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4000-01-U 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

34 CFR Chapter VI 

[Docket ID ED-2012-OPE-0008] 

Negotiated Rulemaking Committee; Public Hearings 

AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of 

Education. 

ACTION: Intent to establish negotiated rulemaking 

committee. 

SUMMARY: We announce our intention to establish a 

negotiated rulemaking committee to prepare proposed 

regulations for the Federal Student Aid Programs authorized 

by the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA). The 

committee will include representatives of organizations or 

groups with interests that are significantly affected by 

the subject matter of the proposed regulations. We also 

announce two public hearings at which interested parties 

may suggest additional issues that should be considered for 

action by the negotiating committee. In addition, for 

anyone unable to attend a public hearing, we announce that 

the Department will accept written comments. 

DATES: The dates, times, and locations of the public 

hearings are listed under the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION 

section of this notice. We must receive written comments 
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suggesting issues that should be considered for action by 

the negotiating committee on or before May 31, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal or via postal mail, commercial delivery, 

or hand delivery. We will not accept comments by fax or by 

e-mail. To ensure that we do not receive duplicate copies, 

please submit your comments only once. In addition, please 

include the Docket ID at the top of your comments. 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

www.regulations.gov to submit your comments electronically. 

Information on using Regulations.gov, including 

instructions for accessing agency documents, submitting 

comments, and viewing the docket is available on the site 

under “How to Use Regulations.gov.” 

• Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery. 

If you mail or deliver your comments about these proposed 

regulations, address them to Wendy Macias, U.S. Department 

of Education, 1990 K Street, NW., room 8017, Washington, DC 

20006. 

Privacy Note: The Department’s policy is to make all 

comments received from members of the public (available for 

public viewing in their entirety on the Federal eRulemaking 

Portal at www.regulations.gov. Therefore, commenters 
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should be careful to include in their comments only 

information that they wish to make publicly available. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about the 

public hearings, go to 

http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2012/i

ndex.html or contact: Wendy Macias, U.S. Department of 

Education, 1990 K Street, NW., room 8017, Washington, DC 

20006. Telephone: (202) 502-7526. E-mail: 

Wendy.Macias@ed.gov. 

 For information about negotiated rulemaking in 

general, see The Negotiated Rulemaking Process for Title IV 

Regulations, Frequently Asked Questions at 

http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/hea08/

neg-reg-faq.html or contact: Wendy Macias, U.S. Department 

of Education, 1990 K Street, NW., room 8017, Washington, DC 

20006. Telephone: (202) 502-7526. E-mail: 

Wendy.Macias@ed.gov. 

 If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf 

(TDD) or text telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay 

Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-800-877-8339. 

 Individuals with disabilities can obtain this document 

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

audiotape, or compact disc) by contacting Wendy Macias, 

U.S. Department of Education, 1990 K Street, NW., room 
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8017, Washington, DC 20006. Telephone: (202) 502-7526. Email: Wendy.Macias@ed.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 492 of the HEA requires 

that, before publishing any proposed regulations to 

implement programs authorized under Title IV of the HEA, 

the Secretary obtain public involvement in the development 

of the proposed regulations. After obtaining advice and 

recommendations from the public, the Secretary conducts 

negotiated rulemaking to develop the proposed regulations. 

We announce our intent to develop proposed Title IV 

regulations by following the negotiated rulemaking 

procedures in section 492 of the HEA. 

We intend to select participants for the negotiated 

rulemaking committee from nominees of the organizations and 

groups that represent the interests significantly affected 

by the proposed regulations. To the extent possible, we 

will select, from the nominees, individual negotiators who 

reflect the diversity among program participants, in 

accordance with section 492(b)(1) of the HEA. 

REGULATORY ISSUES

We intend to convene a committee to develop proposed 

regulations designed to prevent fraud and otherwise ensure 

proper use of Title IV, HEA program funds, especially 

within the context of current technologies. In particular, 
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we intend to propose regulations to address the use of 

debit cards and other banking mechanisms for disbursing 

Federal Student Aid funds. In addition, we intend to 

propose regulations to improve and streamline the campusbased Federal Student Aid programs. 

On September 26, 2011, the Department’s Office of 

Inspector General issued an Investigative Program Advisory 

Report alerting the Department to the increasingly common 

discovery of groups of individuals who conspire to defraud 

the Title IV, HEA programs through distance education 

programs (the report is available at 

http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/invtreports/l42l0

001.pdf). In response to the report, on October 20, 2011, 

the Department issued Dear Colleague Letter GEN-11-17 

(available at http://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/GEN1117.html) 

recommending actions that institutions can take to detect 

and prevent fraud in distance education programs and 

convened a Department-wide task force on the subject. The 

Department is now considering suggestions for regulatory 

changes to further help institutions combat fraud and 

protect students and taxpayers from fraudulent activity. 

In addition, we are considering regulatory changes 

related to the disbursement of Title IV, HEA program funds, 

particularly electronic funds transfers (EFTs) made 
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directly to a student's bank account and available to the 

student via debit or another bank-provided card. We are 

interested in how or whether the use of EFTs, in lieu of 

checks, could provide one means to help prevent fraud or 

identify those involved in fraud rings. We are also 

interested in whether students should have a greater role 

in deciding to accept debit cards or other banking services 

provided through an institutionally-controlled process or 

contracted provider, particularly in view of the costs and 

fees associated with the use of those cards and services. 

We are requesting public input on these areas and others 

that the public believes should be addressed through 

regulations to ensure the proper use of Title IV, HEA 

program funds. 

Finally, pursuant to Executive Order 13563, the 

Department issued its final "Plan for Retrospective 

Analysis of Existing Regulations" in August 2011 (the plan 

is available at 

http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/reg/retrospectiveanalysis/index.html). The Department's plan creates a 

defined policy, method, and schedule for identifying 

significant regulations, as determined under Executive 

Order 12866, that may be outmoded, ineffective, 

insufficient, or excessively burdensome, as well as 
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regulations that can be modified, streamlined, expanded, or 

repealed to be more effective and efficient, achieve better 

outcomes for students, and be easy to understand. As part 

of the retrospective analysis of existing regulations, the 

Department identified the need to review the regulations in 

34 CFR parts 673, 674, 675, and 676 governing the campusbased Federal Student Aid programs (i.e., the Federal 

Perkins Loan, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity 

Grants, and Federal Work-Study programs). The Department 

is considering whether to update and streamline the 

regulations governing these programs. We will consider 

changes that improve the administration and efficiency of 

these programs while reducing burden on regulated parties. 

After a complete review of the public comments 

presented at the public hearings and in the written 

submissions, we will publish a document (or documents) 

announcing the specific subject areas for which we intend 

to establish a negotiated rulemaking committee, and a 

request for nominations for individual negotiators for the 

committee who represent the interests significantly 

affected by the proposed regulations. 

Public Hearings
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We will hold two public hearings for interested 

parties to discuss the rulemaking agenda. The public 

hearings will be held on: 

• May 23, 2012, at South Mountain Community College, 

7050 South 24th Street, Student Union Building, Room 

100-ABC, Phoenix, AZ 85042. 

• May 31, 2012, at the U.S. Department of Education, 

1990 K Street, NW., 8th Floor Conference Center, 

Washington, DC 20006. 

The public hearings will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 

4:00 p.m., local time. Further information on the public 

hearing sites, including directions, is available at 

http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2012/i

ndex.html. 

Individuals desiring to present comments at the public 

hearings must register by sending an e-mail to 

negreg2012@ed.gov. The e-mail should include the name of 

the presenter along with a general timeframe during which 

the individual would like to speak (for example, a 

presenter could indicate morning or afternoon, or before 

11:00 a.m. or after 3:00 p.m.). We will attempt to 

accommodate each speaker’s preference but, if we are unable 

to do so, we will make the determination on a first-come 

first-served basis (based on the time and date the e-mail 
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was received). It is likely that each participant will be 

limited to five minutes. The Department will notify 

registrants indicating the specific location and time slot 

reserved for them. An individual may make only one 

presentation at the public hearings. If we receive more 

registrations than we are able to accommodate, the 

Department reserves the right to reject the registration of 

an entity or individual that is affiliated with an entity 

or individual that is already scheduled to present 

comments, and to select among registrants to ensure that a 

broad range of entities and individuals is allowed to 

present. We will accept walk-in registrations for any 

remaining time slots on a first-come first-served basis 

beginning at 8:30 a.m. on the day of the public hearing at 

the Department’s on-site registration table. 

Speakers may also submit written comments. In 

addition, for anyone who does not present at a public 

hearing, the Department will accept written comments 

through May 31, 2012. (See the ADDRESSES sections of this 

notice for submission information.) 

SCHEDULE FOR NEGOTIATIONS 

We anticipate that any committee established after the 

public hearings will begin negotiations in September 2012, 

with the committee meeting for up to three sessions of 
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approximately three days each at roughly monthly intervals. 

The committee will meet in the Washington, DC area. The 

dates and locations of these meetings will be published in 

a subsequent document in the Federal Register, and will be 

posted on the Department’s Web site at: 

http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2012/i

ndex.html. 

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: http://www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through 
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the advanced search feature at this site, you can limit 

your search to documents published by the Department. 

Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1098a. 

Dated: April 26, 2012 

 ____________________________ 

David A. Bergeron, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Planning, 

and Innovation, delegated the authority to 

perform the functions and duties of the Assistant 

Secretary for Postsecondary Education. 

[FR Doc. 2012-10488 Filed 

04/30/2012 at 8:45 am; 

Publication Date: 05/01/2012]