positions are reserved for rising 6th 

through 12th graders who, having not 

yet enrolled in an institution of higher 

education, will not yet have incurred 

qualified students loans. 

The Serve America Act also amended 

Sec. 123 by expanding the list of 

positions considered to be approved 

national service positions to include ‘‘a 

position involving service in the 

ServeAmerica Fellowship program.’’ 

The term ‘‘approved national service 

position’’ is used interchangeably with 

the term ‘‘approved AmeriCorps 

position.’’ Thus, although this proposed 

rule does not explicitly amend § 2529.10 

to include ServeAmerica Fellows, they 

are incorporated by definition. 

Amount of AmeriCorps Education 

Award (§ 2527.10) 

Upon successful completion of a term 

of service in an approved AmeriCorps 

position, including positions in 

AmeriCorps State and National, 

AmeriCorps VISTA, AmeriCorps NCCC, 

and Serve America Fellows, an 

individual is eligible to receive an 

AmeriCorps education award from the 

National Service Trust. Prior to the 

passage of the Serve America Act, the 

amount of a full-time AmeriCorps 

education award was set in law at 

$4,725. 

The Serve America Act amended Sec. 

147 of the NCSA by changing the 

amount of a full-time national service 

education award to be ‘‘equal to the 

maximum amount of a Federal Pell 

Grant under section 401 of the Higher 

Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1071a) 

that a student eligible for such Grant 

may receive in the aggregate * * * for 

the year for which the national service 

position is approved by the 

Corporation.’’ This proposed rule 

amends § 2527.10 to conform to the 

changes in the NCSA in the amount of 

the full-time award. 

The amount of the Pell Grant upon 

which AmeriCorps education awards 

will be based may change each year, 

thus, the amount of an AmeriCorps 

education award may also change 

annually. To determine the amount of 

an AmeriCorps education award, the 

Corporation will use the amount of the 

Pell Grant as of October 1 (the first day 

of the Federal fiscal year) in the fiscal 

year in which the national service 

position is approved. For example, if a 

national service position is approved in 

September of 2010, the amount of the 

education award will be based on a fulltime amount of $5,350—the amount of 

the Pell Grant as of October 1, 2009 (the 

first day of fiscal year 2010). 

The trigger date for determining the 

amount of an education award for a 

particular national service position is 

the date that position is approved—not 

the date the individual begins serving in 

a national service position. Not all 

positions that begin in a fiscal year will 

receive an education award based on the 

amount of the Pell Grant in that fiscal 

year. 

In accordance with the national 

service laws, funding for education 

awards are obligated on a different 

schedule for AmeriCorps VISTA, 

AmeriCorps NCCC, and AmeriCorps 

State and National. What follows is a 

detailed discussion on how the approval 

date for a national service position is 

determined for the purposes of 

establishing the amount of an education 

award. 

For AmeriCorps VISTA, a position is 

considered to be approved at the time 

the Corporation enters into an 

enforceable agreement with an 

individual, signified by the individual’s 

taking the VISTA oath of service. (42 

U.S.C. 4954(c)). For an AmeriCorps 

VISTA position, the education award 

amount is equal to the amount of a Pell 

Grant on October 1 of the fiscal year in 

which the VISTA takes the oath of 

service. For example, a VISTA who 

takes the oath on any date between 

October 1, 2009, and September 30, 

2010, is eligible for a full-time award 

amount of $5,350—the amount of the 

Pell Grant as of October 1, 2009. 

For AmeriCorps NCCC, a position is 

considered to be approved at the time 

the Corporation enters into an 

enforceable agreement with an 

individual, signified by the individual’s 

signing of an AmeriCorps NCCC 

member agreement. For an AmeriCorps 

NCCC position, the education award 

amount will be equal to the amount of 

a Pell Grant on October 1 of the fiscal 

year in which the AmeriCorps NCCC 

member signs the member agreement. 

Therefore, an individual who signs an 

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AmeriCorps NCCC member agreement 

on any date between October 1, 2009, 

and September 10, 2010, will receive an 

award based on a full-time award 

amount of $5,350—the amount of the 

Pell Grant as of October 1, 2009. 

For AmeriCorps State and National, 

by law, a position is considered to be 

approved at the time the Corporation 

executes a grant used to support the 

AmeriCorps member—not the date an 

AmeriCorps member takes an oath, 

signs an agreement, or begins service. 

As discussed above, the day an 

individual enters service in AmeriCorps 

NCCC or AmeriCorps VISTA may make 

a significant difference in the amount of 

the education award, as the award for a 

position will likely be larger if the 

individual takes an oath of office or 

signs an agreement on October 1, as 

opposed to September 30. The same will 

not be true for AmeriCorps State and 

National members. AmeriCorps State 

and National grants are generally made 

during the Spring and Summer, i.e., in 

the latter half of a fiscal year. As a 

result, unlike AmeriCorps NCCC and 

AmeriCorps VISTA members who are 

eligible for the new amount of the award 

as of October 1, the earliest point at 

which an AmeriCorps member may 

begin serving in a position funded by 

those grants may be closer to the end of 

a fiscal year. 

As an example, if an AmeriCorps 

State program receives a grant on 

August 1, 2010, and enrolls a member 

using fiscal year 2010 grant funds on 

August 3, 2010, that member will 

receive an education award based on a 

full-time amount of $5,350—the amount 

of the Pell Grant on October 1, 2009, the 

first day of the fiscal year in which the 

August 2010 grant was made. If the 

program then enrolls another member 

on October 10, 2010, that member will 

also receive an education award based 

on the $5,350 amount—even though at 

that point a new fiscal year has begun, 

and the Pell Grant for fiscal year 2011 

may have increased as of October 1, 

2010. The determining factor is that the 

member position was approved by the 

Corporation in fiscal year 2010. 

Further, unlike an AmeriCorps NCCC 

or AmeriCorps VISTA member, whose 

approval date will closely correlate with 

the day the individual begins service, it 

is possible for an AmeriCorps State and 

National member beginning service in 

one fiscal year to be supported with 

funds from a grant made in a prior fiscal 

year. Therefore, it is possible for two 

AmeriCorps members starting service on 

the same day to be supported by two 

different grant awards made in two 

different fiscal years, resulting in two 

different approval dates and two 

different education award amounts. 

For example, a program might receive 

a continuation grant on August 1, 2011, 

but still have grant funds carried over 

from a grant made in 2010. If the 

program enrolls two members on 

August 1, 2011—one supported with the 

2010 grant and one supported with the 

2011 grant—the one supported with the 

2010 grant will be eligible for an award 

based on a full-time award of $5,350— 

the amount of the Pell Grant on October 

1, 2009, the first day of the fiscal year 

in which the 2010 grant was made. The 

member who is being supported with 

2011 funds will be eligible for an award 

based on whatever the amount of the 

Pell Grant is on October 1, 2010. 

The Corporation recognizes the 

possibility for confusion among 

AmeriCorps State and National 

members, who, unlike AmeriCorps 

NCCC and AmeriCorps VISTA 

members, will not be able to rely on 

their service start dates to figure out the 

amount of the award they are eligible to 

receive. To reduce confusion, it is 

essential for AmeriCorps programs— 

particularly those with AmeriCorps 

State and National members—to clearly 

communicate to each member, prior to 

the commencement of service, the 

amount of the education award the 

individual will receive upon successful 

completion of the term of service. 

Beginning with grants made in 2010, 

AmeriCorps State and National grant 

provisions will direct grantees to specify 

the amount of the education award of 

the funds being used to support the 

position in the member service 

agreement. 

It is important to remember that the 

Serve America Act went into effect on 

October 1, 2009. All positions approved 

prior to that date are eligible for awards 

based on a full-time amount of $4,725. 

This includes all AmeriCorps State and 

National positions, even those that 

began after October 1, 2009, since no 

AmeriCorps State and National 

positions have been approved with 

fiscal year 2010 funds to date. 

To learn more about the amount of the 

education award and how it is 

determined, visit the AmeriCorps Web 

site at http://www.americorps.gov/ 

for_individuals/benefits/ 

benefits_ed_award.asp. 

Amount of Silver Scholar and Summer 

of Service Education Awards (§ 2527.10) 

As previously discussed, the Serve 

America Act created two new types of 

education awards: Silver Scholar 

education awards and Summer of 

Service education awards. This 

proposed rule amends § 2527.10 to 

include the Silver Scholar education 

award of $1000, available upon 

successful completion of a term of 

service of at least 350 hours in a Silver 

Scholar position. 

This proposed rule also amends 

§ 2527.10 to include the Summer of 

Service education award of $500, 

available upon successful completion of 

at least 100 hours in a Summer of 

Service position. The Corporation may 

authorize a Summer of Service 

education award of $750 if the 

participant is economically 

disadvantaged. In order to authorize the 

increased award, the Corporation must 

receive a certification from the school 

with which the participant served that 

the participant meets the definition of 

‘‘economically disadvantaged,’’ defined 

in this rule as a child that is eligible for 

a free lunch and breakfast under the 

Richard B. Russell National School 

Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)). 

Pro-rated education awards for an 

early release for compelling personal 

circumstances from a Silver Scholar or 

Summer of Service position are not 

available. If an individual fails to 

complete either type of term for any 

reason, the individual will not receive 

any award. And unlike the AmeriCorps 

education award described in the 

previous section, Silver Scholar and 

Summer of Service education awards 

will not vary in amount from one year 

to the next. 

Limitation on Value of Education 

Awards Received (§§ 2526.50–55) 

Prior to the passage of the Serve 

America Act, the national service laws 

limited individuals to receiving an 

education award ‘‘only on the basis of 

the first and second * * * terms of 

service.’’ A term of service includes fulltime, part-time, or less-than-part-time 

terms, terms in which the person served 

at least 15 percent of the term of service, 

and terms for which an individual was 

released for misconduct regardless of 

the amount of time served. Terms range 

in service hour requirements from 300 

hours to more than 1,700 hours, but 

despite the contrast in the level of 

commitment required or the service 

opportunity presented, all terms were 

previously considered of equal value for 

the purposes of limiting the receipt of 

education awards. 

The Serve America Act amended the 

national service laws to no longer limit 

the receipt of education awards based 

upon the number of terms served, but 

rather place the limit on the value of 

education awards received. Sec. 146(c) 

now states: ‘‘An individual may not 

receive, through national service 

educational awards and silver scholar 

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8018 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 35 / Tuesday, February 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

educational awards, more than an 

amount equal to the aggregate value of 

[two] such awards for full-time service.’’ 

The amended law allows for an 

individual to earn more than two 

education awards, so long as the 

aggregate value of all awards received 

does not exceed the aggregate value of 

two full-time national service education 

awards. Significantly, the law does not 

create an entitlement to receive the 

aggregate value of two full-time awards; 

rather, it prohibits an individual from 

receiving more than the aggregate value 

of two full-time awards. This proposed 

rule amends § 2526.50 to align with the 

amended statutory language. 

As previously discussed, the amount 

of a full-time education award is now 

tied to the amount of a Pell Grant in the 

year the position is awarded, and is 

likely to change each year. The 

Corporation does not interpret the 

amended statute to suggest that the 

value of two full-time education awards 

for the purposes of this section is equal 

to the dollar amount of two full-time 

awards and would thus similarly change 

on an annual basis, providing a 

potentially unlimited number of service 

opportunities and education awards. 

Nor does the Corporation interpret this 

change as a means of ensuring that all 

national service participants receive an 

identical amount of money. Rather, the 

Corporation interprets the change in 

focus from the number of terms served 

to the value of education awards 

received as a means of addressing the 

inequity of limiting individuals to two 

terms of service when not all terms offer 

an equivalent service opportunity. In 

other words, for the purposes of the 

limitation on education award receipt, 

value is distinct from amount. 

The Corporation considers an 

education award to be the counterpart to 

successful completion of a term of 

service, and while the amount of that 

award might change, the service 

opportunity offered by a particular term 

of service is constant. The Corporation 

interprets the ‘‘value’’ of a full-time 

education award to be representative of 

the service opportunity upon which it is 

based, therefore, a limitation of two fulltime education awards can be 

understood as a limitation of two fulltime service opportunities. 

In order to attribute a value to an 

award received on the basis of a static 

service opportunity in an environment 

in which the award amount may 

fluctuate annually, the Corporation 

proposes to measure the value of any 

award amount relative to the amount of 

a full-time award in a given year. In this 

rule, the Corporation proposes, for the 

purposes of this section, that the value 

of an education award is equal to the 

actual amount of the education award 

received divided by the amount of a 

full-time education award in the year 

the AmeriCorps or Silver Scholar 

position upon which the award is based 

was approved. Using this calculation, 

every award received will be considered 

to have a value between 0 and 1. 

Although the amount of a full-time 

award may change, the value of a fulltime award will always be equal to 1. 

Value of education award received Amount of award Received = Amount of full-time award in fiscal year in which position

upon which award is based was approved

For example, an individual who 

completed a part-time position 

approved in 2009 received an education 

award of $2362.50. The value of this 

award is the amount received, 

$2,362.50, divided by $4,725, the 

amount of a full-time award in the year 

the position was approved, or .5. 

Another individual completes a parttime position approved in 2010 and 

receives an education award of $2,675. 

The value of this award is the amount 

received, $2,675, divided by $5,350, the 

amount of a full-time award in the year 

the position was approved, or .5. Using 

this calculation, the value of an award 

received for part-time service will 

always be equal to .5. 

If an individual leaves a term of 

service for compelling personal 

circumstances and receives a pro-rated 

award, the value attributed to that 

award will be based on the amount 

actually received. For example, an 

individual was released for compelling 

personal circumstances from a full-time 

position approved in 2009 after serving 

800 hours, and received a pro-rated 

award of $2,223.52. The value of this 

award is the amount of the award 

received, $2,223.52, divided by, $4,725, 

the amount of a full-time award in the 

year the position was approved, or .47. 

Another individual was released for 

compelling personal circumstances from 

a full-time position approved in 2010 

after serving 800 hours, and received a 

pro-rated award of $2,517.64. The value 

of this award is the amount of the award 

received, $2,517.64, divided by, $5,350, 

the amount of a full-time award in the 

year the position was approved, or .47. 

If an individual exits a term for cause 

and does not receive an education 

award, the amount received will be $0, 

and therefore no value will be attributed 

to the individual for purposes of this 

section. However, an exit for cause will 

have an impact on the individual’s 

eligibility to serve subsequent terms of 

service. A term exited for cause is 

considered a term of service for the 

purposes of term limitations for 

individual programs. For example, if an 

individual has already served one term 

of service in AmeriCorps NCCC, and 

exits a second term in AmeriCorps 

NCCC for cause, the individual has 

exhausted the two terms of service one 

may serve in AmeriCorps NCCC. 

Additionally, if an individual is 

released for cause from an approved 

AmeriCorps position (including 

positions in AmeriCorps State and 

National, AmeriCorps VISTA, 

AmeriCorps NCCC, and Serve America 

Fellows), and the program determines in 

the end-of-term evaluation that the 

individual served unsatisfactorily, the 

individual may not be permitted to 

serve a subsequent term in an approved 

AmeriCorps position. 

For the purpose of transferred awards 

(discussed further in the section in this 

preamble on transfer), this rule proposes 

that the value of the award received by 

a transferee will be the actual amount of 

the award received divided by the 

amount of a full-time award in the year 

the position for which the transferring 

individual received the award was 

approved. For example, if an individual 

receives an education award based on a 

term of service approved in 2010, and 

later transfers $1,000 of that award to a 

grandchild, the grandchild will be 

considered to have received an award 

value of .19, the result of dividing the 

amount received, $1,000, by the amount 

of a full-time award in 2010, $5,350. If 

the transferring individual revokes all or 

part of an award, this rule proposes that 

the value considered to be received by 

the designated individual will be 

decreased accordingly. An individual 

who receives the aggregate value of two 

full-time awards through transferred 

awards will not be eligible to enroll in 

a term of service the successful 

completion of which would result in the 

receipt of an education award. 


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Under the proposed rule, an award is 

considered to be received at the time it 

becomes available for an individual’s 

use, and the fact that an individual does 

not use an award does not diminish its 

value for the purposes of this section. In 

addition, under the proposed rule an 

individual who transfers an award will 

still be considered to have received the 

award, and the value of the award for 

the purposes of this section will not be 

decreased by the amount the individual 

transfers to a designated individual. For 

example, if an individual successfully 

completes two full-time terms of 

service, and the individual then 

transfers both full-time awards to a 

child, both the child and the 

transferring individual will be 

considered to have received two fulltime awards. 

The proposed rule states that an 

individual may receive no more than 

the aggregate value of two full-time 

education awards. In this rule, the 

Corporation proposes that the aggregate 

value of awards received will be equal 

to the sum of the value of each national 

service education award received 

(awards received from terms of service 

in AmeriCorps State and National, 

AmeriCorps VISTA, AmeriCorps NCCC, 

or ServeAmerica fellowships), including 

partial awards, the value of each Silver 

Scholar award received, and the value 

of each transferred award received. The 

calculation of the aggregate value does 

not include Summer of Service 

education awards, as these are explicitly 

excluded by law. 

For example, an individual served a 

full-time term in 2008 and received an 

award of $4,725. The same individual 

served a part-time term in 2009 and 

received an award of $2,362.50. The 

individual enrolls in a minimum-time 

term in 2010 and receives an award of 

$1,132.60. The value of the first award 

is 1 ($4,725 divided by $4,725), the 

value of the second award is .5 

($2,362.50 divided by $4,725), and the 

value of the third award is .21 

($1,132.60 divided by $5,350). The 

aggregate value of awards received is 

1.71 (1 + .5 + .21). 

While the amended law separates the 

previously indivisible limitations on 

number of terms served and education 

awards received, the limitation on 

education awards an individual is 

eligible to receive may impact an 

individual’s eligibility to enroll in a 

subsequent term of service. The 

proposed rule states that an individual 

may not enroll in a subsequent term of 

service if successful completion of that 

term of service would result in receipt 

of an education award the value of 

which, when added to the aggregate 

value of awards previously received, 

would be greater than 2. This limitation 

would not, however, prevent an 

individual from enrolling in a term of 

service for which the individual chooses 

to waive receipt of an education award, 

including a VISTA term of service for 

which the individual elects to receive 

an end-of-service stipend. 

Using the example above, if an 

individual had received an aggregate 

value of 1.71 awards in the past, that 

individual may be eligible to enroll in 

a quarter-time, minimum-time, reduced 

part-time, or Silver Scholar position, but 

would not be eligible to enroll in a parttime or full-time position, since the 

value of a part-time award, .5, plus 1.71, 

is greater than 2. 

The Corporation has received 

questions regarding whether an 

individual could enroll in a term of 

service, and exit for compelling 

personal circumstances in order to 

receive a pro-rated award that, when 

added to other awards received, would 

not exceed the aggregate value of two 

full-time education awards. Exiting in 

order to receive an education award of 

a particular amount would not be 

considered to be a compelling personal 

circumstance. The proposed rule is 

based upon the assumption that every 

individual who enrolls in a term of 

service does so with the intention of 

successfully completing that term. 

Therefore, an individual would not be 

permitted to enroll in a term with the 

intention of leaving early in order to 

receive a pro-rated award of a lesser 

value. 

The Corporation has received 

questions about whether awards 

received prior to the effective date of the 

Serve America Act will be included in 

determining the value of education 

awards received. The national service 

laws, as amended by the Serve America 

Act, do not differentiate between awards 

received prior to the effective date. All 

awards earned in the past will have a 

value attributed to them for the 

purposes of this section. Thus, under 

the proposed rule, if an individual has 

received two full-time education awards 

in the past, that individual is not 

eligible to receive another education 

award, and may not enroll in a term of 

service that will result in the receipt of 

an education award. 

Separate from the limitation on 

education award receipt, individual 

Corporation programs—AmeriCorps 

NCCC, AmeriCorps VISTA, and 

AmeriCorps State & National—have 

their own term limitations. Each fulltime term, part-time term, and term for 

which the individual leaves after 

serving 15% or for misconduct is 

considered one term for the purposes of 

these program-specific term limitations. 

Thus, if an individual serves two terms 

of service in AmeriCorps NCCC and 

exits from one for compelling personal 

circumstances, that individual may be 

able to enroll in a minimum time 

AmeriCorps State and National or 

AmeriCorps VISTA position, but will 

not be able to enroll in another 

AmeriCorps NCCC term because the 

individual has already met the term 

limit for that program. Because the limit 

on the value of education awards an 

individual may receive necessarily will 

limit the number of terms an individual 

will be able to serve across the 

Corporation’s AmeriCorps and Silver 

Scholar programs, the Corporation does 

not intend to set an overall limit for 

number of terms across programs at this 

time. 

Transfer of Education Awards (Part 

2530) 

The Serve America Act amended 

Subtitle D of title I of the NCSA to 

authorize individuals to transfer an 

education award, with limitations on 

who can transfer an award, and who can 

receive a transferred award. By statute, 

to transfer an award, an individual 

must: (1) Have successfully completed a 

term of service in an approved 

AmeriCorps State and National or Silver 

Scholar position; and (2) have been age 

55 or older before beginning that term 

of service. To receive an award, an 

individual must: (1) Be designated by a 

qualifying transferring individual; (2) be 

the child, grandchild, or foster child of 

the transferring individual; and (3) be a 

citizen, national, or lawful permanent 

resident alien of the United States. The 

effective date of this provision was 

October 1, 2009; only individuals 

beginning service on or after that date 

will be eligible to transfer an education 

award. 

Sec. 148(f) specifies that the 

‘‘designated individual,’’ meaning the 

child, grandchild, or foster child 

designated by the transferring 

individual to receive the award, may 

use the award for the purposes 

described in paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) 

of that section—i.e., to repay qualified 

student loans, to pay for current 

educational expenses at an institution of 

higher education, or to pay expenses 

incurred in an approved school-to-work 

program. The school-to-work program, 

authorized under the School-to-Work 

Opportunities Act of 1994, sunsetted in 

2001, thus, in practice, the designated 

individual would be able to use the 

award only for current educational 

expenses or to repay qualified student 

loans. The NCSA does not extend the 

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8020 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 35 / Tuesday, February 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

use of the award to pay expenses 

incurred in enrolling in an institution or 

training establishment approved under 

the G.I. Bill to designated individuals, 

nor does it permit designated 

individuals to receive interest 

forbearance payments as described in 

Sec. 148(e). 

This section of the NCSA also permits 

a transferring individual to, ‘‘on any date 

on which a portion of the education 

award remains unused, modify or 

revoke the transfer of the educational 

award with respect to that portion.’’ 

This proposed rule adds a new Part 

2530 on transfer, including rules 

reflecting statutory guidelines, and 

details on the processes for requesting 

both transfers and revocations of 

transferred awards. The NCSA also 

includes a provision requiring the 

Corporation to ‘‘establish requirements 

to prevent waste, fraud, or abuse in 

connection with the transfer of an 

educational award and to protect the 

integrity of the educational award under 

this subsection.’’ This proposed rule 

includes several measures intended to 

protect a transferred education award 

from waste, fraud, or abuse. 

First, as part of the process for the 

transferring individual to request the 

transfer and the process for the 

designated individual to accept the 

transfer, the proposed rule would 

require both the transferring individual 

and the designated individual to 

provide a certification under penalty of 

law that each meets the criteria to 

transfer, or receive, a transferred award. 

As with all certifications, an individual 

may be asked to produce verifying 

documentation. 

Second, the proposed rule would 

limit an individual to making a single 

transfer of an education award that is 

attributable to a single term of service, 

thereby limiting the opportunity for 

waste, fraud, or abuse. In order to 

transfer awards to more than one 

designated individual, the transferring 

individual will need to earn awards for 

more than one term of service. Under no 

circumstance may an individual 

partition a single award attributable to 

completion of a single term of service to 

multiple designated individuals. 

Notably, this proposed rule would 

permit an individual to transfer all or a 

portion of an award to a designated 

individual, thus, the transferring 

individual could keep a portion of the 

award for his or her use, and transfer a 

portion of the award to a designated 

individual. 

As stated above, a transferring 

individual also has the authority to 

revoke any unused portion of an 

education award from a designated 

individual. As another measure to 

prevent waste, fraud, or abuse, and in 

line with the Corporation’s intent to 

limit individuals to a single transfer 

from each award, a transferring 

individual would not, as a general rule, 

be permitted to re-transfer a revoked 

award to another individual. 

The proposed rule includes an 

exception to this general rule for those 

situations in which the Corporation 

considers the award to have been 

revoked for good cause, as demonstrated 

by the transferring individual. For 

example, if a transferring individual 

revokes the full amount transferred 

upon the death of a designated 

individual, the Corporation would 

permit the transferring individual to retransfer the award in whole or in part. 

This proposed rule also includes 

several clarifying provisions. As 

discussed in the section in this rule on 

the limitation on the value of education 

awards an individual may receive, the 

NCSA prohibits an individual from 

receiving more than the aggregate value 

of two education awards. Under this 

proposed rule, an award would be 

considered to be ‘‘received’’ at the time 

it becomes available for an individual’s 

use. The fact that an individual transfers 

an award to a designated individual 

would not decrease the value of awards 

the individual would be considered to 

have received. Transferred awards a 

designated individual receives would 

also be considered when calculating the 

aggregate value of awards received. 

For example, if an individual receives 

two full-time awards, and transfers both 

awards to a child, both the transferring 

and designated individual will be 

considered to have received the 

aggregate value of two full-time awards, 

and neither will be eligible to receive 

additional AmeriCorps or Silver Scholar 

awards from the National Service Trust. 

Notably, because Summer of Service 

education awards are not included in 

the calculation of aggregate value of 

education awards received, a designated 

individual could still receive Summer of 

Service education awards even if the 

designated individual had already 

received the aggregate value of two fulltime education awards. As discussed in 

the section on calculating the value of 

an education award, a transferred award 

would have a value based on the 

amount of a full-time education award 

in the year the position on which the 

transferring individual’s award was 

based was approved. 

Finally, under the national service 

laws, an individual has seven years 

from the date the individual completes 

a term of service upon which an award 

is based to use an award, and a 

designated individual receiving a 

transferred award has ten years from the 

date the term of service is completed to 

use the award. For example, if an 

individual receives an award for a term 

completed in 2010, and transfers the 

award five years after receiving the 

award, the designated individual would 

have five years to use the award. In 

accordance with these statutory time 

frames, the proposed rule permits an 

individual to revoke an award at any 

point prior to its use, but the individual 

may only use a revoked award for his 

or her use if the award has not expired. 

For example, if an individual received 

an award for a term completed in 2010, 

transferred the award five years after 

receiving the award, and then revoked 

the unused portion six years after 

receiving the award, the transferring 

individual would have only one year to 

use the award. If, however, the 

transferring individual had revoked the 

award eight years after it was originally 

earned, the award would expire 

immediately upon revocation, because 

although the award had not yet expired 

for use by the designated individual, it 

would have expired for the transferring 

individual a year earlier. 

Periods of Availability for Silver 

Scholar, Summer of Service, and 

Transferred Education Awards 

(§ 2526.40) 

Under Sec. 146 of the NCSA, the 

period of availability for a Silver 

Scholar education award is seven years 

from the date the individual completes 

a term of service. The period of 

availability for a Summer of Service 

education award is ten years from the 

date the individual completes the term 

of service. Individuals who receive a 

transferred award may use the award 

within ten years of the date the 

transferring individual completes the 

term of service that is the basis for the 

award—not the date the designated 

individual receives the transferred 

award. For example, if an individual 

transfers an award five years after the 

date the individual completed the term 

of service, the designated individual 

would have five years to use the 

award—ten years from the date the 

transferring individual completed the 

term of service. This proposed rule 

amends section § 2526.40 to include 

periods of availability for Silver Scholar, 

Summer of Service, and transferred 

education awards. 

Similar to national service education 

awards, Sec. 146 authorizes the 

Corporation to grant an extension to the 

period of availability for a Silver 

Scholar education award, a Summer of 

Service education award, or a 

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Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 35 / Tuesday, February 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 8021 

transferred award if the individual 

requesting the extension ‘‘was 

unavoidably prevented’’ from using the 

education award or if the individual 

‘‘performed another term of service in an 

approved national service position, 

approved summer of service position, or 

approved silver scholar position during 

that period.’’ 

The ten year period of availability for 

transferred education awards has raised 

questions about whether extensions will 

be granted if a designated individual is 

still too young to use an award by its 

expiration date. The NCSA does not 

specify a minimum age for the 

designated individual. Thus, if an 

individual transfers an award to a 

grandchild who was four years old at 

the time the individual completed the 

term of service that was the basis of the 

award, the ten year period of availability 

will expire when the child is fourteen. 

It is unlikely that, at that time, the child 

would have had an opportunity to use 

the education award, thus, the award 

would expire unused. 

Sec. 148(f) of the NCSA directs the 

Corporation to ‘‘establish requirements 

to prevent waste, fraud, or abuse in 

connection with the transfer of an 

educational award and to protect the 

integrity of the educational award.’’ To 

permit extensions for a designated 

individual who is too young to use an 

award would mean, in some cases, 

extensions for up to nine years beyond 

the original expiration date—nearly 

twice the statutory period of 

availability. The longer the period of 

availability, the greater the risk of fraud, 

waste, or abuse. Further, Congress 

selected ten years as a reasonable period 

of availability for a transferred award. 

Based upon these considerations, this 

proposed rule specifies that an 

individual who is unable to use an 

education award as a result of being too 

young will not be considered to be 

unavoidably prevented from using the 

education award. Individuals wishing to 

transfer an award will be reminded at 

the time they request a transfer that 

while there is no minimum age for a 

designated individual, extensions based 

on age will not be granted. 

Certifications of Successful Completion 

of Terms of Service (§ 2626.10) 

The Serve America Act amended the 

NCSA by adding a new section 146A, 

which imposes a requirement that a 

national service program certify under 

penalty of law that an individual 

successfully completed an agreed-upon 

term of service to be eligible to receive 

an education award from the National 

Service Trust. Specifically Sec. 146A(a) 

provides that, in making disbursements 

from the National Service Trust, the 

Corporation is authorized to act on the 

basis of certifications that individuals 

who served in approved AmeriCorps 

positions, approved Summer of Service 

positions, or approved Silver Scholar 

positions, successfully completed the 

term of service required to be eligible for 

an education award. These certifications 

must be made by the entity which 

selected the individual to serve in the 

position, and supervised the 

individual’s performance of their 

service. This proposed rule implements 

Sec. 146A(a) by including the 

certification requirement in the 

determination of who is eligible to 

receive an education award under 

§ 2526.10(a)(2)(A), (C), and (D). 

Effect of Erroneous Certifications of 

Successful Completion of Terms of 

Service (§ 2526.70) 

Under Sec. 146A(b) of the NCSA, if 

the Corporation finds that a certification 

made under Sec. 146A(a) is erroneous or 

incorrect, the Corporation shall assess a 

charge against the national service 

program which made the certification. 

The charge is to be assessed for the 

amount of any payment which the 

Corporation has or may make from the 

National Service Trust based on the 

erroneous certification. In assessing the 

amount of a charge, the Corporation is 

to consider the full facts and 

circumstances surrounding the 

erroneous or incorrect certification. 

This proposed rule implements Sec. 

146A(b) and specifies that any 

Corporation determination in regard to 

a charge under § 2526.70 will not 

preclude the Corporation from taking 

any other actions which may be 

warranted under other applicable 

authorities, such as the Program Fraud 

Civil Remedies Act. 

Public Service Loan Forgiveness and 

AmeriCorps (§ 2526.20) 

On September 27, 2007, President 

Bush signed the College Cost Reduction 

and Access Act of 2007 (Pub. L. 110–84) 

into law. The CCRAA created the Public 

Service Loan Forgiveness Program. This 

program offers forgiveness for 

outstanding Federal Direct loans for 

those individuals who make 120 

qualifying payments after October 1, 

2007, while working full-time in a 

‘‘public service job.’’ In the Department 

of Education’s implementing rules, 

‘‘public service job’’ has been defined to 

include ‘‘serving in a full-time 

AmeriCorps * * * position.’’ (34 CFR 

685.219(c); 73 FR 63527, Oct. 23, 2008). 

‘‘AmeriCorps position’’ as defined in 

that section would include full-time 

service in AmeriCorps State and 

National, AmeriCorps NCCC, 

AmeriCorps VISTA, and ServeAmerica 

Fellowships. 

Generally, an individual cannot 

receive an education award and related 

interest benefits from the National 

Service Trust as well as other loan 

cancellation benefits for the same 

service. For example, the law 

authorizing the Teacher Loan 

Forgiveness Program (TLFP) explicitly 

states that ‘‘no borrower may, for the 

same service, receive a benefit under 

this [program] and subtitle D of title I of 

the National and Community Service 

Act of 1990.’’ (20 U.S.C. 1078–10(g)(2)). 

Thus, an AmeriCorps member serving in 

a teacher corps program would have to 

choose whether to count the service 

year towards TLFP or AmeriCorps, but 

would not be able take both benefits for 

the same period of service. 

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness 

Program is an exception to this general 

rule. Service performed by an 

individual serving in a full-time 

AmeriCorps position may be credited to 

both an education award and Public 

Service Loan Forgiveness. 

This rule amends § 2526.60 to include 

an exception to the general prohibition 

on an individual’s receiving an 

education award and related interest 

benefits from the National Service Trust 

as well as other loan cancellation 

benefits for the Public Service Loan 

Forgiveness Program. 

For more information on qualifying 

for Public Service Loan Forgiveness 

while serving in AmeriCorps, please 

visit: http://www.nationalservice.gov/ 

for_organizations/highered/ccraa.asp. 

Term Limits for AmeriCorps State and 

National (§ 2522.235) 

AmeriCorps State and National is the 

national service program funded under 

subtitle C of title I of the NCSA. Prior 

to passage of the Serve America Act, 

Sec. 140(h) of the NCSA included a 

limitation that no program could use 

any Federal funds to support an 

individual during a third term of service 

in an AmeriCorps State and National 

position. The Serve America Act 

removed Sec. 140(h) of the NCSA, 

thereby eliminating the statutory 

limitation on the number of terms in 

which one could be supported with 

Federal funds while serving in 

AmeriCorps State and National position. 

The Serve America Act amended Sec. 

146(c) by changing the limitation from 

receiving awards for the first two terms 

of service to receiving up to the value 

of two full-time education awards. As 

discussed in the section on the 

limitation of education award receipt, 

these amendments now give the 

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8022 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 35 / Tuesday, February 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

Corporation the flexibility to support a 

single individual for more than two 

terms of service in less-than-full-time 

terms. The amendments do not 

guarantee an individual may serve more 

than two terms of service, nor do they 

direct the Corporation to provide an 

individual with the opportunity to serve 

more than two terms of service. Rather, 

the amended provision establishes a 

new limitation that the Corporation 

must enforce. 

Theoretically, using the calculation 

for the aggregate value of awards 

received (discussed previously in this 

preamble), without term limitations, an 

individual could potentially serve as 

few as two full-time terms, or as many 

as 9 minimum-time terms, in 

AmeriCorps State and National. The 

number of minimum-time terms could 

be even higher if an individual leaves 

one or more terms for compelling 

personal circumstances. A minimumtime term may be completed over two 

years. Thus, without term limitations, a 

single individual could potentially serve 

in AmeriCorps State and National for 

nearly 20 years. 

By statute, one of the Corporation’s 

guiding purposes is to ‘‘encourage 

citizens of the United States * * * to 

engage in full-time or part-time national 

service.’’ In furtherance of this, the 

Corporation’s longstanding policy is to 

limit the number of terms an individual 

may serve in an approved national 

service position to ensure that there are 

opportunities for all interested 

Americans to serve. Increasingly, 

applications for AmeriCorps far exceed 

available positions. The Corporation’s 

current limitation of two terms of 

service in AmeriCorps State and 

National means that, after a maximum 

of two terms, a position will be available 

for a new individual to have an 

opportunity to serve. 

As discussed previously in this 

preamble, however, the Corporation 

appreciates that the law as amended 

affords more opportunities to serve for 

those individuals who serve in lessthan-full-time positions. To balance the 

increased flexibility afforded by the 

amended statute with the Corporation’s 

interest in providing more Americans an 

opportunity to serve, the Corporation 

proposes to double the number of 

available terms in AmeriCorps State and 

National from two to four. This would 

provide twice as many opportunities as 

were previously available, but would 

place a reasonable limit in order to 

ensure service opportunities are 

available for other interested 

participants. 

This proposed rule amends 

§ 2522.235 to limit the number of terms 

an individual may serve in AmeriCorps 

State and National to four. A term of 

service includes full-time, part-time, 

and reduced-part-time terms, as well as 

any term from which one exits after 

serving 15 percent of the agreed term of 

service or a term from which one is 

exited for misconduct. If a person leaves 

for reasons other than misconduct prior 

to serving 15%, the term is not 

considered a term of service for the 

purposes of this limitation. This does 

not mean that an individual is 

guaranteed four terms of service in 

AmeriCorps State and National. 

Exhaustion of the number of terms 

one serves in AmeriCorps State and 

National would not necessarily prevent 

an individual from enrolling in a 

position in another national service 

program, such as AmeriCorps NCCC, 

AmeriCorps VISTA, or Silver Scholars, 

and receiving an education award for 

successful completion of the service. 

For example, if an individual serves 

four minimum-time terms in 

AmeriCorps State and National, for an 

aggregate value of .85 education awards 

received, the individual could enroll in 

a term in another national service 

program such as AmeriCorps VISTA, 

AmeriCorps NCCC, or Silver Scholars. 

However, under the proposed rule, an 

individual may not enroll in any term 

of service for which the successful 

completion would result in receipt of an 

award that, when combined with the 

aggregate value of awards previously 

received, would exceed the value of two 

full-time education awards. Thus, if an 

individual served for two full-time 

terms of service in AmeriCorps State 

and National and received two full-time 

education awards, the individual would 

not be eligible to enroll in any term in 

AmeriCorps State and National, 

AmeriCorps NCCC, AmeriCorps VISTA, 

Silver Scholar, or other national service 

program for which the successful 

completion would result in the receipt 

of an AmeriCorps or Silver Scholar 

education award. 

Please note that the Corporation’s 

current regulatory limitation of two 

terms of service in AmeriCorps State 

and National fits within the current 

statutory framework, and will remain in 

effect until this proposed rule has been 

finalized. 

Selection Criteria Sub-Categories for 

AmeriCorps State and National (Part 

2522) 

The Serve America Act amended 

Subtitle C of title I of the NCSA by 

placing greater emphasis on a grantee’s 

impact. Programs are now described not 

only in terms of their programmatic 

activities and the unmet community 

needs the programs are addressing, but 

also in terms of ‘performance indicators’ 

that demonstrate the program’s impact. 

Additionally, the NCSA now requires 

the Corporation to each year fund at 

least two of five statutorily described 

programs, including programs that 

address unmet education, health, 

economic opportunity, veteran, and 

clean energy needs. While the 

Corporation can accommodate these 

changes in future grant competitions 

without changing our current published 

selection criteria, the current ‘‘subcategories’’ of the basic selection criteria 

and the published weights for the subcategories are an imperfect fit for the 

increased emphasis on performance and 

funding of programs addressing 

particular community needs. 

This proposed rule would remove 

§§ 2522.425–435, the sections that 

describe the sub-categories of the three 

basic selection criteria, as well as 

§§ 2522.445–448, the sections that set 

out the weights given to the subcategories. 

The Corporation will, in the future, 

publish specific sub-categories for the 

basic selection criteria as well as 

funding priorities in the Notice of Funds 

Availability. This will enable the 

Corporation to adjust application 

components and the weights given to 

sub-components. Additionally, this will 

further the Corporation’s continued 

efforts to simplify the application 

process, as supported by the Serve 

America Act. 

The Corporation will continue to use 

a multi-stage process, including review 

by a panel of experts, and will continue 

to make funding decisions based on the 

same basic selection criteria of program 

design, organizational capability, and 

cost-effectiveness and budget adequacy. 

The weights given to the basic selection 

criteria—50% for program design, 25% 

for organizational capability, and 25% 

for cost-effectiveness and budget 

adequacy—would not change. The 

change in location of published subcategories and their respective weights 

does not signify a change in the 

Corporation’s standards for 

transparency, clarity, and consistency in 

considering applications; all applicants 

will be made aware of sub-categories of 

selection criteria in advance of the 

application and review process. 

Please note that for the 2010 

AmeriCorps State and National grant 

competition, the currently published 

selection criteria, sub-categories, and 

weights remain in effect. 

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Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 35 / Tuesday, February 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 8023 

Applications for the Same Project 

(§ 2522.320) 

The Serve America Act amended Sec. 

130(g) of the NCSA, which previously 

required the Corporation to ‘‘reject an 

application * * * if a project proposed 

to be conducted using assistance 

requested by the applicant is already 

described in another application 

pending before the Corporation.’’ As 

amended, this section now prohibits the 

Corporation from providing ‘‘more than 

[one] grant under the national service 

laws for a fiscal year to support the 

same project under the national service 

laws.’’ This provision, as amended, 

supports the Corporation’s longstanding 

practice not to provide more than one 

grant to the same project. In addition, 

the revised language increases the 

Corporation’s flexibility in structuring 

its grant application review process. 

This proposed rule aligns the 

regulations with the amended statute by 

removing the regulatory conditions 

under which an applicant may submit 

multiple applications for the same 

project. In the future, the Corporation 

will include guidance on applying for 

different funds for the same project in 

the grant application instructions. For 

the purposes of preventing the same 

project from receiving more than one 

grant under the national service laws, 

the Corporation will continue to use the 

characteristics currently listed in 

§ 2522.340 when determining whether 

two projects are the same. 

Please note that the current 

regulations at §§ 2522.320–330 

prohibiting the submission of more than 

one application for the same project in 

a single competition remain in effect for 

the 2010 AmeriCorps State and National 

grant competition. 

Pre-Approval of Formula Programs 

(§ 2550.80) 

Sec. 130(f) of the NCSA was amended 

by the Serve America Act by removing 

the requirement that a State’s 

application for Subtitle C (of title I of 

the NCSA) formula funds include an 

assurance that formula programs be 

selected on a competitive basis prior to 

submission of the application. This 

amendment aligns with language from 

the Corporation’s annual appropriations 

and conforms to current practice. States 

continue to be required to provide an 

assurance that formula programs will be 

selected on a competitive basis, 

however, States may select these 

programs after submitting the 

application for Subtitle C formula funds. 

This proposed rule amends § 2550.80 to 

reflect this change. 

Hardship Waiver Permitted for Cost 

Reimbursement Cap for Senior 

Companion and Foster Grandparent 

Programs (§§ 2551.92, 2552.92) 

Under current regulations, the total of 

cost reimbursements attributable to 

Senior Companions or Foster 

Grandparents, including stipends, 

insurance, transportation, meals, 

physical examinations, and recognition, 

may not exceed 80 percent of the 

Federal share of the grant award. 

Because of the financial challenges 

faced by some organizations as a result 

of the recent economic downtown and 

the real potential for a decrease in nonFederal support, the proposed rule 

permits the Corporation to allow an 

exception to the 80 percent limit in 

cases of demonstrated need. 

Demonstrated need would include 

initial difficulties in developing local 

funding sources in the first three years 

of operation; an economic downturn, 

natural disaster, or other similar event 

that severely reduces sources of local 

funding support; or the unexpected 

discontinuation of a long-term local 

funding source. 

SUMMARY OF REDESIGNATIONS

Previous location Proposed location 

§ 2522.220(c) § 2522.220(b) 

§ 2522.220(d) § 2522.220(c) 

§ 2522.220(e) § 2522.220(d) 

§ 2522.220(f) § 2522.220(e) 

§ 2522.220(g) § 2522.220(f) 

Part 2530 Part 2531 

Part 2531 Part 2532 

Part 2532 Part 2533 

IV. Effective Dates 

The Corporation intends to make any 

final rule based on this proposed rule 

effective no sooner than 30 days after 

the final rule is published in the Federal 

Register. We will include an 

implementation schedule in the final 

rule, based on the final rule’s date of 

publication. 

V. Non-Regulatory Issues 

Executive Order 12866 

Under Executive Order 12866, the 

Chief Executive Officer must determine 

whether this regulatory action is 

‘‘significant’’ and therefore subject to the 

requirements of the Executive Order and 

review by OMB. Section 3(f) of 

Executive Order 12866 defines a 

‘‘significant regulatory action’’ as an 

action likely to result in a rule that may 

(1) Have an annual effect on the 

economy of $100 million or more, or 

adversely affect a sector of the economy, 

productivity, competition, jobs, the 

environment, public health or safety, or 

State, local or Tribal governments, or 

communities in a material way (also 

referred to as an ‘‘economically 

significant’’ rule); (2) create serious 

inconsistency or otherwise interfere 

with an action taken or planned by 

another agency; (3) materially alter the 

budgetary impacts of entitlement grants, 

user fees, or loan programs or the rights 

and obligations of recipients thereof; or 

(4) create novel legal or policy issues 

arising out of legal mandates, the 

President’s priorities, or the principles 

set forth in the Executive order. The 

Chief Executive Officer has determined 

that this regulatory action is not 

significant under the Executive Order. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

The Corporation has determined that 

the regulatory action will not result in 

(1) An annual effect on the economy of 

$100 million or more; (2) a major 

increase in costs or prices for 

consumers, individual industries, 

Federal, State, or local government 

agencies, or geographic regions; or (3) 

significant adverse effects on 

competition, employment, investment, 

productivity, innovation, or on the 

ability of United States-based 

enterprises to compete with foreignbased enterprises in domestic and 

export markets. Therefore, the 

Corporation has not performed the 

initial regulatory flexibility analysis that 

is required under the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) for 

major rules that are expected to have 

such results. 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

Sections 2526.10, 2528.10, 2528.30, 

2528.40, 2528.60, 2528.70, 2529.10, 

2530.30, and 2530.85 contain 

information collection requirements. 

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995 (44 U.S.C. 3507(d)), the 

Corporation has submitted a copy of 

these sections to the Office of 

Management Budget (OMB) for its 

review. 

Section 2526.10 identifies two new 

categories of individuals eligible to 

receive education awards—individuals 

who have successfully completed terms 

of service in Silver Scholar and Summer 

of Service positions. The proposed 

addition requires the development of 

new enrollment and exit forms for the 

National Service Trust for individuals 

enrolling in and exiting from Silver 

Scholar or Summer of Service positions. 

The Corporation estimates the burden 

associated with filling out a Silver 

Scholar or Summer of Service 

enrollment form to be 3 minutes and a 

Silver Scholar or Summer of Service 

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8024 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 35 / Tuesday, February 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

exit form to be 3 minutes. Additionally, 

§ 2526.10 requires the program 

supervising the participant to certify 

that the participant met eligibility 

criteria and successfully completed the 

required term of service. The proposed 

change affects those programs who 

supervise the participants. The burden 

hour estimate associated with the 

current exit form reported under OMB 

Control Number 3045–0015 is 3 

minutes. The Corporation does not 

expect the proposed changes to increase 

the burden for this collection. 

Section 2528.10 expands the available 

uses of an education award to include 

use for current educational expenses 

incurred in enrolling in an educational 

institution or training establishment 

approved for educational benefits under 

the Montgomery G.I. Bill for offering 

programs of education, apprenticeship, 

or on-job training for which educational 

assistance may be provided by the 

Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Sections 

2528.60–70 lay out the processes for 

requesting to use an award for this 

purpose. These proposed provisions 

affect individuals who choose to use 

education awards for this purpose, and 

the educational institutions or training 

establishments at which such 

individuals elect to use their awards. 

The burden hour estimate associated 

with the current voucher and payment 

request form reported under OMB 

Control Number 3045–0014 is 5 

minutes. The Corporation does not 

expect the proposed additions to 

increase the burden for this collection. 

Section 2529.10 expands the 

availability of payments on accrued 

interest to individuals who successfully 

complete terms of service in Silver 

Scholar positions. This affects those 

individuals who serve in Silver Scholar 

programs and elect to place qualified 

student loans in forbearance, and 

request accrued interest payments from 

the National Service Trust. The burden 

hour estimate associated with the 

current forbearance request form and 

interest accrual form, reported under 

OMB Control Numbers 3045–0030 and 

3045–0053 are 1 minute and 10 

minutes, respectively. The Corporation 

does not expect the proposed changes to 

increase the burdens for these 

collections. 

Sections 2530.30 and 2530.85 set 

forth the processes for requesting to 

transfer an award, accepting a 

transferred award, and revoking a 

transferred award. This affects those 

individuals who choose to transfer their 

education awards and those individuals 

receiving awards via transfer. The 

Corporation estimates the burden 

associated with requesting to transfer an 

award and accepting a transferred award 

to be 5 minutes, and the burden 

associated with revoking a transferred 

award to be 5 minutes. 

List of Subjects 

45 CFR Part 2510 

Grant programs—social programs, 

Volunteers. 

45 CFR Part 2522 

Grants administration, Grant 

programs—social programs, Volunteers. 

45 CFR Part 2525 

Grant programs—social programs, 

Student aid, Volunteers. 

45 CFR Part 2526 

Education, Grant programs—social 

programs, Student aid, Volunteers. 

45 CFR Part 2527 

Education, Grant programs—social 

programs, Student aid, Volunteers. 

45 CFR Part 2528 

Education, Grant programs—social 

programs, Student aid, Volunteers. 

45 CFR Part 2529 

Education, Grant programs—social 

programs, Student aid, Volunteers. 

45 CFR Part 2530 

Education, Grant programs—social 

programs, Student aid, Volunteers. 

45 CFR Part 2531 

Grant programs—social programs. 

45 CFR Part 2532 

Grant programs—social programs, 

Volunteers. 

45 CFR Part 2533 

Grants administration, Grant 

programs—social programs. 

45 CFR Part 2550 

Grants administration, Grant 

programs—social programs. 

45 CFR Part 2551 

Grants administration, Grant 

programs—social programs, Volunteers. 

45 CFR Part 2552 

Grants administration, Grant 

programs—social programs, Volunteers. 

For the reasons stated in the 

preamble, under the authority 42 U.S.C. 

12651d, the Corporation for National 

and Community Service proposes to 

amend chapter XXV, title 45 of the Code 

of Federal Regulations, as follows: 

PART 2510—OVERALL PURPOSES 

AND DEFINITIONS 

1. The authority citation for Part 2510 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 12501 et seq. 

2. Amend § 2510.20 by adding 

definitions for ‘‘Approved Silver Scholar 

position’’ and ‘‘Approved Summer of 

Service position’’ in alphabetical order, 

to read as follows: 

§ 2510.20 Definitions 

* * * * * 

Approved Silver Scholar Position. The 

term approved Silver Scholar position 

means a Silver Scholar position for 

which the Corporation has approved a 

Silver Scholar education award. 

Approved Summer of Service 

Position. The term approved Summer of 

Service position means a Summer of 

Service position for which the 

Corporation has approved a Summer of 

Service education award. 

* * * * * 

PART 2522—AMERICORPS 

PARTICIPANTS, PROGRAMS, AND 

APPLICANTS 

3. The authority citation for Part 2522 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 12571–12595; 

12651b–12651d; E.O. 13331, 69 FR 9911. 

4. Amend § 2522.220 by: 

a. Revising the heading; 

b. Removing paragraph (b); 

c. Redesignating paragraphs (c) 

through (g) as (b) through (f), 

respectively; and 

d. Revising newly redesignated 

paragraph (b). 

The revisions read as follows: 

§ 2522.220 What are the required terms of 

service for AmeriCorps participants? 

* * * * * 

(b) Eligibility for subsequent term. A 

participant will only be eligible to serve 

a subsequent term of service if that 

individual has received satisfactory 

performance review(s) for any previous 

term(s) of service in an approved 

AmeriCorps position, in accordance 

with the requirements of paragraph (d) 

of this section and § 2526.15. Mere 

eligibility for a second or further term of 

service in no way guarantees a 

participant selection or placement. 

* * * * * 

5. Amend § 2522.230 by: 

a. Revising paragraphs (b)(6) and 

(b)(7); and 

b. Revising paragraph (e). 

The revisions read as follows: 

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Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 35 / Tuesday, February 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 8025 

§ 2522.230 Under what circumstances may 

AmeriCorps participants be released from 

completing a term of service, and what are 

the consequences? 

* * * * * 

(b) * * * 

(6) An individual’s eligibility for a 

subsequent term of service in 

AmeriCorps will not be affected by 

release for cause from a prior term of 

service so long as the individual 

received a satisfactory end-of-term 

performance review as described in 

§ 2522.220(d)(2) for the period served in 

the prior term. 

(7) Except as provided in paragraph 

(e) of this section, a term of service from 

which an individual is released for 

cause counts as one of the terms of 

service described in § 2522.235 for 

which an individual may receive the 

benefits described in §§ 2522.240 

through 2522.250. 

* * * * * 

(e) Release prior to serving 15 percent 

of a term of service. If a participant is 

released for reasons other than 

misconduct prior to completing 15 

percent of a term of service, the term 

will not be considered to be one of the 

terms of service described in 

§ 2522.220(b) for which an individual 

may receive the benefits described in 

§§ 2522.240 through 2522.250. 

6. Add a new § 2522.235 to read as 

follows: 

§ 2522.235 Is there a limit on the number 

of terms an individual may serve in an 

AmeriCorps State and National program? 

(a) General limitation. An individual 

may receive the benefits described in 

§§ 2522.240 through 2522.250 for no 

more than four terms of service in an 

AmeriCorps State and National 

program, regardless of whether those 

terms were served on a full-, part-, or 

reduced part-time basis, consistent with 

the limitations in § 2526.50. 

(b) Early release. Except as provided 

in paragraph (c) of this section, a term 

of service from which an individual is 

released for compelling personal 

circumstances or for cause counts as one 

of the terms of service for which an 

individual may receive the benefits 

described in § 2522.240 through 

§ 2522.250. 

(c) Release prior to serving fifteen 

percent of a term. If a person is released 

for reasons other than misconduct prior 

to completing fifteen percent of a term 

of service, the term will not be 

considered one of the terms of service 

for which an individual may receive the 

benefits described in §§ 2522.240 

through 2522.250. 

7. Amend § 2522.240 by: 

a. Revising paragraph (a); and 

b. Removing the reference to 

§ 2522.220(g) in paragraph (c) and 

adding a reference to § 2522.220(f) in its 

place. 

The revision will read as follows: 

§ 2522.240 What financial benefits do 

AmeriCorps participants serving in 

approved AmeriCorps positions receive? 

(a) AmeriCorps educational awards. 

An individual serving in an approved 

AmeriCorps State and National position 

will receive an educational award from 

the National Service Trust upon 

successful completion of each of no 

more than four terms of service as 

defined in § 2522.220, consistent with 

the limitations in § 2526.50. 

* * * * * 

§§ 2522.320, 2522.330, 2522.425, 

2522.430, 2522.435, 2522.445, and 

2522.448 [Removed and Reserved] 

8. Remove and reserve §§ 2522.320, 

2522.330, 2522.425, 2522.430, 2522.435, 

2522.445, and 2522.448. 

PART 2525—NATIONAL SERVICE 

TRUST: PURPOSE AND DEFINITIONS 

9. The authority citation for Part 2525 

is revised to read as follows: 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 12601–12606. 

10. Amend § 2525.20 by: 

a. Removing the definition for 

‘‘approved school-to-work program’’; 

b. Revising the definitions for 

‘‘education award’’ and ‘‘term of service’’; 

and 

c. Adding definitions for ‘‘AmeriCorps 

education award,’’ ‘‘economically 

disadvantaged youth,’’ ‘‘Silver Scholar 

education award,’’ and ‘‘Summer of 

Service education award’’ in 

alphabetical order, to read as follows: 

§ 2525.20 [Amended] 

* * * * * 

AmeriCorps education award. For the 

purposes of this section, the term 

AmeriCorps education award means the 

financial assistance available under 

parts 2526 through 2528 of this chapter 

for which an individual in an approved 

AmeriCorps position may be eligible. 

* * * * * 

Economically disadvantaged youth. 

For the purposes of this section, the 

phrase economically disadvantaged 

youth means a child who is eligible for 

a free lunch and breakfast under the 

Richard B. Russell National School 

Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)). 

Education award. For the purposes of 

this section, the term education award 

refers to the financial assistance 

available under parts 2526 through 2528 

of this chapter, including AmeriCorps 

education awards, Silver Scholar 

education awards, and Summer of 

Service education awards. 

* * * * * 

Silver Scholar education award. For 

the purposes of this section, the term 

Silver Scholar education award means 

the financial assistance available under 

parts 2526 through 2528 of this chapter 

for which an individual in an approved 

Silver Scholar position may be eligible. 

Summer of Service education award. 

For the purposes this section, the term 

Summer of Service education award 

means the financial assistance available 

under parts 2526 through 2528 of this 

chapter for which an individual in an 

approved Summer of Service position 

may be eligible. 

Term of service. The term term of 

service means— 

(1) For an individual serving in an 

approved AmeriCorps position, one of 

the terms of service specified in 

§ 2522.220 of this chapter; 

(2) For an individual serving in an 

approved Silver Scholar position, not 

less than 350 hours during a one-year 

period; and 

(3) For an individual serving in an 

approved Summer of Service position, 

not less than 100 hours during the 

summer months. 

PART 2526—ELIGIBILITY FOR AN 

EDUCATION AWARD 

11. The authority citation for Part 

2526 is revised to read as follows: 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 12601–12604, 12606. 

12. Amend § 2526.10 by revising 

paragraph (a) to read as follows: 

§ 2526.10 Who is eligible to receive an 

education award from the National Service 

Trust? 

(a) General. An individual is eligible 

to receive an education award from the 

National Service Trust if the 

organization responsible for the 

individual’s supervision in a national 

service program certifies that the 

individual— 

(1) Met the applicable eligibility 

requirements for the approved 

AmeriCorps position, approved Silver 

Scholar position, or approved Summer 

of Service position, as appropriate, in 

which the individual served; 

(2)(i) For an AmeriCorps education 

award, successfully completed the 

required term of service in the approved 

national service position; 

(ii) For a partial AmeriCorps 

education award, completed at least 15 

percent of the originally-approved term 

of service, and performed satisfactorily 

prior to being granted a release for 

compelling personal circumstances 

consistent with § 2522.230(a); 

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(iii) For a Summer of Service 

education award, successfully 

completed the required term of service 

in a Summer of Service position; or 

(iv) For a Silver Scholar education 

award, successfully completed the 

required term of service in a Silver 

Scholar position; and 

(3) Is a citizen, national, or lawful 

permanent resident alien of the United 

States. 

* * * * * 

13. Add a new § 2526.15 to read as 

follows: 

§ 2526.15 Upon what basis may an 

organization responsible for the 

supervision of a national service participant 

certify that the individual successfully 

completed a term of service? 

(a) An organization responsible for the 

supervision of an individual serving in 

an AmeriCorps State and National 

position will determine whether an 

individual successfully completed a 

term of service based upon an end-ofterm evaluation conducted pursuant to 

§ 2522.220(d). 

(b) An organization responsible for 

the supervision of an individual serving 

in a program other than AmeriCorps 

State and National will determine 

whether an individual successfully 

completed a term of service based upon 

an end-of-term evaluation that examines 

whether the individual: 

(1) Completed the required number of 

service hours for the term of service; 

(2) Satisfactorily performed on 

assignments, tasks, or projects; and 

(3) Met any performance criteria as 

determined by the program and 

communicated to the member. 

(c) A certification by the organization 

responsible for the supervision of an 

individual that the individual did or did 

not successfully complete a term of 

service will be deemed to incorporate an 

end-of-term evaluation. 

14. Amend § 2526.20 by revising 

paragraph (a) to read as follows: 

§ 2526.20 Is an AmeriCorps participant 

who does not complete an originallyapproved term of service eligible to receive 

a pro-rated education award? 

(a) Compelling personal 

circumstances. A participant in an 

approved AmeriCorps position who is 

released prior to completing an 

approved term of service for compelling 

personal circumstances in accordance 

with § 2522.230(a) is eligible for a prorated education award if the 

participant— 

(1) Performed satisfactorily prior to 

being granted a release for compelling 

personal circumstances; and 

(2) Completed at least 15 percent of 

the originally-approved term of service. 

* * * * * 

15. Add a new § 2526.25 to read as 

follows: 

§ 2526.25 Is a participant in an approved 

Summer of Service position or approved 

Silver Scholar position who does not 

complete an approved term of service 

eligible to receive a pro-rated education 

award? 

No. An individual released for any 

reason prior to completing an approved 

term of service in a Silver Scholar or 

Summer of Service position is not 

eligible to receive a pro-rated award. 

16. Revise § 2526.40 to read as 

follows: 

§ 2526.40 What is the time period during 

which an individual may use an education 

award? 

(a) General requirement. Unless the 

Corporation approves an extension in 

accordance with the requirements of 

paragraph (b) of this section— 

(1) An individual may use an 

AmeriCorps education award or a Silver 

Scholar education award within seven 

years of the date on which the 

individual successfully completed a 

term of service in an approved 

AmeriCorps or Silver Scholar position; 

(2) An individual may use a Summer 

of Service education award within ten 

years of the date on which the 

individual successfully completed a 

term of service in an approved Summer 

of Service position; 

(3) A designated individual who 

receives a transferred education award 

in accordance with § 2530.10 may use 

the transferred education award within 

ten years of the date on which the 

individual who transferred the award 

successfully completed the term of 

service in an approved AmeriCorps or 

Silver Scholar position that is the basis 

of the award. 

(b) Extensions. In order to receive an 

extension of the period of availability 

specified in paragraph (a) of this section 

for using an education award, an 

individual must apply to the 

Corporation for an extension prior to the 

end of that time period. The Corporation 

will grant an application for an 

extension under the following 

circumstances: 

(1) If the Corporation determines that 

an individual was performing another 

term of service in an approved 

AmeriCorps, Summer of Service, or 

Silver Scholar position during the 

original period of availability, the 

Corporation will grant an extension for 

a time period that is equivalent to the 

time period during which the individual 

was performing the other term of 

service. 

(2) If the Corporation determines that 

an individual was unavoidably 

prevented from using the education 

award during the original period of 

availability, the Corporation will grant 

an extension for a period of time that 

the Corporation deems appropriate. An 

individual who is ineligible to use an 

education award as a result of the 

individual’s conviction of the 

possession or sale of a controlled 

substance is not considered to be 

unavoidably prevented from using the 

education award for the purposes of this 

paragraph. In the case of a transferred 

award, an individual who is unable to 

use an education award as a result of 

being too young to enroll in an 

institution of higher education or other 

training establishment is not considered 

to be unavoidably prevented from using 

the education award. 

17. Revise § 2526.50 to read as 

follows: 

§ 2526.50 Is there a limit on the total 

amount of education awards an individual 

may receive? 

(a) General Limitation. No individual 

may receive more than an amount equal 

to the aggregate value of two full-time 

education awards. 

(b) Calculation of the value of an 

education award. For the purposes of 

this section, the value of an education 

award is equal to the actual amount of 

the education award received divided 

by the amount of a full-time education 

award in the year the AmeriCorps or 

Silver Scholar position to which the 

award is attributed was approved. Each 

award received will be considered to 

have a value between 0 and 1. Although 

the amount of a full-time award as 

defined in § 2527.10(a) may change, the 

value of a full-time award will always 

be equal to 1. 

(c) Calculation of aggregate value of 

awards received. The aggregate value of 

awards received is equal to the sum of: 

(1) The value of each education award 

received as a result of successful 

completion of an approved AmeriCorps 

position; 

(2) The value of each partial 

education award received as a result of 

release from an approved AmeriCorps 

position for compelling personal 

circumstances; 

(3) The value of each education award 

received as a result of successful 

completion of a term of service in an 

approved Silver Scholar position; and 

(4) The value of any amount received 

as a transferred education award, except 

as provided in § 2530.60(c). 

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(d) Determination of Receipt of 

Award. For purposes of determining the 

aggregate value of education awards, an 

award is considered to be received at 

the time it becomes available for an 

individual’s use. 

18. Add a new § 2526.55 to read as 

follows: 

§ 2526.55 What is the impact of the 

aggregate value of education awards 

received on an individual’s ability to enroll 

in subsequent terms of service? 

No individual may enroll in a 

subsequent term of service if successful 

completion of that term of service 

would result in receipt of an education 

award the value of which, when added 

to the aggregate value of awards 

previously received, would be greater 

than 2. 

19. Revise § 2526.60 to read as 

follows: 

§ 2526.60 May an individual receive an 

education award and related interest 

benefits from the National Service Trust as 

well as other loan cancellation benefits for 

the same service? 

An individual may not receive an 

education award and related interest 

benefits from the National Service Trust 

for a term of service and have that same 

service credited toward repayment, 

discharge, or cancellation of other 

student loans, except as provided under 

31 CFR 685.219. 

20. Add a new § 2526.70 to read as 

follows: 

§ 2526.70 What are the effects of an 

erroneous certification of successful 

completion of a term of service? 

(a) If the Corporation determines that 

the certification made by an national 

service program under § 2526.10(a)(2)(i), 

(iii), or (iv) is erroneous, the Corporation 

shall assess against the national service 

program a charge for the amount of any 

associated payment or potential 

payment from the National Service 

Trust, taking into consideration the full 

facts and circumstances surrounding the 

erroneous or incorrect certification. 

(b) Nothing in this section shall 

prohibit the Corporation from taking 

any action authorized by law based 

upon any certification that is knowingly 

made in a false, materially misleading, 

or fraudulent manner. 

PART 2527—DETERMINING THE 

AMOUNT OF AN EDUCATION AWARD 

21. The authority citation for Part 

2527 is revised to read as follows: 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 12601–12606. 

22. Amend § 2527.10 by: 

a. Revising the heading; 

b. Revising paragraphs (a), (b), and (c); 

and 

c. Adding new paragraphs (e) and (f). 

The revisions and additions read as 

follows: 

§ 2527.10 What is the amount of an 

education award? 

(a) Full-time term of service. The 

education award for a full-time term of 

service in an approved AmeriCorps 

position of at least 1,700 hours will be 

equal to the maximum amount of a 

Federal Pell Grant under section 401 of 

the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

U.S.C. 1070a) that a student eligible for 

such grant may receive in the aggregate 

for the award year in which the term of 

service is approved by the Corporation. 

(b) Part-time term of service. The 

education award for a part-time term of 

service in an approved AmeriCorps 

position of at least 900 hours is equal to 

one half of the amount of an education 

award amount for a full-time term of 

service described in paragraph (a) of this 

section. 

(c) Reduced part-time term of service. 

The education award for a reduced parttime term of service in an approved 

AmeriCorps position of fewer than 900 

hours is an amount equal to the product 

of: 

(1) The number of hours of service 

required to complete the reduced parttime term of service divided by 900; and 

(2) The amount of the education 

award for a part-time term of service 

described in paragraph (b) of this 

section. 

* * * * * 

(e) Summer of Service Education 

Award. (1) In general. The education 

award for a term of service in an 

approved Summer of Service position 

for at least 100 hours is $500. 

(2) Exception. The Corporation may 

authorize a Summer of Service 

education award of $750 if the 

participant is economically 

disadvantaged, as certified by the school 

operating the Summer of Service 

program. 

(f) Silver Scholar Education Award. 

The education award for a term of 

service in an approved Silver Scholar 

position for at least 350 hours is $1,000. 

PART 2528—USING AN EDUCATION 

AWARD 

23. The authority citation for Part 

2528 is revised to read as follows: 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 12601–12606. 

24. Revise § 2528.10(a)(3) to read as 

follows: 

§ 2528.10 [Amended] 

(a) * * * 

(3) To pay expenses incurred in 

enrolling in an educational institution 

or training establishment approved for 

educational benefits under the 

Montgomery G.I. Bill (38 U.S.C. 3670 et 

seq.) for offering programs of education, 

apprenticeship, or on-job training for 

which educational assistance may be 

provided by the Secretary of Veterans 

Affairs, in accordance with §§ 2528.60, 

2528.70, and 2529.80. 

25. Revise § 2528.30(a)(2)(vi)(A) and 

(B) to read as follows: 

§ 2528.30 [Amended] 

(a) * * * 

(2) * * * 

(vi) * * * 

(A) The individual’s cost of 

attendance and other educational 

expenses; and 

(B) The individual’s estimated student 

financial assistance for that period 

under part A of title IV of the Higher 

Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq.). 

* * * * * 

26. Revise § 2528.40(a) and (b) to read 

as follows: 

§ 2528.40 Is there a limit on the amount of 

an individual’s education award that the 

Corporation will disburse to an institution 

of higher education for a given period of 

enrollment? 

* * * * * 

(a) The individual’s cost of attendance 

and other educational expenses, 

determined by the institution of higher 

education in accordance with section 

472 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

(20 U.S.C. 1987ll); and 

(b) The individual’s estimated 

financial assistance for that period 

under part A of title IV of the Higher 

Education Act. 

27. Revise § 2528.60 to read as 

follows: 

§ 2528.60 Who may use the education 

award to pay expenses incurred in an 

educational institution or training 

establishment approved for educational 

benefits under the Montgomery G.I. Bill? 

To use the education award to pay 

expenses incurred in enrolling at an 

educational institution or training 

establishment in a program of education 

approved by the Secretary of Veterans 

Affairs (38 U.S.C. 3670 et seq.), you 

must have received an education award 

for successfully completing a term in an 

approved AmeriCorps position, 

approved Summer of Service position, 

or approved Silver Scholar position, in 

which you enrolled on or after October 

1, 2009. 

28. Revise § 2528.70 to read as 

follows: 

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§ 2528.70 What steps are necessary to use 

an education award to pay expenses 

incurred in enrolling at an educational 

institution or training establishment in a 

program of education approved by the 

Secretary of Veterans Affairs? 

(a) Required Information. Before 

disbursing an amount from an education 

award to pay for expenses incurred in 

enrolling at an educational institution or 

training establishment in a program of 

education approved by the Secretary of 

Veterans Affairs (38 U.S.C. 3670 et seq.), 

the Corporation must receive— 

(1) An individual’s written 

authorization and request for a specific 

payment amount; 

(2) Verification from the individual 

that the individual meets the criteria in 

§ 2528.60; and 

(3) Information from the educational 

institution or training establishment as 

requested by the Corporation, including 

verification that— 

(i) The amount requested will be used 

to pay all or part of the individual’s 

expenses attributable to a course, 

program of education, apprenticeship, 

or job training offered by the institution 

or establishment; 

(ii) The course(s) or program(s) for 

which the individual is requesting to 

use the education award has been and 

is currently approved by the State 

approving agency for the State where 

the institution or establishment is 

located, or by the Secretary of Veterans 

Affairs; and 

(iii) If an individual who has used an 

education award withdraws or 

otherwise fails to complete the period of 

enrollment for which the education 

award was provided, the institution or 

establishment will ensure a pro-rata 

refund to the Corporation of the unused 

portion of the education award. 

(b) Payment. When the Corporation 

receives the information required under 

paragraph (a) of this section, the 

Corporation will pay the institution or 

establishment and notify the individual 

of the payment. 

29. Add a new § 2528.80 to read as 

follows: 

§ 2528.80 What happens if an individual 

for whom the Corporation has disbursed 

education award funds withdraws or fails to 

complete the period of enrollment at an 

educational institution or training 

establishment in a program of education 

approved by the Secretary of Veterans 

Affairs? 

(a) If an individual for whom the 

Corporation has disbursed education 

award funds withdraws or otherwise 

fails to complete a period of enrollment, 

the approved educational institution or 

training establishment that receives a 

disbursement of education award funds 

from the Corporation must provide a 

pro-rata refund to the Corporation of the 

unused portion of the education award. 

(b) The Corporation will credit any 

refund received for an individual under 

paragraph (a) of this section to the 

individual’s education award allocation 

in the National Service Trust. 

PART 2529—PAYMENT OF ACCRUED 

INTEREST 

30. The authority citation of Part 2529 

is revised to read as follows: 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 12601–12606. 

31. Amend § 2529.10 by revising the 

heading and paragraph (a)(1) to read as 

follows: 

§ 2529.10 Under what circumstances will 

the Corporation pay interest that accrues 

on qualified student loans during an 

individual’s term of service in an approved 

AmeriCorps position or approved Silver 

Scholar position? 

(a) * * * 

(1) The individual successfully 

completes a term of service in an 

approved AmeriCorps position or 

approved Silver Scholar position; and 

* * * * * 

PARTS 2530, 2531, 2532, AND 2533 

[REDESIGNATED AS PARTS 2531, 

2532, 2533, AND 2534] 

32. Redesignate parts 2530, 2531, 

2532, and 2533 as parts 2531, 2532, 

2533 and 2534, respectively 

33. Add a new Part 2530 to read as 

follows: 

PART 2530—TRANSFER OF 

EDUCATION AWARDS 

Sec. 

2530.10 Under what circumstances may an 

individual transfer an education award? 

2530.20 For what purposes may a 

transferred award be used? 

2530.30 What steps are necessary to transfer 

an education award? 

2530.40 Is there a limit on the number of 

individuals one may designate to receive 

a transferred award? 

2530.50 Is there a limit on the amount of 

transferred awards a designated 

individual may receive? 

2530.60 What is the impact of transferring 

or receiving a transferred education 

award on an individual’s eligibility to 

receive additional education awards? 

2530.70 Is a designated individual required 

to accept a transferred education award? 

2530.80 Is an award revocable once 

transferred? 

2530.90 Is a designated individual eligible 

for the payment of accrued interest 

under part 2529? 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 12601–12606. 

§ 2530.10 Under what circumstances may 

an individual transfer an education award? 

An individual may transfer an 

education award to the individual’s 

child, grandchild, or foster child if— 

(a) The individual enrolled in an 

approved AmeriCorps State and 

National position or approved Silver 

Scholar position on or after October 1, 

2009; 

(b) The individual was age 55 or older 

on the day the individual commenced 

the term of service in an approved 

AmeriCorps State and National position 

or in approved Silver Scholar position; 

(c) The individual successfully 

completed a term of service in an 

approved AmeriCorps State and 

National position or an approved Silver 

Scholar position; 

(d) The award the individual is 

requesting to transfer has not expired, 

consistent with the period of availability 

set forth in § 2526.40(a); 

(e) The individual designated to 

receive the transferred award is the 

transferring individual’s child, 

grandchild, or foster child; and 

(f) The individual designated to 

receive the transferred award is a 

citizen, national, or lawful permanent 

resident alien of the United States. 

§ 2530.20 For what purposes may a 

transferred award be used? 

A transferred award may be used by 

a designated individual to repay 

qualified student loans or to pay current 

educational expenses at an institution of 

higher education, as described in 

§ 2528.10. 

§ 2530.30 What steps are necessary to 

transfer an education award? 

(a) Request for Transfer. Before 

transferring an award to a designated 

individual, the Corporation must 

receive a request from the transferring 

individual, including— 

(1) The individual’s written 

authorization to transfer the award, the 

year in which the award was earned, 

and the specific amount of the award to 

be transferred; 

(2) Identifying information for the 

individual designated to receive the 

transferred award; 

(3) A certification that the transferring 

individual meets the requirements of 

§ 2530.10; and 

(4) A certification that the designated 

individual is the child, grandchild, or 

foster child of the transferring 

individual. 

(b) Notification to Designated 

Individual. Upon receipt of a request 

including all required information listed 

in paragraph (a) of this section, the 

Corporation will contact the designated 

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individual to notify the individual of 

the proposed transfer, confirm the 

individual’s identity, and give the 

individual the opportunity to accept or 

reject the transferred award. 

(c) Acceptance by Designated 

Individual. To accept an award, a 

designated individual must certify that 

the designated individual is the child, 

grandchild, or foster child of the 

transferring individual and that the 

designated individual is a citizen, 

national, or lawful permanent resident 

alien of the United States. Upon receipt 

of the designated individual’s 

acceptance, the Corporation will create 

an account in the National Service Trust 

for the designated individual, if an 

account does not already exist, and the 

accepted amount will be deducted from 

the transferring individual’s account 

and credited to the designated 

individual’s account. 

(d) Timing of transfer. The 

Corporation must receive the request 

from the transferring individual prior to 

the date the award expires. 

§ 2530.40 Is there a limit on the number of 

individuals one may designate to receive a 

transferred award? 

(a) General Limitation. For each 

award an individual earns as a result of 

successfully completing a single term of 

service, an individual may transfer all or 

part of the award to a single designated 

individual. An individual may not 

transfer a single award attributable to 

successful completion of a single term 

of service to more than one designated 

individual. 

(b) Re-transfer. If a designated 

individual rejects a transferred award in 

full, or the Corporation determines that 

an award was revoked for good cause in 

accordance with § 2530.80(c), the 

transferring individual may designate 

another individual to receive the 

transferred award. 

§ 2530.50 Is there a limit on the amount of 

transferred awards a designated individual 

may receive? 

Consistent with § 2526.50, no 

individual may receive more than an 

amount equal to the value of two fulltime education awards. If the sum of the 

value of the requested transfer plus the 

aggregate value of educational awards a 

designated individual has previously 

received would exceed the aggregate 

value of two full-time education awards, 

as determined pursuant to § 2526.50(b), 

the designated individual will be 

deemed to have rejected that portion of 

the award that would result in the 

excess. If a designated individual has 

already received the aggregate value of 

two full-time education awards, the 

individual may not receive a transferred 

award, and the designated individual 

will be deemed to have rejected the 

award in full. 

§ 2530.60 What is the impact of 

transferring or receiving a transferred 

education award on an individual’s 

eligibility to receive additional education 

awards? 

(a) Impact on Transferring Individual. 

Pursuant to § 2526.50, an award is 

considered to be received at the time it 

becomes available for an individual’s 

use. Transferring all or part of an award 

does not reduce the aggregate value of 

education awards the transferring 

individual is considered to have 

received. 

(b) Impact on Designated Individual. 

For the purposes of determining the 

value of the transferred education award 

under § 2526.50, a designated 

individual will be considered to have 

received a value equal to the amount 

accepted divided by the amount of a 

full-time award in the year the 

transferring individual’s position was 

approved. 

(c) Result of revocation on award 

value. If the transferring individual 

revokes all or part of a transferred 

education award, the value of the 

education award considered to have 

been received by the designated 

individual for purposes of § 2526.50 

will be reduced accordingly. 

§ 2530.70 Is a designated individual 

required to accept a transferred education 

award? 

(a) General Rule. A designated 

individual is not required to accept a 

transferred education award, and may 

reject an award in whole or in part. 

(b) Result of rejection in full. If the 

designated individual rejects a 

transferred award in whole, the amount 

is credited to the transferring 

individual’s account in the National 

Service Trust, and may be transferred to 

another individual, or may be used by 

the transferring individual for any of the 

purposes listed in § 2528.10, consistent 

with the original time period of 

availability set forth in § 2526.40(a). 

(c) Result of rejection in part. If the 

designated individual rejects a 

transferred award in part, the rejected 

portion is credited to the transferring 

individual’s account in the National 

Service Trust, and may be used by the 

transferring individual’s for any of the 

purposes listed in § 2528.10, consistent 

with the original time period of 

availability set forth in § 2526.40(a). An 

individual may not re-transfer the 

rejected portion of the award to another 

individual. 

§ 2530.80 Is an award revocable once 

transferred? 

(a) Revocation. An individual may 

revoke a transferred education award at 

any time and for any reason prior to the 

award’s use by the designated 

individual. 

(b) Use of Award. Upon revocation, 

the amount revoked will be deducted 

from the designated individual’s 

account and credited to the transferring 

individual’s account. The transferring 

individual may use the revoked 

transferred education award for any of 

the purposes described in § 2528.10, 

consistent with the original time period 

of availability set forth in § 2526.40(a). 

(c) Re-transfer. Generally, an 

individual may not re-transfer an award 

to another individual after revoking the 

same award from the original designated 

individual. The Corporation may 

approve re-transfer of an award for good 

cause, including cases in which the 

original designated individual was 

unavoidably prevented from using the 

award, as demonstrated by the 

individual transferring the award. 

§ 2530.85 What steps are necessary to 

revoke an award? 

(a) Request for revocation. Before 

revoking an award from a designated 

individual, the Corporation must 

receive a request from the transferring 

individual, including— 

(1) The individual’s written 

authorization to revoke the award; 

(2) The year in which the award was 

earned; 

(3) The specific amount to be revoked; 

and 

(4) The identity of the designated 

individual. 

(b) Credit to transferring individual. 

Upon receipt of a request including all 

required information listed in paragraph 

(a) of this section, the Corporation will 

deduct the amount specified in the 

transferring individual’s request from 

the designated individual’s account and 

credit the amount to the account of the 

transferring individual, except as 

provided in paragraph (c) of this 

section. The Corporation will notify the 

transferring individual the amount 

revoked. 

(c) Used awards. The Corporation will 

only revoke that portion of the 

transferred award that has not been used 

by the designated individual. If the 

designated individual has used the 

entire transferred amount prior to the 

date the Corporation receives the 

revocation request, no amount will be 

returned to the transferring individual. 

An amount is considered to be used 

when it is disbursed from the National 

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8030 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 35 / Tuesday, February 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

Service Trust, not when a request is 

received to use an award. 

(c) Notification to designated 

individual. The Corporation will notify 

the designated individual of the amount 

being revoked as of the date of the 

Corporation’s receipt of the revocation 

request. 

(d) Timing of revocation. The 

Corporation must receive the request to 

revoke the award from the transferring 

individual prior to the award’s 

expiration ten years from the date the 

award was originally earned. 

§ 2530.90 Is a designated individual 

eligible for the payment of accrued interest 

under part 2529? 

No, an individual must have 

successfully completed a term of service 

in an approved AmeriCorps position or 

Silver Scholar position to be eligible for 

the payment of accrued interest under 

Part 2529. 

PART 2550—REQUIREMENTS AND 

GENERAL PROVISIONS FOR STATE 

COMMISSIONS AND ALTERNATIVE 

ADMINISTRATIVE ENTITIES 

34. The authority citation for Part 

2550 continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 12638. 

35. Amend § 2550.80 by revising 

paragraph (b) to read as follows: 

§ 2550.80 [Amended] 

* * * * * 

(b) Selection of subtitle C programs 

and preparation of application to the 

Corporation. Each State must: 

(1) Prepare an application to the 

Corporation to receive funding or 

education awards for national service 

programs operating in and selected by 

the State. 

(2) Administer a competitive process 

to select national service programs for 

funding. The State is not required to 

select programs for funding prior to 

submission of the application described 

in paragraph (b)(1) of this section. 

* * * * * 

PART 2551—SENIOR COMPANION 

PROGRAM 

36. The authority citation for Part 

2551 continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 4950 et seq.; 42 U.S.C. 

12651b–12651d; E.O. 13331, 69 FR 9911. 

37. Amend § 2551.92 by revising 

paragraph (e) to read as follows: 

§ 2551.92 [Amended] 

* * * * * 

(e) How are Senior Companion cost 

reimbursements budgeted? (1) Except as 

provided in (e)(2) of this section, the 

total of cost reimbursements for Senior 

Companions, including stipends, 

insurance, transportation, meals, 

physical examinations, and recognition, 

shall be a sum equal to at least 80 

percent of the amount of the Federal 

share of the grant award. Federal, 

required non-Federal, and excess nonFederal resources can be used to make 

up the amount allotted for cost 

reimbursements. 

(2) The Corporation may allow 

exceptions to the 80 percent cost 

reimbursement requirement in cases of 

demonstrated need such as: 

(i) Initial difficulties in the 

development of local funding sources 

during the first three years of 

operations; 

(ii) An economic downturn, the 

occurrence of a natural disaster, or 

similar events in the service area that 

severely restrict or reduce sources of 

local funding support; or 

(iii) The unexpected discontinuation 

of local support from one or more 

sources that a project has relied on for 

a period of years. 

* * * * * 

PART 2552—FOSTER GRANDPARENT 

PROGRAM 

38. The authority citation for Part 

2552 continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 4950 et seq.; 42 U.S.C. 

12651b–12651d; E.O. 13331, 69 FR 9911. 

39. Amend § 2552.92 by revising 

paragraph (e) to read as follows: 

§ 2552.92 What are project funding 

requirements? 

* * * * * 

(e) How are Foster Grandparent cost 

reimbursements budgeted? (1) Except as 

provided in (e)(2) of this section, the 

total of cost reimbursements for Foster 

Grandparents, including stipends, 

insurance, transportation, meals, 

physical examinations, and recognition, 

shall be a sum equal to at least 80 

percent of the amount of the Federal 

share of the grant award. Federal, 

required non-Federal, and excess nonFederal resources can be used to make 

up the amount allotted for cost 

reimbursements. 

(2) The Corporation may allow 

exceptions to the 80 percent cost 

reimbursement requirement in cases of 

demonstrated need such as: 

(i) Initial difficulties in the 

development of local funding sources 

during the first three years of 

operations; or 

(ii) An economic downturn, the 

occurrence of a natural disaster, or 

similar events in the service area that 

severely restrict or reduce sources of 

local funding support; or 

(iii) The unexpected discontinuation 

of local support from one or more 

sources that a project has relied on for 

a period of years. 

Dated: February 17, 2010. 

Frank R. Trinity, 

General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 2010–3385 Filed 2–22–10; 8:45 am] 

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