Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 204 / Tuesday, October 24, 2017 / Proposed Rules 49155 

message can be received without 

jeopardizing the safety or security of 

people, places or vessels. 

V. Public Participation and Request for 

Comments 

We view public participation as 

essential to effective rulemaking, and 

will consider all comments and material 

received during the comment period. 

Your comment can help shape the 

outcome of this rulemaking. If you 

submit a comment, please include the 

docket number for this rulemaking, 

indicate the specific section of this 

document to which each comment 

applies, and provide a reason for each 

suggestion or recommendation. 

We encourage you to submit 

comments through the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal at http://

www.regulations.gov. If your material 

cannot be submitted using http://

www.regulations.gov, contact the person 

in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT section of this document for 

alternate instructions. 

We accept anonymous comments. All 

comments received will be posted 

without change to http://

www.regulations.gov and will include 

any personal information you have 

provided. For more about privacy and 

the docket, visit http://

www.regulations.gov/privacynotice. 

Documents mentioned in this NPRM 

as being available in this docket and all 

public comments, will be in our online 

docket at http://www.regulations.gov 

and can be viewed by following that 

Web site’s instructions. Additionally, if 

you go to the online docket and sign up 

for email alerts, you will be notified 

when comments are posted or a final 

rule is published. 

List of Subjects in 33 CFR Part 117 

Bridges. 

For the reasons discussed in the 

preamble, the Coast Guard proposes to 

amend 33 CFR part 117 as follows: 

PART 117—DRAWBRIDGE 

OPERATION REGULATIONS 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 117 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 33 U.S.C. 499; 33 CFR 1.05–1; 

Department of Homeland Security Delegation 

No. 0170.1. 

■ 2. Suspend § 117.879 from 6 a.m. on 

February 26, 2018, through 6 p.m. on 

July 31, 2019. 

■ 3. Add a new temporary § 117.T879, 

from 6 a.m. on February 26, 2018, 

through 6 p.m. on July 31, 2019, to read 

as follows: 

§ 117.T879 Isthmus Slough. 

The draw of the Oregon State 

secondary highway bridge, mile 1.0, at 

Coos Bay, shall operate in single leaf, 

and open half the draw on signal if at 

least 24 hours notice is given. The 

vertical clearance of the non-functioning 

leaf will be reduced up to ten feet. 

Dated: October 13, 2017. 

Brendan C. McPherson, 

Captain, U.S. Coast Guard, Acting 

Commander, Thirteenth Coast Guard District. 

[FR Doc. 2017–23052 Filed 10–23–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9110–04–P 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

34 CFR Parts 668, 674, 682, and 685 

[Docket ID ED–2017–OPE–0112] 

RIN 1840–AD28 

Student Assistance General 

Provisions, Federal Perkins Loan 

Program, Federal Family Education 

Loan Program, William D. Ford Federal 

Direct Loan Program, and Teacher 

Education Assistance for College and 

Higher Education Grant Program 

AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary 

Education, Department of Education. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. 

SUMMARY: The Secretary proposes to 

further delay, until July 1, 2019, the 

effective date of selected provisions of 

the final regulations entitled Student 

Assistance General Provisions, Federal 

Perkins Loan Program, Federal Family 

Education Loan (FFEL) Program, 

William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan 

Program, and Teacher Education 

Assistance for College and Higher 

Education Grant Program (the final 

regulations), published in the Federal 

Register on November 1, 2016. The 

Secretary proposes this further delay to 

ensure that there is adequate time to 

conduct negotiated rulemaking and, as 

necessary, develop revised regulations. 

The provisions for which we propose to 

further delay the effective date are listed 

in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

section of this document. The current 

effective date of selected provisions of 

the final regulations is July 1, 2018, in 

accordance with the interim final rule 

(IFR) published elsewhere in this issue 

of the Federal Register. 

DATES: We must receive your comments 

on or before November 24, 2017. 

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. 

If you are submitting comments 

electronically, we strongly encourage 

you to submit any comments or 

attachments in Microsoft Word format. 

If you must submit a comment in 

Portable Document Format (PDF), we 

strongly encourage you to convert the 

PDF to print-to-PDF format or to use 

some other commonly used searchable 

text format. Please do not submit the 

PDF in a scanned format. Using a printto-PDF format allows the Department to 

electronically search and copy certain 

portions of your submissions. 

• 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 ‘‘Help.’’ 

• Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, 

or Hand Delivery: The Department 

strongly encourages commenters to 

submit their comments electronically. 

However, if you mail or deliver your 

comments about the notice of proposed 

rulemaking, address them to Jean-Didier 

Gaina, U.S. Department of Education, 

400 Maryland Ave. SW., Mail Stop 

6W248, Washington, DC 20202. 

Privacy Note: The Department’s 

policy is to make all comments received 

from members of the public available for 

public viewing 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: 

Barbara Hoblitzell, U.S. Department of 

Education, 400 Maryland Ave. SW., 

Mail Stop 6W248, Washington, DC 

20202. Telephone: (202) 453–7583 or by 

email at: Barbara.Hoblitzell@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 of proposed rulemaking. We will 

consider comments on the further 

delayed effective date only and will not 

consider comments on the wording or 

substance of the final regulations. See 


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49156 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 204 / Tuesday, October 24, 2017 / Proposed Rules 

ADDRESSES for instructions on how to 

submit comments. 

During and after the comment period, 

you may inspect all public comments 

about this notice of proposed 

rulemaking by accessing 

Regulations.gov. You may also inspect 

the comments in person in room 

6W245, 400 Maryland Avenue SW., 

Washington, DC, between 8:30 a.m. and 

4:00 p.m. Washington, DC time, Monday 

through Friday of each week, except 

Federal holidays. If you want to 

schedule time to inspect comments, 

please contact the person listed under 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. 

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 of proposed 

rulemaking. 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. 

Elsewhere in this issue of the Federal 

Register, the Department is publishing 

an IFR delaying until July 1, 2018, the 

effective date of selected provisions of 

the final regulations. The original 

effective date of the final regulations 

published November 1, 2016 (81 FR 

75926) was July 1, 2017. On June 16, 

2017, the Department published in the 

Federal Register a notification of the 

partial delay of effective dates under 

section 705 of the Administrative 

Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 705) (82 FR 

27621) (705 Notice), to delay the 

effectiveness of certain provisions of the 

final regulations until a legal challenge 

by the California Association of Private 

Postsecondary Schools is resolved. See 

Complaint and Prayer for Declaratory 

and Injunctive Relief, California 

Association of Private Postsecondary 

Schools v. DeVos, Civil Action No. 

1:17–cv–00999 (D.D.C. May 24, 2017). 

As explained in the IFR, because the 

final regulations have been postponed 

by the 705 Notice beyond July 1, 2017, 

they must become effective no earlier 

than July 1, 2018, to comply with 

section 482 of the Higher Education Act 

of 1965, as amended (HEA) (20 U.S.C. 

1089), also known as the ‘‘master 

calendar requirement.’’ 

Also on June 16, 2017, the 

Department announced its intent to 

convene a committee to develop 

proposed regulations to revise the 

regulations on borrower defense to 

repayment of Federal student loans and 

other matters. Given that the first 

negotiated rulemaking session is 

scheduled for November 13–15, 2017, 

we cannot complete the negotiated 

rulemaking process and the 

development of revised regulations by 

November 1, 2018. Under the master 

calendar, a regulatory change that has 

been published in final form on or 

before November 1 prior to the start of 

an award year—which begins on July 1 

of any given year—may take effect only 

at the beginning of the next award year, 

or in other words, on July 1 of the next 

year. In light of this requirement, the 

regulations resulting from negotiated 

rulemaking could not be effective before 

July 1, 2019. 

As noted previously, elsewhere in this 

issue of the Federal Register, the 

Department is publishing an IFR 

delaying the effective date of the final 

regulations until July 1, 2018. The 

Department could implement the final 

regulations on July 1, 2018, pursuant to 

the IFR, or, through notice and comment 

rulemaking, we could delay the effective 

date until July 1, 2019, or a future July 

1. We propose to further delay the 

effective date of the final regulations, to 

continue to preserve the regulatory 

status quo, until July 1, 2019. The 

Department would continue to process 

borrower defense claims under the 

existing regulations that will remain in 

effect during the delay so that borrowers 

may continue to apply for the discharge 

of all or a part of their loans. 

Based on the above considerations, 

the Department is proposing to delay 

until July 1, 2019, the effective date of 

the following provisions of the final 

regulations in title 34 of the Code of 

Federal Regulations (CFR): 

• § 668.14(b)(30), (31), and (32) 

Program participation agreement. 

• § 668.41(h) and (i) Reporting and 

disclosure of information. 

• § 668.71(c) Scope and special 

definitions. 

• § 668.90(a)(3) Initial and final 

decisions. 

• § 668.93(h), (i), and (j) Limitation. 

• § 668.171 General. 

• § 668.175(c), (d), (f), and (h) 

Alternative standards and requirements. 

• Part 668 subpart L, Appendix C. 

• § 674.33(g)(3) and (g)(8) Repayment. 

• § 682.202(b)(1) Permissible charges 

by lenders to borrowers. 

• § 682.211(i)(7) Forbearance. 

• § 682.402(d)(3), (d)(6)(ii)(B)(1) and 

(2), (d)(6)(ii)(F) introductory text, 

(d)(6)(ii)(F)(5), (d)(6)(ii)(G), (d)(6)(ii)(H) 

through (K), (d)(7)(ii) and (iii), (d)(8), 

and (e)(6)(iii) Death, disability, closed 

school, false certification, unpaid 

refunds, and bankruptcy payments. 

• § 682.405(b)(4)(ii) Loan 

rehabilitation agreement. 

• § 682.410(b)(4) and (b)(6)(viii) 

Fiscal, administrative, and enforcement 

requirements. 

• § 685.200(f)(3)(v) and (f)(4)(iii) 

Borrower eligibility. 

• § 685.205(b)(6) Forbearance. 

• § 685.206(c) Borrower 

responsibilities and defenses. 

• § 685.212(k) Discharge of a loan 

obligation. 

• § 685.214(c)(2) and (f)(4) through (7) 

Closed school discharge. 

• § 685.215(a)(1), (c)(1) through (c)(8), 

and (d) Discharge for false certification 

of student eligibility or unauthorized 

payment. 

• § 685.222 Borrower defenses. 

• Part 685 subpart B, Appendix A 

Examples of borrower relief. 

• § 685.300(b)(11), (b)(12), and (d) 

through (i) Agreements between an 

eligible school and the Secretary for 

participation in the Direct Loan 

Program. 

• § 685.308(a) Remedial actions. 

As noted in the IFR, the Department 

interprets all references to ‘‘July 1, 

2017’’ in the text of the abovereferenced regulations to mean the 

effective date of those regulations. The 

regulatory text included references to 

the specific July 1, 2017, date in part to 

provide clarity to readers in the future 

as to when the regulations had taken 

effect. Because the regulations did not 

take effect on July 1, 2017, we would, 

in connection with this proposed 

additional delay of effective date, read 

those regulations as referring to the new 

effective date established by this further 

delay, i.e., July 1, 2019. 

This proposed delay of the final 

regulations will not delay the effective 

dates of the following regulatory 

provisions published in 81 FR 75926 

which: (1) Expand the types of 

documentation that may be used for the 

granting of a discharge based on the 

death of the borrower; (2) amend the 

regulations governing the consolidation 

of Nursing Student Loans and Nurse 

Faculty Loans so that they align with 

the statutory requirements of section 

428C(a)(4)(E) of the HEA; (3) amend the 

regulations governing Direct 

Consolidation Loans to allow a borrower 

to obtain a Direct Consolidation Loan 

regardless of whether the borrower is 

also seeking to consolidate a Direct Loan 

Program or FFEL Program loan, if the 

borrower has a loan type identified in 

34 CFR 685.220(b); (4) address 

severability; and (5) make technical 

corrections. As established in 81 FR 

75926, 34 CFR 682.211(i)(7) and 

682.410(b)(6)(viii) would remain 

designated for early implementation, at 

the discretion of each lender or guaranty 

agency. 


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Waiver of Negotiated Rulemaking: 

Under section 492 of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 

1098a), all regulations proposed by the 

Department for programs authorized 

under title IV of the HEA are subject to 

negotiated rulemaking requirements. 

However, section 492(b)(2) of the HEA 

provides that negotiated rulemaking 

may be waived for good cause when 

doing so would be ‘‘impracticable, 

unnecessary, or contrary to the public 

interest.’’ Section 492(b)(2) of the HEA 

also requires the Secretary to publish 

the basis for waiving negotiations in the 

Federal Register at the same time as the 

proposed regulations in question are 

first published. 

For the reasons stated above, it would 

not be practicable, before the July 1, 

2018 effective date specified in the IFR, 

to engage in negotiated rulemaking and 

publish final regulations. There is, 

therefore, good cause to waive 

negotiated rulemaking pertaining to this 

delay. 

Executive Orders 12866, 13563, and 

13771 

Regulatory Impact Analysis 

Under Executive Order 12866, it must 

be determined whether this regulatory 

action is ‘‘significant’’ and, therefore, 

subject to the requirements of the 

Executive Order and subject to review 

by the 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 

stated in the Executive order. 

The Department estimates the 

quantified annualized economic and net 

budget impacts of the delay of the 

effective date to be -$26.9 million in 

reduced costs to institutions and the 

Federal government. These reduced 

costs result from the delay of the 

borrower defense provisions of the final 

regulations as they would apply to the 

2017 to 2019 loan cohorts, as well as 

from the delayed paperwork burden on 

institutions, and the delayed execution 

of the closed school automatic 

discharge. This proposed regulatory 

action is a significant regulatory action 

subject to review by OMB under section 

3(f) of Executive Order 12866. 

We have also reviewed this proposed 

rule 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 this proposed rule 

only on a reasoned determination that 

its benefits justify its costs. Based on the 

analysis that follows, the Department 

believes that this proposed rule is 

consistent with the principles in 

Executive Order 13563. 

We also have determined that this 

regulatory action does not unduly 

interfere with State, local, or Tribal 

governments in the exercise of their 

governmental functions. 

In accordance with both Executive 

orders, the Department has assessed the 

potential costs and benefits, both 

quantitative and qualitative, of this 

regulatory action. 

The quantified economic effects and 

net budget impact associated with the 

delayed effective date are not expected 

to be economically significant. 

Effects of One-Year Delay 

As indicated in the Regulatory Impact 

Analysis (RIA) published with the final 

regulations on November 1, 2016, the 

final regulations were economically 

significant with a total estimated net 

budget impact of $16.6 billion over the 

2017–2026 loan cohorts in the primary 

estimate scenario, including a cost of 

$381 million for cohorts 2014–2016 

attributable to the provisions for a threeyear automatic closed school discharge. 

As the net budget impact is based on the 

net present value of the cash flows of 

the relevant cohorts over 40 years, 

delaying the final regulations for an 

additional year will have limited effect, 

as discussed below. This analysis is 

limited to the effect of delaying the 

effective date of the final regulations an 

additional year from July 1, 2018 to July 

1, 2019, and does not account for any 

potential changes in the final 

regulations. 

Even with the further delayed 

effective date, borrowers will still be 

able to submit claims. The provisions of 

the final regulations pertaining to the 

process for review and determination of 

claims were not limited to specific 

cohorts designated by the effective date 

so the delay will not result in specific 

cohorts of borrowers being excluded 

from the process reflected in the final 

regulations, when implemented. Once 

in effect, the protection generated by the 

financial protection provisions will be 

available to be applied to claims from 

loans originated earlier, including the 

period from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 

2019. Loans made before July 1, 2017, 

were always subject to the State-based 

standard and borrowers’ ability to bring 

claims under that standard is 

unchanged by the delay. For claims 

filed after the effective date of the 

regulations, for loans made on or after 

July 1, 2019, the Federal standard 

established in the final regulations 

would apply. As discussed previously, 

the Department interprets all references 

to ‘‘July 1, 2017’’ in the text of the final 

regulations to mean the effective date of 

the final regulations. As a result, the 

further delay in the effective date means 

that loans made between July 1, 2018 

and June 30, 2019, will be subject to the 


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current State-based standard. As we 

noted in the final regulations, the 

Federal standard was designed to 

address much of the conduct already 

covered by the State-based standard, so 

the vast majority of claims associated 

with loans made between July 1, 2017, 

and the delayed effective date could be 

made under the current, State-based 

standard as well. 

In addition to borrowers, institutions 

are also affected by the delayed effective 

date. As indicated in the RIA for the 

final regulations, institutions bear the 

major costs of compliance, paperwork 

burden, and providing financial 

protection. The financial protection 

provisions of the final regulations 

depend on the effective date, so 

institutions will not incur these costs 

until the final regulations are in effect. 

In terms of cost savings for institutions, 

the estimated annual paperwork burden 

was approximately $9.4 million in the 

initial year of the final regulations. In 

the revised scenario developed to 

estimate the effect of the additional oneyear delay in the effective date, transfers 

from institutions to students, via the 

Federal government, would be reduced 

by approximately $9.3 million for the 

2017 and 2018 loan cohorts. The costs 

of providing financial protection were 

not quantified in the RIA for the final 

regulations, and the Department has no 

additional data to estimate costs 

institutions may avoid from the delayed 

effective date of the financial protection 

provisions. 

Net Budget Impact 

In order to estimate the net budget 

impact of the additional one-year delay 

in the effective date to July 1, 2019, the 

Department developed a scenario that 

revised the primary estimate 

assumptions from the final regulations 

for the affected 2017 to 2019 loan 

cohorts, as was done for the one-year 

delay described in the IFR. As before, 

the Department applies an assumed 

level of school misconduct, borrower 

claims success, and recoveries from 

institutions (respectively labeled as 

Conduct Percent, Borrower Percent, and 

Recovery Percent in Table 1) to the 

President’s Budget 2018 (PB2018) loan 

volume estimates to generate the 

estimated net borrower defense claims 

for each cohort, loan type, and sector. 

The assumptions for the primary 

scenario from the 2016 final regulation 

were the basis for the President’s Budget 

2018 (PB2018) baseline that assumed 

the final regulations would go into effect 

on July 1, 2017. The scenario developed 

for this NPRM is designed to capture the 

incremental change from the one-year 

delay in the IFR associated with the 

further one-year delay in the effective 

date to July 1, 2019. Compared to the 

scenario developed for the IFR, 

recoveries are reduced by an additional 

two percent for the 2017 and 2018 

cohorts, all of the 2018 cohort is subject 

to the State-based standard, and the 

affected portion of the 2019 cohort is 

subject to the current, State-based 

standard and reduced recoveries at the 

five percent level used for the one-year 

delay in the IFR. Table 1 presents 

assumptions for the primary estimate 

from the final regulations and the 

revised estimate for the further one-year 

delay, from July 1, 2018 to July 1, 2019, 

in the effective date. In this scenario, the 

conduct percent is 90 percent of the 

primary scenario from the final 

regulations and the borrower percent is 

the same. The financial protection 

provided was always expected to 

increase over time, so the delayed 

effective date in the near term is not 

expected to significantly affect the 

amount of recoveries over the life of any 

particular loan cohort, limiting any net 

budget impact from the delay. To 

estimate the potential reduction in 

recoveries related to the proposed 

delayed effective date, we reduced 

recoveries for the affected portion of the 

2017 and 2018 cohorts by seven percent 

for the private not-for-profit and 

proprietary sectors and by five percent 

for the 2019 cohort. As in the final 

regulations and the IFR, recoveries from 

public institutions were held constant at 

75 percent across scenarios. 

TABLE 1—REVISED ASSUMPTIONS FOR ONE-YEAR DELAY FROM JULY 1, 2018 TO JULY 1, 2019 

Cohort 

2017 2018 2019 

Pub/Priv NFP Prop Pub/Priv NFP Prop Pub/Priv NFP Prop 

Conduct Percent: 

Final Primary ..................................... 3.0 20 2.4 16 2.0 13.6 

Delay to 2019 ................................... 2.7 18 2.16 14.4 1.8 12.24 

Borrower Percent: 

Final Primary ..................................... 35 45 36.8 47.3 36.8 47.3 

Delay to 2019 ................................... 35 45 36.8 47.3 36.8 47.3 

Public Priv/Prop Public Priv/Prop Public Priv/Prop 

Recovery Percent: 

Final Primary ..................................... 75 23.8 75 23.8 75 23.8 

Delay to 2019 ................................... 75 22.134 75 22.134 75 24.871 

The net budget impact associated 

with these effects of the additional oneyear delay in the effective date on the 

borrower defense provisions only is 

approximately -$46.1 million from the 

2017 to 2019 loan cohorts. 

As the amount and composition of 

borrower defense claims and estimated 

recoveries over the lifetime of the 

relevant loan cohorts are not expected to 

change greatly due to the delayed 

effective date, the Department does not 

estimate an economically significant net 

budget impact from the delay itself, 

with a potential net budget impact 

related to borrower defense claims of 

-$46.1 million in reduced costs for the 

affected cohorts. This represents the 

incremental change associated with the 

additional one-year delay from July 1, 

2018 to July 1, 2019. If compared to the 

PB2018 baseline, the savings would be 

approximately -$78.8 million. 

The closed school automatic 

discharge provisions were the other 

significant source of estimated net 

budget impact in the final regulations. 

Under credit reform scoring, the 

modification to older cohorts for the 

automatic discharge provision estimated 

to cost $364 million was expected to 

occur in fiscal year (FY) 2017 in the 

President’s Budget for FY 2018 

(PB2018). As a result of the delay in the 

effective date, the Department will not 

execute the modification in FY 2017. 

As indicated in the IFR, the 

Department does expect to incur the 

costs associated with the three-year 


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automatic discharge after the delayed 

effective date, but moving the execution 

of the modification beyond FY 2017 will 

require a new cost analysis with 

economic assumptions from the fiscal 

year of the execution. This will result in 

a change of cost, but at this point it is 

not possible to know the discount rates 

in future fiscal years, so the cost of the 

modification will be determined in the 

year that it is executed. While the actual 

cost of the future modification cannot be 

determined at this time, the Department 

did approximate the effect of the delay 

by shifting the timing of the relevant 

discharges back by a year and 

recalculating a modification using the 

discount rates and economic 

assumptions used for the calculation of 

the PB2018 modification. When 

calculated in this manner, the delay in 

the modification to July 2018 described 

in the IFR resulted in estimated savings 

of less than $10 million. Using the same 

approach, the further delay to July 2019 

is expected to save approximately $15 

million above the savings from the 

initial one-year delay. 

As the delay does not change the 

substance of the automatic discharge, 

we would expect the amount and 

composition of loans affected by the 

automatic discharge not to change 

significantly. The closed school threeyear automatic discharge provisions 

were applicable to loans made on or 

after November 1, 2013, and were not 

linked to the effective date of the final 

regulations. Therefore, delaying the 

effective date of those provisions will 

not change the set of loans eligible for 

this automatic discharge. Additionally, 

borrowers would have the ability to 

apply for a closed school discharge 

before July 1, 2019, if they did not want 

to wait for the automatic discharge to be 

implemented. For future cohorts, the 

delay is not significant as the three-year 

period will fall beyond the delayed 

effective date. Any significant change to 

the estimated net budget impact 

associated with the closed school 

automatic discharge depends on any 

substantive changes made to the 

provisions as a result of the upcoming 

rulemaking and changes to economic 

assumptions when the modification is 

executed. 

Consistent with Executive Order 

13771 (82 FR 9339, February 3, 2017), 

we have estimated that this proposed 

rule will result in cost savings. 

Therefore, this proposed rule would be 

considered an Executive Order 13771 

deregulatory action. 

Accounting Statement 

In evaluating whether a regulation is 

economically significant, a key 

consideration is whether the annual 

effect in any given year is over $100 

million. To evaluate this, the 

Department looked at the difference in 

the undiscounted cashflows related to 

the death, disability, and bankruptcy 

(DDB) claims in which borrower defense 

claims are included for the one-year 

delay established in the IFR and the 

further one-year delay scenario 

described under Net Budget Impacts. 

The difference from subtracting the 

further delay scenario from the IFR oneyear delay scenario for the 2017 to 2019 

cohorts is summarized in Table 2. 

TABLE 2—DIFFERENCE IN UNDISCOUNTED NET CASHFLOWS FOR THE 2017 TO 2019 LOAN COHORTS FROM THE FURTHER

ONE-YEAR DELAY IN 2016 BORROWER DEFENSE RULE TO JULY 1, 2019 

FY 2017 FY 2018 FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 

Change in DDB Cashflow .................................................... 159 7,489 496,637 637,361 538,468 

FY 2022 FY 2023 FY 2024 FY 2025 FY 2026 

Change in DDB Cashflow .................................................... 6,004,802 9,525,520 4,668,143 2,156,009 3,003,657 

Table 3 shows the effects when those 

differences in the DDB cashflows are 

discounted at 7 and 3 percent and 

annualized. 

Category Benefits 

Institutions may not incur compliance costs or costs of obtaining financial protection until the rule is in effect. .. Not Quantified 

Category Costs 

7% 3% 

Continued use of State-law based standard Not Quantified 

Delay in providing consumer information about institution’s performance and practices 

Potential decreased awareness and usage of closed school and false certification discharges 

Savings associated with delay in compliance with paperwork requirements. ........................................................ ¥9.5 ¥9.51 

Category Transfers 

7% 3% 

Reduction in transfers from the Federal Government to affected borrowers in the 2017 to 2019 cohorts that 

would have been partially borne by affected institutions via reimbursements. ................................................... ¥3.5 ¥3.8 

Reduced reimbursements from affected institutions to affected students, via the Federal government as loan 

cohorts 2017 to 2019 are subject to the existing borrower defense regulation. ................................................. ¥1.2 ¥1.3 

Delay in closed school automatic discharge implementation from 2018 to 2019 .................................................. ¥14.8 ¥14.8 


ethrower on DSK3G9T082PROD with PROPOSALS
49160 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 204 / Tuesday, October 24, 2017 / Proposed Rules 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

As indicated in the Paperwork 

Reduction Act section published in the 

final regulations, the assessed estimated 

burden was 253,136 hours, affecting 

both institutions and individuals, with 

an estimated annual cost of $9,458,484. 

The table below identifies the regulatory 

sections, OMB Control Numbers, 

estimated burden hours, and estimated 

costs of the final regulations. 

Regulatory section OMB Control No. Burden hours 

Estimated cost 

$36.55/hour 

institution 

$16.30/hour 

individual 

668.14 .............................................................................................................. 1845–0022 1,953 .............................. 71,382 

668.41 .............................................................................................................. 1845–0004 5,346 .............................. 195,396 

668.171 ............................................................................................................ 1845–0022 3,028 .............................. 110,673 

668.175 ............................................................................................................ 1845–0022 60,560 ............................ 2,213,468 

682.211 ............................................................................................................ 1845–0020 5,784 .............................. 211,405 

682.402 ............................................................................................................ 1845–0020 1,838 .............................. 67,179 

685.222 ............................................................................................................ 1845–0142 249 (Individuals) ............ 4,059 

685.222 ............................................................................................................ 1845–0142 800 (Institutions) ............ 29,240 

685.300 ............................................................................................................ 1845–0143 179,362 .......................... 6,555,681 

Total ......................................................................................................... .............................. 258,920 .......................... 9,458,484 

Cost savings due to delayed effective date excluding 682.211 early implementation allowed............................... 253,136 .......................... 9,247,079 

Burden remaining ............................................................................................ .............................. 5,784 .............................. 211,405 

This notice of proposed rulemaking 

delays the effective date of the 

implementation of all of the cited 

regulations and would result in a cost 

savings of the total amount of 

$9,458,484. However, § 682.211(i)(7) of 

the final regulations, regarding 

mandatory forbearance based on a 

borrower defense claim, with an 

estimated 5,784 hours and $211,405 

cost, as would continue to be designated 

for early implementation. Lenders may 

have elected early implementation and, 

therefore, those specific costs and hours 

remain applicable and have been 

subtracted from the overall estimated 

cost saving. Based on the delayed 

effective date of July 1, 2019, the revised 

estimated annual cost savings to 

institutions and individuals is 

$9,247,079 ($9,458,484 ¥ $211,405) 

with an estimated burden hours savings 

of 253,136 (258,920 ¥ 5,784). 

Accessible Format: Individuals with 

disabilities may obtain this document in 

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

print, audiotape, or compact disc) on 

request to the 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 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. 

List of Subjects 

34 CFR Part 668 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Colleges and universities, 

Consumer protection, Grant programs— 

education, Loan programs—education, 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements, Selective Service System, 

Student aid, Vocational education. 

34 CFR Part 674 

Loan programs—education, Reporting 

and recordkeeping requirements, 

Student aid. 

34 CFR Parts 682 and 685 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Colleges and universities, 

Loan programs—education, Reporting 

and recordkeeping requirements, 

Student aid, Vocational education. 

Dated: October 16, 2017. 

Betsy DeVos, 

Secretary of Education. 

[FR Doc. 2017–22850 Filed 10–20–17; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

POSTAL SERVICE 

39 CFR Part 20 

International Mailing Services: 

Proposed Product and Price 

Changes—CPI 

AGENCY: Postal ServiceTM. 

ACTION: Proposed rule with a request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: The Postal Service proposes 

to revise Mailing Standards of the 

United States Postal Service, 

International Mail Manual (IMM®), to 

reflect changes in the prices, product 

features, and classification changes to 

Mailing Services. These changes would 

also implement a restriction on the 

contents of First-Class Mail 

International® to documents only, to 

comply with standards established by 

the Universal Postal Union (UPU). 

DATES: We must receive your comments 

on or before November 24, 2017. 

ADDRESSES: Mail or deliver comments to 

the manager, Product Classification, 

U.S. Postal Service®, 475 L’Enfant Plaza 

SW., RM 4446, Washington, DC 20260– 

5015. You may inspect and photocopy 

all written comments at USPS®

Headquarters Library, 475 L’Enfant 

Plaza SW., 11th Floor N, Washington, 

DC by appointment only between the 

hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday 

through Friday by calling 1–202–268– 

2906 in advance. Email comments, 

containing the name and address of the 

commenter, to: ProductClassification@

usps.gov, with a subject line of ‘‘January 

2018 International Mailing Services 

Price Change—CPI.’’ Faxed comments 

are not accepted. 


ethrower on DSK3G9T082PROD with PROPOSALS