[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 160 (Monday, August 23, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47092-47093]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-18080]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket ID ED-2021-FSA-0081]


Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program

AGENCY: Federal Student Aid, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of a new matching program.

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SUMMARY: This provides notice of the establishment of the matching 
program between the U.S. Department of Education (Department) and the 
Social Security Administration (SSA), which sets forth the terms, 
safeguards, and procedures under which the SSA will disclose to the 
Department data related to the Medical Improvement Not Expected (MINE) 
disability data of beneficiaries and recipients under title II and 
title XVI of the Social Security Act from the SSA system of records 
entitled the Disability Control File (DCF) and the Master Beneficiary 
Record (MBR). This matching program will enable the Department to 
contact the individuals who have a balance on a loan under title IV of 
the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), have a loan under 
title IV of the HEA written off due to default, or have an outstanding 
service or repayment obligation under the Teacher Education Assistance 
for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program to inform title 
IV borrowers and TEACH Grant recipients whom SSA identifies as disabled 
that ED will discharge the borrowers' title IV loans or TEACH Grant 
service or repayment obligations no earlier than 61 days from the date 
that ED sends the notification to the borrower, unless the borrower 
chooses to have their loans or service obligations discharged earlier 
or chooses to opt out of the Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) 
discharge within 60 days from the date that ED sends the notification 
to the borrower.

DATES: Submit your comments on the proposed re-establishment of the 
matching program on or before September 22, 2021.
    The matching program will go into effect on the later of the 
following two dates: Thirty (30) days after the publication of this 
notice, on August 23, 2021, unless comments have been received from 
interested members of the public requiring modification and 
republication of the notice in which case 30 days from the date on 
which ED publishes a revised matching program notice in the Federal 
Register, or on September 30, 2021. The matching program will continue 
for 18 months after the effective date and may be renewed for up to an 
additional 12 months if, within 3 months prior to the expiration of the 
18 months, the respective Data Integrity Boards of the Department and 
SSA determine that the conditions specified in 5 U.S.C. 552a(o)(2)(D) 
have been met.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal 
or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. We will not 
accept comments submitted by fax or by email or those submitted after 
the comment period. 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.
    <bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to 
submit your comments electronically. Information on using 
Regulations.gov, including instructions for accessing agency

[[Page 47093]]

documents, submitting comments, and viewing the docket, is available on 
the site under the ``help'' tab.
    <bullet> Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery: If you 
mail or deliver your comments about the matching program, address them 
to the Brenda Vigna, Division Chief, Federal Student Aid, U.S. 
Department of Education, 830 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20202-
5320.
    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 should be careful to include 
in their comments only information that they wish to make publicly 
available.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ron Bennett, Group Director Program 
Technical & Business Support Group, Federal Student Aid, U.S. 
Department of Education, 830 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20202-
5320. Telephone: (202) 377-3181.
    If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text 
telephone (TTY), you may call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll 
free, at 1-800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We provide this notice in accordance with 
Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (Privacy Act) (5 U.S.C. 552a); Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB) Final Guidance Interpreting the 
Provisions of Public Law 100-503, the Computer Matching and Privacy 
Protection Act of 1988, 54 FR 25818 (June 19, 1989); and OMB Circular 
No. A-108.
    Participating Agencies: The U.S. Department of Education and the 
Social Security Administration.
    Authority for Conducting the Matching Program: The Department's 
legal authority to enter into the matching program and to disclose 
information thereunder is sections 420N(c), 437(a)(1), 455(a)(1), and 
464(c)(1)(F)(ii & iii) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1070g-2(c), 1087(a)(1), 
1087e(a)(1), and 1087dd((c)(1)(F)(ii & iii)), the regulations 
promulgated pursuant to those sections (34 CFR 674.61(b), 682.402(c), 
685.213, and 686.42(b)), and subsection (b)(3) of the Privacy Act (5 
U.S.C. 552a(b)(3)).
    SSA's legal authority to disclose information as part of this 
matching program is section 1106 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1306), the regulations promulgated pursuant to that section (20 CFR 
part 401), and subsection (b)(3) of the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 
552a(b)(3)).
    Purpose(s): This matching program will enable the Department to 
send notices to certain borrowers of loans under title IV of the HEA 
and TEACH Grant recipients whom SSA identifies as disabled informing 
them that the Department will discharge the borrowers' title IV loans 
or TEACH Grant service or repayment obligations no earlier than 61 days 
from the date that the Department sends the notification to the 
borrower, unless the borrower chooses to have their loans or service 
obligations discharged earlier or chooses to opt out of the TPD 
discharge within 60 days from the date that the Department sends the 
notification to the borrower.
    Categories of Individuals: The individuals whose records are used 
in the matching program are described as follows:
    The Department will disclose to SSA from the system of records 
entitled ``National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS)'' (18-11-06) 
individuals who owe a balance on one or more title IV, HEA loans, who 
have a title IV, HEA loan written off due to default, or who have an 
outstanding service or repayment obligation under the TEACH Grant 
Program.
    Categories of Records: The records used in the matching program are 
described as follows:
    The Department will disclose to SSA from the system of records 
entitled ``National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS)'' (18-11-06) the 
name, date of birth (DOB), and Social Security number (SSN) of the 
individuals identified in the preceding section. These individuals will 
be matched with SSA data recorded in the DCF, which originate from the 
Supplemental Security Income Record and Special Veterans Benefits (SSR/
SVB), 60-0103, and the MBR, SSA/ORSIS 60-0090, in order to provide the 
Department with Medical Improvement Not Expected disability data.
    System(s) of Records: The Department will disclose records to SSA 
from its system of records identified as ``National Student Loan Data 
System (NSLDS)'' (18-11-06), as last published in the Federal Register 
in full on September 9, 2019 (84 FR 47265).
    SSA will disclose records back to the Department from its systems 
of records identified as the ``Disability Control File (DCF)'' and the 
``Master Beneficiary Record (MBR).'' The DCF, which originates from the 
SSR/SVB, 60-0103, was last fully published in the Federal Register at 
71 FR 1830 on January 11, 2006, and updated on December 10, 2007 (72 FR 
69723), July 3, 2018 (83 FR 31250-31251), and November 1, 2018 (83 FR 
54969). The MBR, 60-0090, was last fully published in the Federal 
Register at 71 FR 1826 on January 11, 2006, and updated on December 10, 
2007 (72 FR 69723), July 5, 2013 (78 FR 40542), July 3, 2018 (83 FR 
31250-31251), and November 1, 2018 (83 FR 54969).
    Subsection (b)(3) of the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3)) 
authorizes a Federal agency to disclose a record about an individual 
that is maintained in a system of records, without the individual's 
prior written consent, when the disclosure is pursuant to a routine use 
published in a System of Records Notice (SORN) as required by 5 U.S.C. 
552a(e)(4)(D) and is compatible with the purposes for which the records 
were collected. SSA and ED determined that their SORNs contain 
appropriate routine use disclosure authority and that the use is 
compatible with the purpose for which the information was collected.
    Accessible Format: On request to Lisa Tessitore, Program Operations 
Specialist, Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education, 830 
First Street NE, Washington, DC 20202-5320. Telephone: (202) 377-3249, 
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 file, braille, large print, audiotape, or 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 documents of this Department 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 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.

Richard Cordray,
Chief Operating Officer, Federal Student Aid.
[FR Doc. 2021-18080 Filed 8-20-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P