32612 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 106 / Friday, June 1, 2012 / Notices 

[FR Doc. 2012–13296 Filed 5–31–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 5001–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

Notice of Proposed Information 

Collection Requests; Office of 

Postsecondary Education; Assessing 

Program Performance, National 

Resource Center, Business and 

International Education, and 

Undergraduate International Studies 

and Foreign Language Programs 

Surveys 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Education will conduct an assessment 

of the National Resource Center (NRC), 

Business and International Education 

(BIE), and Undergraduate and 

International Studies and Foreign 

Language programs (UISFL). Institutions 

of Higher Education will be asked to 

provide quantitative data on their 

internationalization and capacity 

building efforts on each campus. 

DATES: Interested persons are invited to 

submit comments on or before July 31, 

2012. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments 

regarding burden and/or the collection 

activity requirements should be 

electronically mailed to 

ICDocketMgr@ed.gov or mailed to U.S. 

Department of Education, 400 Maryland 

Avenue SW., LBJ, Washington, DC 

20202–4537. Copies of the proposed 

information collection request may be 

accessed from http://edicsweb.ed.gov, 

by selecting the ‘‘Browse Pending 

Collections’’ link and by clicking on 

link number 04868. When you access 

the information collection, click on 

‘‘Download Attachments’’ to view. 

Written requests for information should 

be addressed to U.S. Department of 

Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW., 

LBJ, Washington, DC 20202–4537. 

Requests may also be electronically 

mailed to ICDocketMgr@ed.gov or faxed 

to 202–401–0920. Please specify the 

complete title of the information 

collection and OMB Control Number 

when making your request. 

Individuals who use a 

telecommunications device for the deaf 

(TDD) may call the Federal Information 

Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–800–877– 

8339. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 

3506 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35) requires 

that Federal agencies provide interested 

parties an early opportunity to comment 

on information collection requests. The 

Director, Information Collection 

Clearance Division, Privacy, Information 

and Records Management Services, 

Office of Management, publishes this 

notice containing proposed information 

collection requests at the beginning of 

the Departmental review of the 

information collection. The Department 

of Education is especially interested in 

public comment addressing the 

following issues: (1) Is this collection 

necessary to the proper functions of the 

Department; (2) will this information be 

processed and used in a timely manner; 

(3) is the estimate of burden accurate; 

(4) how might the Department enhance 

the quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information to be collected; and (5) how 

might the Department minimize the 

burden of this collection on the 

respondents, including through the use 

of information technology. Please note 

that written comments received in 

response to this notice will be 

considered public records. 

Title of Collection: Assessing Program 

Performance, National Resource Center, 

Business and International Education, 

and Undergraduate International 

Studies and Foreign Language Programs 

Surveys. 

OMB Control Number: Pending. 

Type of Review: New. 

Total Estimated Number of Annual 

Responses: 838. 

Total Estimated Number of Annual 

Burden Hours: 23,608. 

Abstract: Institutions of Higher 

Education will be asked to provide 

quantitative data on their 

internationalization and capacity 

building efforts on each campus. The 

data collected will be used to document 

the implementation of individual 

projects as well as of the program 

collectively and to inform future studies 

looking at long-term impact. The results 

from the surveys will be used to learn 

what is being accomplished by the NRC, 

BIE, and UISFL Programs and to inform 

program improvement in the future. 

Dated: May 29, 2012. 

Darrin A. King, 

Director, Information Collection Clearance 

Division, Privacy, Information and Records 

Management Services, Office of Management. 

[FR Doc. 2012–13368 Filed 5–31–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

Proposed Priorities; Gaining Early 

Awareness and Readiness for 

Undergraduate Programs; College 

Savings Account Research 

Demonstration Project 

AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary 

Education, Department of Education. 

ACTION: Notice. 

Overview Information: 

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

(CFDA) Numbers: 84.334. 

Proposed Priorities: Gaining Early 

Awareness and Readiness for 

Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP)— 

College Savings Account Research 

Demonstration Project 

SUMMARY: The Assistant Secretary for 

Postsecondary Education proposes 

priorities for a research demonstration 

project for recipients of new GEAR UP 

State awards in Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 or 

FY 2012. Through these priorities, the 

Department of Education (Department) 

seeks to determine the effectiveness of 

pairing federally supported college 

savings accounts with GEAR UP 

activities as part of an overall college 

access and success strategy. 

DATES: We must receive your comments 

on or before July 2, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: Address all comments about 

this notice to James Davis, U.S. 

Department of Education, 1990 K Street 

NW., Room 7007, Washington, DC 

20006–8513. 

If you prefer to send your comments 

by email, use the following address: 

james.davis@ed.gov. You must include 

the term ‘‘GEAR UP Proposed 

Priorities’’ in the subject line of your 

electronic message. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

James Davis: (202) 502–7802; or, by 

email: james.davis@ed.gov. 

If you use a telecommunications 

device for the deaf (TDD) or a text 

telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay 

Service (FRS), toll free, at 1–800–877– 

8339. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Invitation to Comment: We invite you 

to submit comments regarding this 

notice. To ensure that your comments 

have maximum effect in developing the 

notice of final priorities, we urge you to 

identify clearly the specific proposed 

priority that each comment addresses. 

We invite you to assist us in 

complying with the specific 

requirements of Executive Orders 12866 

and 13563 and their overall requirement 

of reducing regulatory burden that 

might result from these proposed 

priorities. Please let us know of any 

further ways we could reduce potential 

costs or increase potential benefits 

while preserving the effective and 

efficient administration of the program. 

During and after the comment period, 

you may inspect all public comments 

about this notice in room 7007, 1990 K 

Street NW., Washington, DC, between 

the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., 

Washington, DC time, Monday through 

Friday of each week except Federal 

holidays. 

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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 106 / Friday, June 1, 2012 / Notices 32613 

1 Information obtained in January 2012 from 

www.savingsforcollege.com, using options 

‘‘compare by features, program match on 

contributions.’’ 

Assistance to Individuals with 

Disabilities in Reviewing the 

Rulemaking Record: On request we will 

provide an appropriate accommodation 

or auxiliary aid to an individual with a 

disability who needs assistance to 

review the comments or other 

documents in the public rulemaking 

record for this notice. If you want to 

schedule an appointment for this type of 

accommodation or auxiliary aid, please 

contact the person listed under FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. 

Purpose of Program: The GEAR UP 

program is a discretionary grant 

program that provides financial support 

for academic and related support 

services to eligible low-income students, 

including English learners and students 

with disabilities, to enable them to 

obtain a secondary school diploma and 

to prepare for and succeed in 

postsecondary education. 

Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1070a– 

21–1070a–28. 

Applicable Program Regulations: 34 

CFR part 694. 

Proposed Priorities 

Background 

Introduction 

Research suggests that students with 

savings accounts may be up to seven 

times more likely to attend college, even 

when controlling for other factors 

(Elliot, Jung, and Friedline, 2010: 

http://csd.wustl.edu/Publications/ 

Documents/WP10-01.pdf). Yet 25 

percent of U.S. households (and 50 

percent of Black and Hispanic 

households) are unbanked or 

underbanked, meaning that they either 

do not have a Federally insured deposit 

account or that they have an account but 

still rely on costly alternative financial 

services. Young adults are 

disproportionately unbanked and 

underbanked 

(www.economicinclusion.gov). At the 

same time, a lack of financial literacy 

and indicators thereof— such as 

overestimating the price of college, not 

applying for Federal student aid, and 

borrowing expensive private education 

loans before exhausting lower cost 

Federal student loan alternatives—are a 

major roadblock on the path to college 

access, affordability, and success for too 

many students and families (http:// 

www2.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/ 

announcements/2010-3/072610c.html). 

Partially as a result of these findings, the 

Secretary of Education and the 

Chairmen of the Federal Deposit 

Insurance Corporation and the National 

Credit Union Administration 

announced, in November 2010, a new 

interagency agreement to increase 

partnerships among schools, financial 

institutions, and other stakeholders to 

help students gain access to deposit 

accounts, learn about money, and save 

for college. The Department’s press 

statement on this partnership can be 

found at: www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/fdic-and-ncua-chairs-joineducation-secretary-announcepartnership-promote-finan, and the 

Secretary’s recently recorded video 

encouraging participation at: http:// 

www.youtube.com/ 

watch?v=uxOoXeOkh_w. Section 

404D(b)(10)(E) of the Higher Education 

Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), 

expressly authorizes GEAR UP program 

grantees to design projects that promote 

participating students’ secondary school 

completion and enrollment in 

postsecondary education by means that 

include promotion of financial literacy 

and economic literacy education or 

counseling. The FY 2011 GEAR UP 

application included an invitational 

priority for financial access and college 

savings accounts. Although no favorable 

consideration was promised or granted 

in the review process to applicants that 

chose to address this priority, nearly 

two thirds of the 66 successful 

applicants included it in their proposals 

(http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/ 

new-gear-grants-awarded-help-more275000-middle-schoolers-get-pathwaysuccess-co). In response to strong 

interest in this invitational priority and 

the Secretary’s desire to expand the 

Nation’s knowledge base on the 

relationship between asset-building 

strategies and education outcomes for 

students, the Department is proposing 

priorities for a competition through 

which the Department intends to award 

approximately $8.7 million in FY 2012 

and additional FY 2013 GEAR UP 

funds, if necessary, for a college savings 

account research demonstration project. 

Effectiveness of the Use of College 

Savings Accounts 

Prior research suggests a need for 

improved financial literacy and asset 

building strategies geared toward 

college enrollment, but there is no 

conclusive evidence about the 

effectiveness of these strategies. Many 

low-income families do not understand 

that they may be eligible for financial 

aid and, therefore, do not apply (see, for 

example, Baum and Payea 2011). 

Although knowledge about financial 

aid is important, it appears that lowincome families may need to be 

educated about the importance of 

college savings. Even low-income 

families that apply for and receive 

financial aid for postsecondary 

education often face substantial out-ofpocket college costs. The average out-ofpocket cost for low-income students 

enrolled full-time in a public four-year 

institution in academic year 2007–08 

was $10,400 per year (National Center 

for Education Statistics, December 

2010). 

Federal and State tax policies provide 

incentives to families to save for college; 

contributions to Coverdell Education 

Savings Accounts and State 529 Plans 

(qualified tuition programs created by 

section 529 of the tax code) are often 

deductible on State income taxes, 

returns accrued on the investments are 

mostly free from Federal taxes, and 

distributions for the beneficiaries’ 

college costs are tax exempt. In 

addition, 15 States now provide seed 

money or matching funds for moderateand low-income families that contribute 

to State 529 plans.1 Despite these 

incentives, participation rates in college 

savings plans are relatively low, 

especially among middle- and lowerincome families. Previous research also 

shows that 90 percent of families with 

college savings plans have college 

degrees and that the median income of 

families with these plans was $100,000 

(Dynarski, 2004 and Ma, 2004). One 

survey found that only 36 percent of 

families with incomes less than $30,000 

per year had college savings (Sallie Mae, 

2010). 

Given the low participation rates in 

college savings plans for low-income 

families, education about financial 

planning for college and financial 

incentives to encourage saving may be 

an important part of any college savings 

intervention. The Saving for Education, 

Entrepreneurship, and Downpayment 

(SEED) for Oklahoma Kids 

demonstration offered initial deposit 

and matching funds for State 529 plan 

accounts for a randomly selected group 

of infants born in Oklahoma in 2007. 

Their parents were more likely to open 

and deposit funds in State 529 plan 

accounts than a randomly selected 

control group not offered the seed and 

matching funds. In addition, lowincome parents with greater financial 

literacy were more likely to open the 

savings accounts than those with less 

financial literacy (Nam, Lim, Clancy, 

Zager, and Sherraden, 2011; Huang, 

Nam, Sherraden, 2012). 

While there are and have been efforts 

to test savings and education outcomes 

associated with State 529 college 

savings plans and other college savings 

accounts (Long and Bettinger, 2011; the 

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32614 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 106 / Friday, June 1, 2012 / Notices 

SEED for Oklahoma Kids 

Demonstration), further research is 

necessary. The demonstration project 

that the Department is proposing in this 

notice would be the first of its kind: A 

rigorous, randomized, and controlled 

evaluation of the effect of providing 

students with college savings accounts 

in the context of comprehensive 

educational support services provided 

by GEAR UP grantees. The proposed 

evaluation would involve using a lottery 

to select one-half of the schools within 

each participating grant to be ‘‘treatment 

schools’’ that offer the services 

described in the already approved 

GEAR UP application in addition to 

GEAR UP supported savings accounts, 

financial incentives, and financial 

counseling (treatment services). The 

other one-half of the schools in each 

participating grant will be selected by 

lottery to be ‘‘control schools’’ that offer 

services described in the already 

approved GEAR UP application with no 

savings accounts, additional financial 

incentives, or additional counseling 

intervention. The impact of the college 

savings account intervention—-above 

and beyond usual GEAR UP services— 

will be measured by comparing 

outcomes of students enrolled in 

treatment and control group schools. 

Under this research demonstration 

project, the Department is proposing 

two priorities. 

Background 

Proposed Priority 1: Funding Eligibility 

Under Proposed Priority 1, the 

Department would limit demonstration 

project eligibility for funding to current 

State GEAR UP grantees that received 

new awards in FY 2011 or FY 2012, that 

select participating students beginning 

not later than seventh grade using the 

cohort approach (see section 404B(d)(1) 

of the HEA), and that have their cohort 

of students entering the ninth grade in 

the 2013–2014 academic year. 

We would limit eligible State 

applicants to those whose current GEAR 

UP projects select participants using the 

cohort approach because we understand 

that these State GEAR UP grantees may 

readily arrange to have participating 

schools’ or Local Educational Agencies’ 

(LEAs’) directory information provided 

to account administrators or trustees to 

assist with establishing and managing 

savings accounts for GEAR UP students. 

Conversely, we are concerned that 

permitting State GEAR UP grantees 

using a priority-student method of 

selecting participating GEAR UP 

students (see section 404D(c) of the 

HEA) will lead to such substantial effort 

and cost of providing requisite 

information on individual students to 

the account administrators or trustees as 

to seriously undermine the research 

demonstration project itself. This is 

because, under the Family Educational 

Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and its 

implementing regulations (20 U.S.C. 

1232g and 34 CFR part 99), since not all 

students in the grade are eligible to 

receive GEAR UP services, LEAs and 

schools may not disclose their 

’’directory information’’ because the 

receipt of GEAR UP services is not itself 

‘‘directory information.’’ Thus, under 

FERPA, the disclosure of personally 

identifiable information from the 

education records of a subgroup of 

students receiving GEAR UP services to 

the account administrator or trustee in 

order to assist with establishing and 

managing any savings account, whether 

funded with Federal GEAR UP funds or 

private funds, would require prior, 

written, parental consent. 

Under this priority, GEAR UP State 

grantees that use the cohort approach 

and that wish to participate in this 

project must demonstrate their 

willingness, capacity, and 

comprehensive plan to carry out the 

college savings account and financial 

counseling intervention and participate 

in the rigorous evaluation, as described 

in this notice. Accordingly, each 

applicant must list in its application 

multiple GEAR UP high schools that 

serve at least 50 GEAR UP participants 

who will be in 9th grade during the 

2013–2014 academic year, identify the 

names of the GEAR UP high schools 

expected to participate in the 

demonstration, and identify the number 

of GEAR UP participants at each school 

expected to be in 9th grade during the 

2013–2014 academic year. 

Under this proposed priority, to be 

eligible for funding, an applicant may 

not currently be implementing a 

systematic college savings program that 

provides matching funds for deposits in 

college savings accounts held on behalf 

of GEAR UP participants in high schools 

included in this demonstration project. 

We are proposing to limit eligibility in 

this manner because the demonstration 

project will not provide a valid test of 

the benefits of these accounts if schools 

assigned by lottery to the control group 

are already implementing college 

savings accounts for GEAR UP students. 

We note that because of the limited 

funds available, it is not possible to use 

Federal GEAR UP dollars to provide 

seed funding and savings matches to all 

students served by GEAR UP State 

grants. The limited number of possible 

recipients of seed funding and savings 

matches for these savings accounts, 

however, allows for a control group, 

which is an essential feature of a 

rigorous study. Under the study design, 

created by the Department’s Institute of 

Education Sciences, States and the 

Federal government will be able to rely 

on evidence developed to inform future 

policy decisions about college readiness 

and success, financial decision-making, 

and savings accounts—whether that 

means scaling up savings account 

programs or conducting further 

research. 

The Department intends to rank 

eligible applicant States according to 

scores assigned by non-Federal 

reviewers using the Department’s 

general selection criteria in 34 CFR 

75.210. The number of States selected to 

receive awards will depend on the 

number of schools and students served 

by each State GEAR UP program in the 

demonstration project. Unless the need 

to achieve the correct sample size 

requires the Department to select 

applicants out of order, the Department 

intends to select States, one after 

another, beginning with the highestranked State as scored by non-Federal 

reviewers until there is a total across the 

selected States of 20,000 students who 

are enrolled in the 9th grade in fall 

2013. 

Proposed Priority 2: College Savings 

Accounts Research and Demonstration 

Project 

The lynchpin of this priority is the 

premise that the combination of 

supported personal savings accounts 

and associated financial incentives and 

counseling will have a positive effect on 

a variety of measures of college 

readiness and financial well-being, such 

as the amount of savings available to 

support postsecondary education, 

attitudes about the ability to attend and 

afford college, academic readiness as 

measured by participation and 

performance in college-preparatory 

courses, postsecondary education 

enrollment, financial literacy and 

decision-making, and student borrowing 

and work decisions. 

This proposed priority thus has two 

main components. The first describes 

the requirements for establishing, 

operating, and having students 

participate in college savings accounts 

and financial counseling. The second 

describes the research evaluation that 

will be conducted to assess the effect of 

providing these college savings accounts 

and related financial counseling to 

students and their parents. 

College Savings Accounts and Financial 

Counseling 

Under this demonstration project, 

approximately 10,000 low-income 

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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 106 / Friday, June 1, 2012 / Notices 32615 

students served by selected GEAR UP 

State grants would receive 

approximately $200 in seed funding that 

would be placed into personal savings 

accounts held for these students in trust, 

pending their graduation from high 

school and enrollment in a college or 

university. Matching funds would also 

be available to encourage students, their 

families, their parents’ employers, 

community-based organizations, 

religious organizations, and others to 

contribute further to students’ accounts. 

More specifically, a successful 

applicant would use GEAR UP funds 

awarded under this competition to 

provide $200 as an initial deposit in 

each GEAR UP student’s account as well 

as match contributions for each student 

up to $10 every month for a maximum 

of four years. Thus, a student who 

receives the maximum match would 

finish high school with at least $1,160 

in a personal college savings account— 

the $200 Federal seed, plus $480 in 

personal contributions, plus $480 in 

Federal matching funds. A successful 

applicant also would be required to 

maximize the benefit of the matching 

funds by providing periodic 

opportunities for the student to make 

‘‘catch-up’’ deposits. To protect the 

integrity of the evaluation, a successful 

applicant would not be permitted to 

provide additional seed or matching 

funding to students participating in the 

GEAR UP college savings research 

demonstration project. 

An applicant would be required to 

limit student eligibility to receive 

college savings accounts, financial 

incentives to encourage saving, and 

financial counseling (which would be 

above and beyond any counseling 

provided to all GEAR UP students) to 

only those students enrolled in the 9th 

grade in one of the randomly selected 

treatment high schools (as described in 

the Research Evaluation section of this 

priority) in the fall of 2013. Any Federal 

GEAR UP funds that remain in the 

student’s account six years after the 

student’s scheduled completion of 

secondary school must be returned to 

the Department. 

Each successful applicant would be 

required to maintain all Federal GEAR 

UP funds in a single ‘‘notional’’ account 

that permits returning unused Federal 

GEAR UP funds to the Department as 

described in the Proposed Priority 2: 

College Savings Accounts Research 

Demonstration Project section of this 

notice, separate from any non-Federal 

funds, and to keep track of the amount 

of Federal GEAR UP seed and matching 

funds and accrued interest earned by 

each student. The non-Federal funds 

would be maintained separately by the 

account administrator, as described 

below. While Federal and non-Federal 

funds would be in separate accounts, 

each student with these accounts would 

be able to experience them as having a 

single account in that the student would 

see the account balance as reflecting 

both the total amount of Federal funds 

earned as well as any non-Federal funds 

in the account. 

Each successful applicant would be 

required to designate a savings account 

trustee to manage the account funds and 

a savings account administrator to hold 

the account funds. Applicants that do 

not identify the savings account trustee 

and savings account administrator must 

identify the process by which these 

entities would be selected. The savings 

account trustee would oversee the 

accounts held by the savings account 

administrator and approve withdrawals 

and other account activities, such as 

transfers of non-Federal funds to other 

persons, if permitted. Notwithstanding 

any existing title IV regulation, qualified 

withdrawals of Federal and non-Federal 

funds would not count toward Federal 

student aid eligibility. The trustee 

would need to be a State agency, such 

as a State Department of Treasury, 

Office of the Governor, Lieutenant 

Governor, or Comptroller, a tax-exempt 

non-profit organization or foundation, 

or for-profit organization or business 

with demonstrated expertise and 

experience in successfully managing 

financial services. The purpose of 

requiring the participation of the trustee 

would be to ensure that Federal funds 

are only spent on qualified educational 

expenses, as that term is used in section 

404E of the HEA upon a student’s 

enrollment in an institution of higher 

education eligible to participate in 

student financial assistance under Title 

IV of the HEA. 

The savings account administrator 

would be required to hold account 

funds, accept deposits, and issue 

qualified withdrawals. The account 

administrator would need to be a 

Federally or State regulated financial 

institution, such as an investment firm 

that manages a State’s 529 plan or a 

Federally insured bank or credit union 

that partners with the State to 

administer proposed GEAR UP savings 

accounts. 

The savings account trustee and 

savings account administrator would 

need to be separate and distinct entities, 

not part of the same organization, with 

the exception that both trustee and 

administrator could be part of or 

affiliated with the State government but 

in different agencies. 

During the grant project period, 

modest administrative fees, not to 

exceed one percent of account balances, 

could be paid to the savings account 

trustee and administrator with Federal 

GEAR UP funds to cover expenses 

related to the GEAR UP college savings 

account demonstration project. 

If awarded a grant, the applicant 

would be required to develop rules on 

when withdrawals would and would 

not be permissible (i.e., rules on 

qualified withdrawals) and on transfers 

of non-Federal funds to other persons. 

For example, a State could prohibit 

withdrawals of non-Federal, individual 

contributions for what the applicant 

determines to be a non-qualified 

expense unless the account holder 

reaches a specified age. Alternatively, a 

State could offer a savings plan with 

existing disbursement rules, such as 529 

plans or Coverdell plans, or it could 

determine its own rules in consultation 

with the account administrator and 

account trustee. Since, as described in 

the College Savings Accounts and 

Financial Counseling section of this 

notice (paragraph (d) Withdrawal and 

Transfer of Federal Funds), withdrawals 

for non-qualified uses would forfeit the 

associated Federal match, the applicant 

also would need to establish for the 

account trustee the conditions under 

which funds can be withdrawn for 

qualified uses, transferred to other 

persons such as siblings, or accessed at 

a particular age. The rules developed by 

a successful applicant would have to 

require at least that the account trustee 

oversee all qualified withdrawals and 

transfers. 

States would also need to provide 

participating students and families in 

the schools whose students are selected 

for savings accounts and related 

financial counseling (the ‘‘treatment 

schools’’; see the following subsection 

Research evaluation) with general and 

targeted savings account and related 

financial counseling designed to help 

them understand the benefits of saving 

for college, encourage them to save, 

increase their understanding of relevant 

mathematical and financial concepts, 

and prepare them to make sound 

financial decisions. To ensure GEAR UP 

or school staff are sufficiently prepared 

to provide this counseling, the applicant 

would need to agree to identify highly 

qualified individuals to provide the 

counseling and require counselors to 

participate in Department-provided 

professional development for GEAR UP 

or school staff. 

Lastly, section 404C(b) of the HEA 

requires that unless the State has 

received a waiver under section 

404C(b)(2), a State receiving a GEAR UP 

program award must provide not less 

than 50 percent of the costs of each 

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32616 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 106 / Friday, June 1, 2012 / Notices 

year’s project from State, local, 

institutional or private funds. See also 

34 C.F.R. § 694.7 through § 694.9. For 

purposes of this non-Federal match 

requirement, the Department proposes 

to treat grants awarded under this 

research demonstration project as 

supplementing a State’s regular GEAR 

UP award, albeit for a defined purpose. 

Research Evaluation 

The proposed evaluation would 

require 10,000 students to receive the 

services described in the already 

approved, regular State GEAR UP 

application as well as GEAR UP 

supported savings accounts, financial 

incentives, and financial counseling 

(treatment services). An additional 

10,000 students will serve as a control 

group and receive services described in 

the already approved, regular State 

GEAR UP application with no savings 

accounts, additional financial 

incentives, or additional counseling 

intervention. While, for purposes of the 

evaluation methodology, each of the 

participating schools would need to 

serve at least 50 GEAR UP participants 

who will be in 9th grade during the 

2013–2014 academic year, the goal is to 

attain a sample of approximately 100 

schools, each serving an average of 200 

students enrolled in 9th grade. Thus, 

under this proposed priority, each 

applicant would need to agree to the 

random assignment by the evaluation 

contractor of one-half of the high 

schools to receive treatment services 

(treatment schools) and one-half to be in 

the control group (control schools). 

In addition to any other GEAR UP 

services offered by these schools, 

treatment schools must offer to GEAR 

UP participants who are in the 9th grade 

in the 2013–14 academic year the 

college savings account and counseling 

intervention described in the College 

Savings Account and Financial 

Counseling section of this priority. 

States receiving grants under this 

competition must continue to offer the 

matching funds and counseling to GEAR 

UP students in treatment schools 

through the students’ expected dates of 

high school graduation in spring 2017. 

The remainder of the identified high 

schools will be control schools that will 

not offer the college savings accounts 

and counseling intervention but will 

continue to offer regular GEAR UP 

services. 

The evaluation will examine the effect 

of the college savings account and 

counseling intervention on student and 

family behaviors and their attitudes 

associated with attending college. The 

evaluation will also provide descriptive 

information on the implementation of 

the college savings account and 

counseling intervention. To ensure that 

the evaluation contractor has the 

information needed to conduct this 

examination, this priority would require 

applicants and those local educational 

agency and school officials submitting 

letters of support, as described below, to 

agree to participate in the data 

collection conducted by the 

Department’s evaluator, which will 

include, among other items, surveys of 

State project directors and staff 

regarding implementation of the project 

and surveys of students and parents 

about their participation in GEAR UP 

program activities in general and other 

college savings programs. The 

Department’s evaluator also will collect 

certain information about students in 

the treatment schools and control 

schools and data on the college savings 

accounts established under this project. 

An applicant is also required to 

distribute letters to parents or guardians 

notifying them about plans for 

administration of the student survey by 

the evaluator and the release of 

designated ‘‘directory information’’ from 

the education records of the student to 

the savings account administrator, the 

savings account trustee, or both, as 

needed to establish and manage the 

college savings accounts, along with a 

form that allows parents or guardians to 

opt out of participation in the savings 

accounts. (The Department will provide 

a sample parent/guardian letter and opt 

out form.) 

The LEAs in the applications must 

take steps to allow for student 

information to be shared in compliance 

with Federal law with the savings 

account administrator, the savings 

account trustee, or both, as needed to 

establish and manage the college 

savings accounts. Under the provisions 

of FERPA and its implementing 

regulations, each of the LEAs in the 

application or schools therein must 

have provided public notice that the 

district or school has designated as 

‘‘directory information’’ under FERPA 

the student’s name, grade level, address, 

and date of birth. The purpose of 

requiring that this information be 

designated as ‘‘directory information’’ 

under FERPA is to allow both college 

savings accounts—the ‘‘notional’’ 

account that contains the Federal GEAR 

UP funds and the account that contains 

family or other private savings—to be 

established, if possible, through 

disclosure of this information to the 

savings account administrator, the 

savings account trustee, or both. We do 

not believe that a school or LEA would 

need to disclose students’ Social 

Security numbers or other personally 

identifiable information from the 

students’ education records that has not 

been designated as directory 

information to establish college savings 

accounts; however, we recognize that at 

some point students or their parents 

may be required to provide a Social 

Security Number or other Taxpayer 

Identification Number to the account 

administrator and/or trustee for tax 

purposes, that having such a 

requirement may depend on the type of 

account opened and whether the funds 

in that account are Federal or private, 

and that, under FERPA, a school or LEA 

may not disclose a Social Security 

Number to the account administrator 

and/or trustee without prior, written, 

parental consent. We invite comments 

from the public on this topic. 

We also request public comment on 

the merits and drawbacks of different 

types of college savings accounts that 

States would employ to implement the 

College Savings Accounts and Financial 

Counseling section of this notice. In 

particular: 

Should the notice of final priorities 

for this program require a certain type 

of account for all students across all 

participating GEAR UP programs? 

Is there any arrangement under which 

college savings accounts that involve 

only Federal funds and college savings 

accounts that would also involve private 

funds may be established without need 

for a parent’s or child’s Social Security 

Number or other Taxpayer Identification 

Number? 

When finalizing this requirement, we 

will take into consideration the public 

comments we receive on these issues. 

In addition, in accordance with 

FERPA, if any parents or guardians of a 

student have opted out of the disclosure 

of this ‘‘directory information,’’ the 

school or LEA will not provide 

‘‘directory information’’ on that student 

to the savings account administrator or 

the savings account trustee and that 

student will not have a savings account 

with GEAR UP seed money opened in 

his or her name, unless the parent or 

guardian of that student provides 

consent under 34 CFR 99.30. 

To ensure there is adequate support 

for the applicant’s participation in this 

research demonstration project, we are 

also proposing that a State include in its 

application— 

• Letters from both the relevant State 

Educational Agency (SEA), or other 

State agency that is the GEAR UP 

grantee, and participating LEAs agreeing 

to provide the relevant data to the 

Department’s evaluator, including 

rosters of students and their 

administrative records for students in 

both the treatment group and the control 

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group in order to permit an evaluation 

of this Federally-supported education 

program; 

• A letter from the principal of each 

high school identified in the application 

agreeing to participate in all aspects of 

the evaluation and grant; and 

• A letter from the superintendent of 

each LEA overseeing the schools in the 

evaluation, agreeing to (1) cooperate in 

all aspects of the evaluation, including 

random assignment of schools, allowing 

the GEAR UP program to offer the 

college savings account and counseling 

intervention, and (2) ensure that the 

LEA or schools in the LEA have 

publically designated as ‘‘directory 

information’’ student’s names, 

addresses, grade levels, and dates of 

birth so that this information can be 

provided, assuming that the parents and 

guardians have not opted out of the 

disclosure of their child’s ‘‘directory 

information,’’ to the savings account 

administrator, the savings account 

trustee, or both to assist with 

establishing and managing the college 

savings accounts for students in the 

treatment schools that are in the 9th 

grade in 2013–2014 academic year. 

Moreover, while we intend, if 

possible, that the provision of school or 

LEA directory information to the 

account administrator, trustee, or both 

would be sufficient to establish the 

student savings accounts, we 

understand that different schools and 

LEAs may define directory information 

differently and have differing policies 

for its disclosure. Therefore, the LEA 

superintendent’s letter of support would 

also need to include— 

• An assurance that the LEA has in 

place, or will have in place by July 1, 

2013, directory information policies that 

allow for student information, including 

the student’s name, grade level, address, 

and date of birth, to be shared in 

compliance with Federal law with the 

savings account administrator, the 

savings account trustee, or both, as 

needed to assist with establishing and 

managing the college savings accounts. 

Proposed Priorities 

Under 34 CFR 75.105(c), the Secretary 

proposes the following priorities for a 

research demonstration project to 

determine the effectiveness of 

implementing college savings accounts 

and providing financial counseling in 

conjunction with other GEAR UP 

activities as part of an overall college 

access and success strategy. These 

proposed priorities are as follows: 

Proposed Priority 1: Funding Eligibility 

To meet this priority, an applicant 

must— 

(a) Have received a new GEAR UP 

State grant in FY 2011 or FY 2012 that 

supports activities in multiple high 

schools, each of which must serve at 

least 50 GEAR UP participants who will 

be in 9th grade during the 2013–2014 

academic year; 

(b) Use the cohort approach (see 

section 404B(d)(1) of the HEA) to select 

participating GEAR UP students; and 

(c) Identify in its application the 

names of the GEAR UP high schools 

expected to participate in the 

demonstration and the number of GEAR 

UP participants expected to be in 9th 

grade during the 2013–2014 academic 

year at each GEAR UP school identified. 

Proposed Priority 2: College Savings 

Accounts Research Demonstration 

Project 

To meet this priority, and as 

described in the College Savings 

Accounts and Financial Counseling 

section of this priority, an applicant 

must submit in its application a 

comprehensive plan for providing (1) 

students in the GEAR UP high schools 

identified by the applicant with safe and 

affordable deposit accounts at federally 

insured banks, credit unions, or other 

institutions that offer safe and affordable 

financial services consistent with 

provisions of this Priority, and (2) 

financial incentives to encourage saving 

and related financial counseling to 

students and parents. 

An applicant also must agree in its 

application to participate in an 

evaluation of this college savings 

account demonstration project that will 

examine the effect of college savings 

accounts and counseling on student and 

family behaviors and attitudes 

associated with college enrollment, as 

described in the Research Evaluation 

section of this priority. The 

Department’s Institute of Education 

Sciences (IES) in partnership with the 

Office of Postsecondary Education 

(OPE) will oversee the evaluation, 

which will be conducted by an IES 

evaluation contractor. 

I. College Savings Accounts and 

Financial Counseling 

The applicant must describe in its 

application its plan for implementing 

college savings accounts and financial 

counseling, including how it will, 

preferably at the time of application, but 

no later than in time to have all savings 

accounts operational before the start of 

the 2013–2014 school year— 

(a) Student Savings Accounts 

(1) In partnership with a financial 

institution, provide students with an 

account that allows saving in an 

interest-bearing, Federally insured 

deposit account, U.S. Government 

Treasury securities, or a fully 

guaranteed savings option within a 529 

College Savings plan. Accounts may 

also present students and families with 

investment options that present risks in 

exchange for the potential for larger 

returns but that are in no way 

guaranteed. 

(2) Ensure that Federal funds are 

maintained in a single ‘‘notional’’ 

account that is in fact separate from any 

non-Federal funds, tracks the amount of 

Federal GEAR UP seed and matching 

funds and accrued interest earned by 

each student, permits each student to 

see both the Federal funds and 

associated interest earned as well as any 

non-Federal funds in a single account 

statement, and is invested only in 

federally insured vehicles or U.S. 

Treasury securities; 

(3) Ensure that the non-Federal 

investments are in U.S. Government 

Treasury securities or a low- or no-fee 

age-based fund unless the parents or 

student choose otherwise; 

(4) Open savings accounts for 

students in automatic or nearly 

automatic fashion and describe how the 

savings account enrollment approach 

entails or approximates an automatic 

enrollment framework. Automatic 

enrollment means parents and students 

are not required to opt into the account, 

but may opt out of it. If parents and 

students take no action, the account is 

opened. Action is required to decline 

participation. 

Note: Applicants are also encouraged to 

propose automatic savings options, such as 

automatic payroll deductions by parents of 

participating students. 

(5) Ensure that individual deposits 

could be made easily and at no cost by 

the student, the student’s parents, or 

others on the student’s behalf; that 

deposits would be able to be made 

online, including on mobile devices, in 

person at convenient locations, and by 

mail; and that account information 

would be viewable online, including on 

mobile devices; and 

(6) Ensure that funds are held in the 

name of the account trustee described in 

paragraph (k) of part I of this priority 

with the participating students named 

as beneficiaries. 

(b) Federal Seed and Matching 

Provide for Federal seed and 

matching of Federal funds in student 

savings accounts for students in 

participating treatment high schools as 

follows: 

(1) Within two weeks of the beginning 

of students’ 9th grade school year in the 

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fall of 2013, seed each student’s account 

with $200 in Federal GEAR UP funding. 

(2) Each month, for every contribution 

up to $10 beyond the initial seed 

amount the student or family deposits 

into the student’s account, deposit an 

additional equal size contribution up to 

$10 of Federal GEAR UP funding into 

the account, for a maximum of $120 in 

Federal matching funds each year for a 

maximum of four years. 

(3) Notwithstanding the monthly cap 

on contributions referenced in 

paragraph two above, once per quarter 

during each calendar year during the 

project period, on a date approved by 

the Department, offer students and 

parents a two-week catch-up period if 

the student has not earned the 

maximum monthly match for that year 

and encourage students and families to 

make contributions at least sufficient to 

earn up to the maximum Federal match. 

(4) Ensure that if, at the end of each 

calendar year, the student has not 

exhausted the Federal match, any 

unearned matching funds would no 

longer be available to that student or to 

the applicant and would be returned to 

the Department. 

(c) Non-Federal Seed and Matching 

Not provide additional seed or 

matching funding from GEAR UP or 

non-GEAR UP resources to participating 

students. 

(d) Withdrawal and Transfer of Federal 

Funds 

Provide for the withdrawal and 

transfer of Federal GEAR UP funds as 

follows: 

(1) The applicant must ensure that 

withdrawals of Federal GEAR UP funds 

are made only upon approval of the 

savings account trustee and are only 

made from the account to eligible 

students, or to an institution of higher 

education on behalf of a student upon 

that student’s enrollment in an HEA 

title IV-eligible institution of higher 

education for the purposes of paying for 

tuition, fees, course materials, living 

expenses, and other covered educational 

expenses as defined in the HEA. 

(2) An account trustee may not 

withdraw Federal GEAR UP funds for 

non-qualified purposes and may not 

transfer them to other individuals. If 

this rule is broken, the Department may 

require the applicant to terminate its 

relationship with the trustee and select 

a different entity to serve as savings 

account trustee. The initial trustee may 

be subject to penalties for misuse of 

Federal funds. 

(e) Withdrawal and Transfer of NonFederal Funds 

Establish rules for the withdrawal and 

transfer of non-Federal funds, which 

must include a requirement that any 

withdrawal or transfer of non-Federal 

funds must be overseen by the account 

trustee. A withdrawal of non-Federal 

funds from the savings account for nonqualified purposes will result in a 

removal of Federal matching funds that 

have been contributed on behalf of the 

student if the amount of non-Federal 

funds remaining in the account after the 

non-qualified withdrawal is less than 

the total amount of Federal matching 

funds contributed (not including the 

$200 Federal seed). 

For example, if student and parent 

contributions total $140, Federal GEAR 

UP matches total $120, and the student 

withdraws $50 in non-Federal funds for 

non-qualified purposes, then $30 in 

Federal GEAR UP matching funds 

earned up until that point would be 

removed from the account because the 

amount of non-Federal funds remaining 

in the account after the non-qualified 

withdrawal—$90—is $30 less than the 

amount of Federal matching funds 

contributed. The Federal matching 

funds could be earned back in catch-up 

periods during that same year. The $200 

seed money provided with Federal 

GEAR UP funds will not be removed 

from the account. 

(f) Student Eligibility 

Establish student eligibility to receive 

Federal GEAR UP funds as seed and 

match for GEAR UP student savings 

accounts as follows: 

(1) Students must be enrolled in the 

9th grade in one of the randomly 

selected treatment high schools (as 

described in the Research Evaluation 

section of this priority) in the fall of 

2013. 

(2) If a student does not use funds in 

the student’s account within six years of 

his or her scheduled completion of 

secondary school, the undisbursed 

Federal GEAR UP funds must be 

returned to the Department. 

(3) Students who transfer from a 

GEAR UP high school to a non-GEAR 

UP high school during the project 

period will continue to remain eligible 

for the matching funds from the grantee. 

(g) Financial Counseling 

Provide general and targeted (that is, 

specific to each individual’s account 

and financial circumstances) savings 

account and financial counseling to 

students in the treatment group and to 

their parents. Counseling should 

encourage regular saving and prepare 

students and their families to make 

informed financial decisions about 

college and other matters. Counseling 

must include at least 12 hours per year 

of counseling for students and at least 

biannual counseling meetings for 

parents, which must include a review of 

the contributions to the account and any 

interest accrued. The counseling must 

be in addition to, and may not serve as, 

the financial aid, financial literacy, or 

college savings counseling already 

provided as part of regular GEAR UP 

services. 

(h) Staff Professional Development and 

Coordination With the Department 

(1) Agree to participate in 

Department-provided professional 

development for the GEAR UP or school 

staff who will deliver the financial 

planning and counseling described in 

paragraph (g) of part I of this priority. 

(2) Ensure that the project director of 

the project participates in a meeting in 

Washington, DC, in the fall of 2012 to 

discuss the logistical and administrative 

issues in setting up the college savings 

accounts. 

(i) Site Coordination 

Designate a site coordinator for each 

GEAR UP high school that participates 

in the demonstration and describe the 

role of the coordinator and to whom he 

or she will be accountable. The site 

coordinators in schools that are 

randomly selected to provide college 

savings accounts and financial 

counseling (treatment schools) have 

responsibility, exercised consistent with 

the State’s plan and approved project 

application, for ensuring that their 

schools meet all requirements for 

participating in the college savings 

demonstration project. Coordinators 

must, for example, ensure that college 

savings accounts are opened and seeded 

within two weeks of the start of 9th 

grade, that related financial counseling 

and coaching are provided to 

participating students and parents, and 

that schools cooperate with data 

collection for the evaluation. (See the 

Research Evaluation section of this 

priority for further information on 

selection of the treatment schools). Site 

coordinators in schools that are not 

participating in the college savings 

account and counseling intervention 

(control schools) must ensure that their 

schools cooperate with the data 

collection for the evaluation. 

(j) Savings Account Administrator 

Select a savings account administrator 

to hold the account funds, accept 

deposits, and issue qualified 

withdrawals. The applicant must 

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identify the account administrator in the 

application or describe the process by 

which the account administrator will be 

selected. 

The account administrator must be 

able to fulfill its role until all Federal 

funds have been disbursed or returned 

to the Department. During the grant 

project period, modest administrative 

fees, not to exceed one percent of 

account balances, could be paid to the 

savings account administrator with 

Federal GEAR UP funds to cover 

expenses related to the GEAR UP 

college savings account demonstration 

project. 

(k) Savings Account Trustee 

Select a savings account trustee to 

manage the account funds and approve 

withdrawals and other account 

activities. The account trustee must 

have demonstrated experience in 

successfully managing financial 

services. The applicant must identify 

the account trustee in the application or 

describe the process by which the 

account trustee will be selected. 

The account trustee must be able to 

fulfill its role until all Federal funds 

have been disbursed or returned to the 

Department. The account trustee may 

not be a student’s parent or other 

individual, and must be separate and 

distinct from the account administrator. 

The trustee must be a State agency, such 

as a State Department of Treasury, 

Office of the Governor, Lieutenant 

Governor, or Comptroller, a tax-exempt 

non-profit organization or foundation, 

or for-profit organization or business 

with demonstrated expertise and 

experience in successfully managing 

financial services. During the grant 

project period, modest administrative 

fees, not to exceed one percent of 

account balances, could be paid to the 

savings account trustee with Federal 

GEAR UP funds to cover expenses 

related to the GEAR UP college savings 

account demonstration project. 

(l) Grantee Coordinator 

Specify a person or persons at the 

State and LEA level who will administer 

and coordinate all components of the 

demonstration, including provision of 

services provided by the GEAR UP high 

schools, monitoring the rules 

established for and activities carried out 

by the savings account administrators 

and trustees including distribution of 

letters, notifying parents or guardians 

about the administration of the student 

survey by the evaluator and about the 

release of designated ‘‘directory 

information’’ from the education records 

of the student to the savings account 

administrator, the savings account 

trustee, or both, as needed to assist with 

establishing and managing the college 

savings accounts, and distributing forms 

enabling parents or guardians to opt out 

of participation in the research 

demonstration project. (The Department 

will provide a sample parent/guardian 

letter and opt out form.) The grantee 

coordinator must also include aggregate 

information about the college savings 

account demonstration project in the 

grantee’s annual performance report to 

the Department, including the number 

of accounts opened and the total 

amount of Federal GEAR UP matching 

funds deposited on behalf of students. 

The grantee coordinator must also 

respond to the evaluators’ annual 

request for information on individual 

student accounts, including the timing 

and amounts of disbursements of seed 

and matching funds, and the student’s 

name, address, and date of birth. 

(m) Directory Information Policies 

Include only districts or schools that 

will have directory information policies 

in place prior to July 1, 2013, that allow 

for student information to be shared in 

compliance with Federal law with the 

savings account administrator, the 

savings account trustee, or both, as 

needed to establish and manage the 

college savings accounts. Under the 

provisions of FERPA and its 

implementing regulations (20 U.S.C. 

1232g and 34 CFR part 99), each of the 

LEAs or schools in the application must 

have provided public notice that the 

district or schools have designated as 

‘‘directory information’’ under FERPA 

the student’s name, address, grade level, 

and date of birth. In addition, in 

accordance with FERPA, if any parents 

or guardians of a student has opted out 

of the disclosure of this ‘‘directory 

information,’’ the school or LEA will not 

provide the ‘‘directory information’’ for 

that student to the savings account 

administrator, the savings account 

trustee, or both, as needed to assist with 

establishing the college savings 

accounts, and savings accounts with 

GEAR UP seed money will not be 

opened in his or her name, unless the 

parent or guardian of that student 

provides consent under 34 CFR 99.30. 

(n) Grantee Non-Federal Match 

Requirement 

Meet the statutory non-Federal match 

requirement (see section 404C(b) of the 

HEA.) 

Note: A State grantee would meet the 

statutory match requirement tied to these 

additional research demonstration project 

funds through any ‘‘over-matched’’ nonFederal funds it already is committed to 

providing under its regular GEAR UP 

application. A State that would need to 

provide other non-Federal funds in order to 

meet the statutory match requirement tied to 

GEAR UP funds provided for research 

demonstration project would need to include 

with its application a budget of how it 

proposed to do so. Contributions of students, 

families, parents’ employers, communitybased organizations, religious organizations, 

and others to student savings account could 

be treated as a matching contribution, but, if 

during any project year these private 

contributions to savings account were less 

than anticipated, a State would have to 

ensure by the end of each project year that 

it had met the annual matching requirement 

through other non-Federal contributions to 

this project or the regular GEAR UP 

activities. 

(o) Budget 

Provide a budget and budget narrative 

with projected charges of Federal GEAR 

UP funds and any non-Federal matching 

contributions, that describes the 

expected costs of implementing the 

proposed project, including provision of 

payment to the account administrator, 

the account trustee, or both of 

reasonable costs for managing the 

savings accounts according to 

requirements of this section. 

II. Research Evaluation 

The applicant must describe in its 

application its agreement to the 

following: 

(a) Random Assignment of Schools. 

An applicant must— 

(1) Agree to a random assignment by 

the evaluation contractor of one-half of 

the high schools identified in its 

application to for their students to 

receive treatment services (treatment 

schools). In addition to any GEAR UP 

services offered at these schools, GEAR 

UP projects must offer, at these 

treatment schools, the college savings 

account and financial counseling 

intervention in accordance with priority 

1 (Funding Eligibility). The students in 

the remainder of the high schools 

(control schools) will not receive the 

college savings account and financial 

counseling intervention but will 

continue to receive regular GEAR UP 

services. 

(2) Agree not to offer a program that 

provides seed or matching funds for 

college savings accounts in the control 

schools for the duration of the GEAR UP 

grant. 

(b) Data Collection. (1) The applicant 

and the LEA(s) and GEAR UP high 

schools that would like to implement 

college savings accounts (some of which 

will become control schools) must agree 

to participate in the data collection 

conducted by the Department’s 

evaluator, which will include the 

following: 

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(i) Two surveys of GEAR UP project 

directors at the SEA or LEA level and 

site coordinators at each school about 

the implementation of the college 

savings account and counseling 

intervention, including the extent to 

which the college savings account 

counseling was provided in the 

treatment schools and counseling and 

other services were provided under the 

GEAR UP grant in both treatment and 

control schools; 

(ii) Two surveys of GEAR UP students 

about their participation in GEAR UP 

program activities and other college 

access programs; their expectations 

about college enrollment and costs; their 

knowledge about college savings and 

financial aid; their financial literacy; 

their plans for enrollment in collegepreparatory courses; and their financial 

behaviors, including the extent to which 

they are saving for college; 

(iii) Two surveys of parents of 

students participating in the GEAR UP 

program, in a form that will be 

comprehensible to parents of English 

language learners, about their 

participation in GEAR UP program 

activities and other college access 

programs; their expectations about their 

child’s college enrollment and costs; 

their knowledge about college savings 

and financial aid; their financial 

literacy; and their financial decisions, 

including the extent to which they are 

saving for college; 

(iv) For treatment schools, data on the 

extent to which their staff attend the 

required professional development; 

(v) For both treatment and control 

schools, rosters of all GEAR UP 

participants who are in the 9th grade in 

fall 2013, including the names of the 

students, and other identifying 

information (such as their dates of birth, 

zip codes, or district or school 

identification numbers) that will enable 

the Department’s evaluator to request 

the administrative records from the 

State or LEA about the appropriate 

students; 

(vi) Access to the appropriate State or 

LEA school administrative records, 

which will be used to measure student 

characteristics and achievement prior to 

the 9th grade, student attendance, 

course taking patterns, and credits in 

grades 9–12 for students in the 

treatment and control schools; 

(viii) From the grantee, annual 

information on individual student 

accounts, including the timing and 

amounts of disbursements of seed and 

matching funds, and the student’s name, 

address, and date of birth. 

(c) Letters of Support. Each applicant 

must include in its application the 

following: 

(1) Letters of support from the 

relevant LEAs. Unless the SEA agrees in 

the application to provide this same 

data on its own, these letters of support 

also must contain the LEA’s agreement 

to provide the relevant school records 

data to the evaluation contractor, 

including the following school records 

data for GEAR UP participants who are 

enrolled in the 9th grade in the 

treatment schools and control schools in 

the fall 2013, regardless of whether the 

student has continued to be enrolled in 

his or her original high school: 

(i) Scores on State or districtadministrated assessments of reading 

and math for the 7th and 8th grades and 

high school years; 

(ii) High school attendance; 

(iii) High school courses in which the 

student was enrolled and grades and 

credits received for those courses; 

(iv) Demographic information such as 

gender, race/ethnicity, parents’ 

educational attainment, English 

proficiency, and the extent to which a 

language other than English is spoken at 

home; 

(v) Whether the student is certified as 

eligible for free or reduced price lunch 

through the National School Lunch 

Program; and 

(vi) Whether the student has an 

individualized education program. 

(2) A letter from the principal of each 

high school identified in the application 

agreeing to participate in all aspects of 

the evaluation and grant, including: 

(i) Random assignment of the high 

school; 

(ii) If randomly selected to implement 

the intervention, allowing the GEAR UP 

program to offer the college savings 

account and counseling intervention to 

eligible GEAR UP participants at the 

principal’s high school; and 

(iii) Regardless of whether a school is 

in the treatment or control group, 

provision to the evaluation contractor of 

rosters of GEAR UP participants who are 

in the 9th grade in fall 2013, including 

identifying information (such as student 

names, dates of birth, zip codes, or 

district or school identification 

numbers) that will enable the contractor 

to request the administrative records 

from the State or LEA about the 

appropriate students. 

(3) Letter from the superintendent of 

each LEA overseeing the schools in the 

evaluation, agreeing to all aspects of the 

evaluation and grant, including— 

(i) Random assignment of the high 

schools; 

(ii) If randomly selected to implement 

the intervention, an agreement allowing 

the State GEAR UP program to offer the 

college savings account and financial 

counseling to eligible GEAR UP 

participants consistent with the 

priorities and requirements in this 

notice; and 

(iii) Regardless of whether the schools 

are in the treatment or control group, an 

agreement to provide to the evaluation 

contractor rosters of GEAR UP 

participants who are in the 9th grade in 

fall 2013, including identifying 

information (such as student names, 

dates of birth, zip codes, or district or 

school identification numbers) that will 

enable the contractor to request the 

administrative records from the State or 

LEA about the appropriate students. 

(iv) An agreement to have district or 

school directory information policies in 

place prior to July 1, 2013 that allow for 

student information to be shared in 

compliance with Federal law with the 

savings account administrator, the 

savings account trustee, or both, as 

needed to establish and manage the 

college savings accounts. Under the 

provisions of the FERPA and its 

implementing regulations, each of the 

LEAs in the application or schools 

therein must have provided public 

notice that the district or school has 

designated as ‘‘directory information’’ 

under FERPA the student’s name, grade 

level, address, and date of birth. In 

addition, in accordance with FERPA, if 

any parents or guardians of a student 

has opted out of the disclosure of this 

student directory information, the 

school or LEA will not provide 

‘‘directory information’’ on that student 

to the savings account administrator or 

the savings account trustee and savings 

accounts with GEAR UP seed money 

will not be opened in his or her name, 

unless the parent or guardian of that 

student provides consent under 34 CFR 

99.30. 

Types of Priorities: 

When inviting applications for a 

competition using one or more 

priorities, we designate the type of each 

priority as absolute, competitive 

preference, or invitational through a 

notice in the Federal Register. The 

effect of each type of priority follows: 

Absolute priority: Under an absolute 

priority, we consider only applications 

that meet the priority (34 CFR 

75.105(c)(3)). 

Competitive preference priority: 

Under a competitive preference priority, 

we give competitive preference to an 

application by (1) awarding additional 

points, depending on the extent to 

which the application meets the priority 

(34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i)); or (2) selecting 

an application that meets the priority 

over an application of comparable merit 

that does not meet the priority (34 CFR 

75.105(c)(2)(ii)). 

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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 106 / Friday, June 1, 2012 / Notices 32621 

Invitational priority: Under an 

invitational priority, we are particularly 

interested in applications that meet the 

priority. However, we do not give an 

application that meets the priority a 

preference over other applications (34 

CFR 75.105(c)(1)). 

Final Priorities: 

We will announce the final priorities 

in a notice in the Federal Register. We 

will determine the final priorities after 

considering responses to this notice and 

other information available to the 

Department. This notice does not 

preclude us from proposing additional 

priorities subject to meeting applicable 

rulemaking requirements. 

Note: This notice does not solicit 

applications. In any year in which we choose 

to use one or more of these priorities, we 

invite applications through a notice in the 

Federal Register. 

Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 

Regulatory Impact Analysis 

Under Executive Order 12866, the 

Secretary must determine whether this 

regulatory action is ‘‘significant’’ and 

therefore subject to the requirements of 

the Executive order and subject to 

review by Office of Management and 

Budget (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) Raise novel legal or policy issues 

arising out of legal mandates, the 

President’s priorities, or the principles 

set forth in the Executive Order. 

This proposed regulatory action is not 

a significant regulatory action subject to 

review by OMB under section 3(f) of 

Executive Order 12866. 

We have also reviewed these 

priorities under Executive Order 13563, 

which supplements and explicitly 

reaffirms the principles, structures, and 

definitions governing regulatory review 

established in Executive Order 12866. 

To the extent permitted by law, 

Executive Order 13563 requires that an 

agency— 

(1) Propose or adopt regulations only 

on a reasoned determination that their 

benefits justify their costs (recognizing 

that some benefits and costs are difficult 

to quantify); 

(2) Tailor its regulations to impose the 

least burden on society, consistent with 

obtaining regulatory objectives and 

taking into account—among other things 

and to the extent practicable—the costs 

of cumulative regulations; 

(3) In choosing among alternative 

regulatory approaches, select those 

approaches that maximize net benefits 

(including potential economic, 

environmental, public health and safety, 

and other advantages; distributive 

impacts; and equity); 

(4) To the extent feasible, specify 

performance objectives, rather than the 

behavior or manner of compliance a 

regulated entity must adopt; and 

(5) Identify and assess available 

alternatives to direct regulation, 

including economic incentives—such as 

user fees or marketable permits—to 

encourage the desired behavior, or 

provide information that enables the 

public to make choices. 

Executive Order 13563 also requires 

an agency ‘‘to use the best available 

techniques to quantify anticipated 

present and future benefits and costs as 

accurately as possible.’’ The Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs of 

OMB has emphasized that these 

techniques may include ‘‘identifying 

changing future compliance costs that 

might result from technological 

innovation or anticipated behavioral 

changes.’’ 

We are issuing these proposed 

priorities only on a reasoned 

determination that the benefits justify 

the costs. In choosing among alternative 

regulatory approaches, we selected 

those approaches that maximize net 

benefits. The Department believes that 

this proposed regulatory action is 

consistent with the principles in 

Executive Order 13563. 

We also have determined that this 

regulatory action would not unduly 

interfere with State, local, and tribal 

governments in the exercise of their 

governmental functions. 

In accordance with both Executive 

orders, the Department has assessed the 

potential costs and benefits of this 

regulatory action. The potential costs 

associated with this proposed regulatory 

action are those resulting from statutory 

requirements and those we have 

determined as necessary for 

administering this program effectively 

and efficiently. The potential benefits 

are those resulting from the provision of 

college savings accounts, financial 

incentives, and financial counseling to 

10,000 GEAR UP students and parents, 

and the evidence gained about the effect 

of providing these in the context of 

GEAR UP support services. 

Intergovernmental Review: This 

program is subject to Executive Order 

12372 and the regulations in 34 CFR 

part 79. One of the objectives of the 

Executive Order is to foster an 

intergovernmental partnership and a 

strengthened federalism. The Executive 

Order relies on processes developed by 

State and local governments for 

coordination and review of proposed 

Federal financial assistance. 

This document provides early 

notification of our specific plans and 

actions for this program. 

Accessible Format: Individuals with 

disabilities can obtain this document in 

an accessible format (e.g., braille, large 

print, audiotape, or compact disc) on 

request to the program contact person 

listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT. 

Electronic Access to This Document: 

The official version of this document is 

the document published in the Federal 

Register. Free Internet access to the 

official edition of the Federal Register 

and the Code of Federal Regulations is 

available via the Federal Digital System 

at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys. At this site you 

can view this document, as well as all 

other documents of this Department 

published in the Federal Register, in 

text or Adobe Portable Document 

Format (PDF). To use PDF you must 

have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is 

available free at the site. You may also 

access documents of the Department 

published in the Federal Register by 

using the article search feature at: 

www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, 

through the advanced search feature at 

this site, you can limit your search to 

documents published by the 

Department. 

Dated: May 25, 2012. 

Eduardo M. Ochoa, 

Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary 

Education. 

[FR Doc. 2012–13232 Filed 5–31–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy 

Developing Large-Scale Renewable 

Energy Projects at Federal Facilities 

Using Private Capital Draft 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, Department of 

Energy (DOE). 

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