104934 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 247 / Thursday, December 26, 2024 / Proposed Rules 

1As the Department noted in the NPRM, these 

proposed regulations related to hardship are 

separate from the proposals for student debt relief 

specified in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 

issued on April 17, 2024 (April 2024 NPRM) (89 FR 

27564), which is the subject of a separate Notice of 

Withdrawal. These proposed regulations differ from 

the waivers in the April 2024 NPRM along various 

dimensions, including that the provisions in this 

receiving the demand. If the Internal 

Revenue Service does not issue such 

complaint within 60 days of receiving 

the demand, the suspension or 

disqualification is lifted automatically. 

The preceding sentence does not, 

however, preclude the Commissioner, or 

delegate, from instituting a regular 

proceeding under § 10.80. 

(g) Applicability date. This section is 

applicable beginning on [date 30 days 

after date of publication of final 

regulations in the Federal Register]. 

■ Par. 41. Newly redesignated § 10.110 

is amended by: 

■ 1. Removing paragraph (a)(4). 

■ 2. Redesignating paragraphs (a)(5) and 

(6) as paragraphs (a)(4) and (5). 

■ 3. Revising paragraph (c). 

The revision reads as follows: 

§ 10.110 Records. 

* * * * * 

(c) Applicability date. This section is 

applicable beginning on [date 30 days 

after date of publication of final 

regulations in the Federal Register]. 

■ Par. 42. Sections 10.111 and 10.112 

are added to read as follows: 

§ 10.111 Establishment of advisory 

committees. 

(a) Advisory committees. To promote 

and maintain the public’s confidence in 

tax advisors, the Internal Revenue 

Service is authorized to establish one or 

more advisory committees composed of 

at least six individuals authorized to 

practice before the Internal Revenue 

Service. Membership of an advisory 

committee must be balanced among 

those who practice as attorneys, 

accountants, enrolled agents, enrolled 

actuaries, and enrolled retirement plan 

agents. Under procedures prescribed by 

the Internal Revenue Service, an 

advisory committee may review and 

make general recommendations 

regarding the practices, procedures, and 

policies of the offices described in 

§ 10.1. 

(b) Applicability date. This section is 

applicable beginning on [date 30 days 

after date of publication of final 

regulations in the Federal Register]. 

§ 10.112 Saving provision. 

Any proceeding instituted under this 

part prior to [date 30 days after date of 

publication of final regulations in the 

Federal Register], for which a final 

decision has not been reached or for 

which judicial review is still available is 

not affected by the revisions to this part 

effective [effective date of final 

regulations]. Any proceeding under this 

part based on conduct engaged in prior 

to [date 30 days after date of publication 

of final regulations in the Federal 

Register], which is instituted after that 

date, will apply this subpart, but the 

conduct engaged in prior to [effective 

date of final regulations], will be judged 

by the regulations in effect at the time 

the conduct occurred. 

■ Par. 43. Section 10.114 is added to 

read as follows: 

§ 10.114 Applicability date. 

Except as otherwise provided in any 

section of this part and subject to 

§ 10.112, the provisions of this part are 

applicable on [date 30 days after date of 

publication of final regulations in the 

Federal Register]. 

Douglas W. O’Donnell, 

Deputy Commissioner. 

Aviva R. Aron-Dine, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury 

(Tax Policy). 

[FR Doc. 2024–29371 Filed 12–20–24; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 4830–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

34 CFR Part 30 

[Docket ID ED–2023–OPE–0123] 

RIN 1840–AD95 

Student Debt Relief Based on Hardship 

for the William D. Ford Federal Direct 

Loan Program (Direct Loans), the 

Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) 

Program, the Federal Perkins Loan 

(Perkins) Program, and the Health 

Education Assistance Loan (HEAL) 

Program; Withdrawal 

AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary 

Education, Department of Education. 

ACTION: Withdrawal of notice of 

proposed rulemaking and termination of 

rulemaking proceeding. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Education (Department) is withdrawing 

a notice of proposed rulemaking 

(NPRM) that, under the Secretary’s 

authority to waive repayment of a loan 

provided by the Higher Education Act of 

1965, as amended (HEA), proposed to 

specify the Secretary’s authority to 

waive all or part of any student loan 

debts owed to the Department based on 

the Secretary’s determination that a 

borrower has experienced or is 

experiencing hardship related to such a 

loan. 

DATES: The notice of proposed 

rulemaking published in the Federal 

Register at 89 FR 87130 on October 31, 

2024, is withdrawn as of December 20, 

2024. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Tamy Abernathy, U.S. Department of 

Education, Office of Postsecondary 

Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, 

5th floor, Washington, DC 20202. 

Telephone: (202) 245–4595. Email: 

NegRegNPRMHelp@ed.gov. 

If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or 

have a speech disability and wish to 

access telecommunications relay 

services, please dial 7–1–1. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

On October 31, 2024, the Department 

published an NPRM in the Federal 

Register that, in accordance with the 

Secretary’s authority to waive 

repayment of a loan provided by 

sections 432(a)(6) and 468(2) of the 

HEA, would specify the Secretary’s 

discretion to provide debt relief to 

borrowers who are experiencing or have 

experienced hardship related to their 

loans. See 89 FR 87130. The proposed 

regulations would modify the 

Department’s existing debt collection 

regulations to provide greater specificity 

regarding the Secretary’s discretion to 

waive Federal student loan debt. The 

proposed rule outlines two pathways for 

discretionary relief: (i) a predictive 

assessment offering individualized, 

automatic waivers based on the 

borrower’s likelihood of default to 

provide immediate relief as soon as 

practicable; and (ii) a holistic 

assessment of the borrower’s 

circumstances based on an application 

or information within the Department’s 

possession to address persistent 

hardships not sufficiently addressed by 

other Department programs. 

The Department accepted public 

comments on the NPRM from October 

31, 2024 through December 2, 2024. In 

response to the NPRM, the Department 

received 14,735 written comments, and 

the Department reviewed such 

comments. 

Withdrawal of the Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking and Termination of the 

Rulemaking Proceeding 

In accordance with the Secretary’s 

authority under sections 432(a)(6) and 

468(2) of the HEA to waive repayment 

of a loan, the Department issued the 

NPRM to specify the Secretary’s 

discretion to provide targeted debt relief 

to borrowers who have experienced or 

are experiencing hardship repaying 

their student loans based on the criteria 

specified in the NPRM.1


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 247 / Thursday, December 26, 2024 / Proposed Rules 104935 

NPRM applied distinct and different eligibility 

criteria and addressed different challenges with 

student loan repayment faced by borrowers. See, 

e.g., 89 FR at 87131 n. 2. 

1The Department also published a document 

with two technical corrections on November 6, 

2020, see 85 FR 70975. 

2Cooper, Michelle Asha. ‘‘Update on the Free 

Inquiry Rule,’’ Department of Education Homeroom 

Continued 

The Department believed clarifying 

the circumstances in which the 

Secretary may use the existing and 

longstanding waiver authority under 

sections 432(a)(6) and 468(2) of the HEA 

would better inform the public about 

how the Secretary may exercise this 

waiver authority in a consistent and 

equitable manner. Current regulations 

do not describe how the Secretary uses 

this waiver authority. We also believed 

that providing such specificity would 

allow the Department to highlight 

circumstances where we are particularly 

concerned about borrowers’ inability to 

successfully repay their debts in full 

and where the Department anticipated 

that the costs of collection would 

exceed the expected benefits. 

However, upon further consideration 

of the operational challenges in 

implementing the proposals in the 

NPRM, the Secretary withdraws the 

NPRM and terminates the rulemaking 

proceeding. 

In making this decision, we 

reconsidered the Department’s ability to 

implement the proposed rules if they 

were finalized in a form identical or 

largely similar to what was included in 

the NPRM. With the time remaining in 

this Administration, the Department is 

focused on several priorities including 

court-ordered settlements and helping 

borrowers manage the final elements of 

the return to repayment following the 

Fall 2024 end of the 12-month on-ramp 

period designed to assist borrowers who 

were unable to make their payments or 

who needed more time to access 

information to determine the right 

repayment plan for their circumstances. 

With the end of the on-ramp period, 

some borrowers may start becoming 

delinquent and start down the path to 

default. Given that many newer 

borrowers are at risk of default, and the 

Department expects that many of these 

newer borrowers would not have been 

otherwise eligible for immediate relief 

under the proposed rules in the NPRM, 

along with the uncertainty around the 

implementation of the NPRM proposals, 

the Department at this time intends to 

commit its limited operational resources 

to helping at-risk borrowers return to 

repayment successfully. For all of these 

independently sufficient reasons, the 

Department is withdrawing this NPRM. 

Importantly, the Department is not 

withdrawing this NPRM and 

terminating this rulemaking proceeding 

based upon a changed view of the 

Secretary’s authority under section 

432(a) and 468(2) of the HEA, or based 

upon any preliminary determination 

about the limitations of such authority. 

See Missouri v. Biden, No. 24–cv–1316, 

ECF No. 57 (granting preliminary 

injunction in challenge focused on 

separate April 2024 NPRM relying on 

waiver authority). Rather, the 

Department continues to believe that the 

NPRM is authorized by the Secretary’s 

longstanding and existing authority 

under the HEA, as explained in the 

NPRM. See, e.g., 89 FR 87133–34. 

We do not intend for a final rule to 

be issued on this NPRM. Were the 

Department to issue a regulation in this 

area in the future, it would be bound by 

the requirements of section 492(a) and 

(b) of the HEA, 20 U.S.C. 1098a(a) and 

(b). 

Accessible Format: On request to the 

program contact person listed under FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, 

individuals with disabilities can obtain 

this document in an accessible format. 

The Department will provide the 

requestor with an accessible format that 

may include Rich Text Format (RTF) or 

text format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3, 

braille, large print, audiotape, compact 

disc, or other accessible format. 

Electronic Access to This Document: 

The official version of this document is 

the document published in the Federal 

Register. You may access the official 

edition of the Federal Register and the 

Code of Federal Regulations at 

www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can 

view this document, as well as all other 

Department documents published in the 

Federal Register, in text or Portable 

Document Format (PDF). To use PDF, 

you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, 

which is available free at the site. 

You may also access Department 

documents 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. 

Miguel Cardona, 

Secretary of Education. 

[FR Doc. 2024–30605 Filed 12–20–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

34 CFR Parts 75 and 76 

[Docket ID ED–2022–OPE–0157] 

RIN 1840–AD72 

Direct Grant Programs, StateAdministered Formula Grant 

Programs; Withdrawal 

AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary 

Education, Department of Education. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking; 

withdrawal. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Education (Department) is withdrawing 

a notice of proposed rulemaking to 

rescind regulations related to religious 

student organizations at certain public 

institutions of higher education (IHEs). 

The proposed regulations would have 

applied to public IHEs that receive a 

direct grant from the Department or a 

subgrant from a State-administered 

formula grant program of the 

Department. 

DATES: The notice of proposed 

rulemaking published in the Federal 

Register at 88 FR 10857 on February 22, 

2023, is withdrawn as of December 20, 

2024. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Scott Prince, U.S. Department of 

Education, Office of Postsecondary 

Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, 

5th floor, Washington, DC 20202. 

Telephone: (202) 453–5568. Email: 

NegRegNPRMHelp@ed.gov. 

If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or 

have a speech disability and wish to 

access telecommunications relay 

services, please dial 7–1–1. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

On September 23, 2020, the 

Department promulgated a final rule 

that addressed freedom of speech and 

the free exercise of religion at 

institutions of higher education 

participating in certain programs 

administered by the Department. See 85 

FR 59916.1 On August 19, 2021, the 

Department announced our intent to 

conduct a review of these regulations 

while keeping in mind the importance 

of several key elements, including First 

Amendment protections, 

nondiscrimination requirements, and 

the promotion of inclusive learning 

environments for all students.2 As part 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with PROPOSALS1