Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 52 / Tuesday, March 18, 1997 / Notices 12817

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:

Individual and official personnel files.

EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:

None.

[FR Doc. 97–6746 Filed 3–17–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 5000–04–F

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Notice of Proposed Information

Collection Requests

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Proposed collection; comments

requested.

SUMMARY: The Secretary of Education

requests comments on the Free

Application for Federal Student Aid

(FAFSA) that the Secretary proposes to

use for the 1998–99 award year. The

FAFSA is completed by students and

their families and the information

submitted on the form is used to

determine the students’ eligibility and

financial need for the student financial

assistance programs authorized under

Title IV of the Higher Education Act of

1965, as amended, (Title IV, HEA

Programs). The Secretary is particularly

seeking comments regarding whether all

the questions on the FAFSA are needed.

The Secretary will consider these

comments not only for the 1998–99

FAFSA but also in the design of the

1999–2000 FAFSA.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to

submit comments on or before May 19,

1997.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and

requests for copies of the proposed

information collection requests should

be addressed to Patrick J. Sherrill,

Department of Education, 600

Independence Avenue, S.W., Room

5624, Regional Office Building 3,

Washington, DC 20202–4651.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Patrick J. Sherrill (202) 708–8196.

Individuals who use a

telecommunications device for the deaf

(TDD) may call the Federal Information

Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339

between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern time,

Monday through Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section

483 of the Higher Education Act of

1965, as amended (HEA), requires the

Secretary, ‘‘in cooperation with agencies

and organizations involved in providing

student financial assistance,’’ to

‘‘produce, distribute and process free of

charge a common financial reporting

form to be used to determine the need

and eligibility of a student under’’ the

Title IV, HEA Programs. This form is the

FAFSA. In addition, section 483

authorizes the Secretary to include on

the FAFSA up to eight non-financial

data items that would assist States in

awarding State student financial

assistance.

Over the past several years, the

Secretary, in cooperation with the above

described agencies and organizations,

has added questions to the form. Those

questions were added to accommodate

the needs of States that administer State

student aid programs, and of

institutions of higher education that

administer the Title IV, HEA Programs.

They were also added to facilitate

eliminating or reducing the number of

State and institutional forms that a

student and his or her family must

complete in order to receive student

financial assistance.

In the context of re-engineering the

FAFSA and looking at each FAFSA

question anew, it appears that a great

many of the questions now on the form

are not needed to determine a student’s

need and eligibility for Title IV, HEA

Programs. Moreover, it also appears that

many questions are of a marginal value,

even for State and institutional

purposes.

The 1998–99 FAFSA will begin to be

used on January 1, 1998. Because of the

lead time needed to begin using that

form on that date, the Secretary has

proposed to modify or eliminate only a

minimum number of questions of the

proposed 1998–99 FAFSA. Using the

1996–97 and 1997–98 FAFSAs as a

reference point, the Secretary proposes

eliminating question 37. The Secretary

proposes to combine questions 20 and

21 into a single yes/no question, as

follows: ‘‘Will you have received a high

school diploma or earned a GED before

the first date of your enrollment in

college?’’ The Secretary proposes to

eliminate the ‘‘day’’ in questions 12, 31,

and 50 leaving just the ‘‘month’’ and

‘‘year.’’ Finally, the Secretary proposes

to eliminate the fourth option under

‘‘housing codes’’ on page four of the

FAFSA. The Secretary seeks comments

on these modifications.

With regard to the 1999–2000 FAFSA,

using the 1996–97 and 1997–98 FAFSAs

as a reference point, the Secretary notes

that a student does not need to complete

the following questions in order to have

his or her eligibility and need for Title

IV, HEA Programs determined: 11–14,

18, 20–39, 50, 53–54, 65–66, and 92-

105. Therefore the Secretary requests

comments on the need and desirability

of these questions.

In particular, the Secretary requests

comments on whether a particular

question is integral to a State student

aid program, and requests each State to

list in order of importance, those

questions that it needs to administer its

State student aid programs.

The Secretary is publishing this

request for comment under the

provisions of the Paperwork Reduction

Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.

Under that Act, ED must obtain the

review and approval of the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) before

it may use a form to collect information.

However, under the procedure for

obtaining approval from OMB, ED must

first obtain public comment on the

proposed form, and to obtain that

comment, ED must publish this notice

in the Federal Register.

In addition to comments requested

above, to accommodate the

requirements of the Paperwork

Reduction Act, the Secretary is

interested in receiving comments with

regard to the following matters: (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.

Dated: March 12, 1997.

Gloria Parker,

Director, Information Resources Management

Group.

Office of Postsecondary Education

Type of Review: Revision.

Title: Free Application for Federal

Student Aid (FAFSA).

Frequency: Annually.

Affected Public: Individuals and

families.

Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping

Hour Burden:

Responses: 9,831,756.

Burden Hours: 7,625,993.

Abstract: The FAFSA collects

identifying and financial information

about a student and his or her family if

the student applies for Title IV, Higher

Education Act (HEA) Program funds.
12818 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 52 / Tuesday, March 18, 1997 / Notices

This information is used to calculate the

student’s expected family contribution,

which is used to determine a student’s

financial need. The information is also

used to determine the student’s

eligibility for grants and loans under the

Title IV, HEA Programs. It is further

used for determining a student’s

eligibility and need for State and

institutional financial aid programs.

[FR Doc. 97–6742 Filed 3–17–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P

Submission for OMB Review;

Comment Request

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Submission for OMB review;

comment request.

SUMMARY: The Director, Information

Resources Management Group, invites

comments on the submission for OMB

review as required by the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to

submit comments on or before April 17,

1997.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should

be addressed to the Office of

Information and Regulatory Affairs,

Attention: Wendy Taylor, Desk Officer,

Department of Education, Office of

Management and Budget, 725 17th

Street, NW., Room 10235, New

Executive Office Building, Washington,

DC 20503. Requests for copies of the

proposed information collection

requests should be addressed to Patrick

J. Sherrill, Department of Education, 600

Independence Avenue, S.W., Room

5624, Regional Office Building 3,

Washington, DC 20202–4651.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Patrick J. Sherrill (202) 708–8196.

Individuals who use a

telecommunications device for the deaf

(TDD) may call the Federal Information

Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339

between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern time,

Monday through Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section

3506 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of

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

that the Office of Management and

Budget (OMB) provide interested

Federal agencies and the public an early

opportunity to comment on information

collection requests. OMB may amend or

waive the requirement for public

consultation to the extent that public

participation in the approval process

would defeat the purpose of the

information collection, violate State or

Federal law, or substantially interfere

with any agency’s ability to perform its

statutory obligations. The Director of the

Information Resources Management

Group publishes this notice containing

proposed information collection

requests prior to submission of these

requests to OMB. Each proposed

information collection, grouped by

office, contains the following: (1) Type

of review requested, e.g., new, revision,

extension, existing or reinstatement; (2)

Title; (3) Summary of the collection; (4)

Description of the need for, and

proposed use of, the information; (5)

Respondents and frequency of

collection; and (6) Reporting and/or

Recordkeeping burden. OMB invites

public comment at the address specified

above. Copies of the requests are

available from Patrick J. Sherrill at the

address specified above.

Dated: March 12, 1997.

Gloria Parker,

Director, Information Resources Management

Group.

Office of Postsecondary Education

Type of Review: Reinstatement.

Title: Combined Application for the

Talent Search and Educational

Opportunity Centers Program.

Frequency: Annually.

Affected Public: Business or other forprofit; Not-for-profit institutions; State,

local or Tribal Gov’t, SEAs or LEAs.

Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping

Hour Burden:

Responses: 1,200.

Burden Hours: 40,800.

Abstract: The application form is

needed to conduct a national

competition for program years 97–98 for

the Talent Search and the Educational

Opportunity Centers. These programs

provide federal financial assistance in

the form of grants to institutions of

higher education, public and private

agencies and organizations,

combinations of institutions and

agencies and, in exceptional cases,

secondary schools to establish and

operate projects designed to provide

information regarding financial and

academic assistance available for

individuals who desire to pursue a

program of postsecondary education,

and assist individuals to apply for

admission to institutions that offer

programs of postsecondary education.

[FR Doc. 97–6743 Filed 3–17–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Site Services Division; Notice of

Availability of a Cooperative

Agreement Solicitation for the History

of the Savannah River Site

AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy

(DOE), Savannah River (SR) Office.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of a

Cooperative Agreement Solicitation.

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of

Energy (DOE) at SR is announcing the

availability of a cooperative agreement

solicitation for the history of the

Savannah River Site (SRS). The SRS is

approaching its fiftieth anniversary and

is currently involved in closing old

production facilities and related

environmental restoration of these

facilities. The solicitation was made

available on February 28, 1997;

applications are due March 28, 1997.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As a

matter of legacy and education, it is

important that Savannah River capture

the technical history of the old

production facilities, related artifacts,

and the technology developed at SRS

from the inception of the site in the

early 1950’s to the present time.

The purpose of this solicitation is to

establish a mechanism to research,

develop and preserve the mission

(nuclear materials production) history of

SRS, and to provide a product tool to be

used for continual education and public

information purposes.

The participant will conduct a threephased project to record and preserve

the history of the SRS. Phase One will

involve a survey of structures and

artifacts of historic significance at SRS

including photographs and documents,

development of criteria for determining

historic significance, and the recording

of oral histories from scientists and

engineers associated with the

development of nuclear energy at SRS.

Phase Two will require the gathering,

archiving and storage of those items

identified in the Phase One survey.

Phase Three will consist of the

preparation and submission of an

electronic narrative of the site history

and recommendations for archival and

future use of the artifacts, documents,

photographs and personal narratives.

All phases of this project must be

carried out in concert and with the

objective of compiling a site history that

evaluates and determines the

significance of SRS’ role in the Cold

War and provides recommendations for

nomination of various site buildings and

structures to the National Register of

Historic Places including

recommendations for meeting