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Negotiated Rulemaking for Higher Education 2015 - 2016| Federal Register Notices | Meeting Information | Session 1 | Session 2 | Session 3 | Public Hearings |
This Web page provides the public with background information regarding the Department’s negotiated rulemaking effort to make changes to the regulations for the programs authorized by Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 in 2015-2016. For more information about negotiated rulemaking in general, please see our question and answer page.
Borrower Defense Regulations: November 2016
The Secretary is issuing new regulations governing the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program to establish a new Federal standard and a process for determining whether a borrower has a defense to repayment on a loan based on an act or omission of a school. We also amend the Direct Loan Program regulations to prohibit participating schools from using certain contractual provisions regarding dispute resolution processes, such as predispute arbitration agreements or class action waivers, and to require certain notifications and disclosures by schools regarding their use of arbitration. We amend the Direct Loan Program regulations to codify our current policy regarding the impact that discharges have on the 150 percent Direct Subsidized Loan Limit. We amend the Student Assistance General Provisions regulations to revise the financial responsibility standards and add disclosure requirements for schools. Finally, we amend the discharge provisions in the Federal Perkins Loan (Perkins Loan), Direct Loan, Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL), and Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant programs. The changes will provide transparency, clarity, and ease of administration to current and new regulations and protect students, the Federal government, and taxpayers against potential school liabilities resulting from borrower defenses.
Unofficial Final Regulations: PDF (2.57MB) | MS Word (1.53MB)
[Note: The official version of this document is the document published in the Federal Register. This document has been sent to the Office of the Federal Register but has not yet been scheduled for publication. If you need assistance accessing this document, please contact Barbara Hoblitzell at 202-453-7583 or by e-mail at Barbara.Hoblitzell@ed.gov.]
A summary of the final borrower defense regulations is provided in the Department's press release.
Defense to Repayment Regulations: June 2016
The Secretary proposes to amend the regulations governing the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program to establish a new Federal standard and a process for determining whether a borrower has a defense to repayment on a loan based on an act or omission of a school. We propose to also amend the Direct Loan Program regulations by prohibiting participating schools from using certain contractual provisions regarding dispute resolution processes, such as mandatory pre-dispute arbitration agreements or class action waivers, and to require certain notifications and disclosures by schools regarding their use of arbitration. We propose to also amend the Direct Loan Program regulations to codify our current policy regarding the impact that discharges have on the 150 percent Direct Subsidized Loan Limit. We also propose to amend the Student Assistance General Provisions regulations to revise the financial responsibility standards and add disclosure requirements for schools. Finally, we propose to amend the discharge provisions in the Federal Perkins Loan (Perkins Loan), Direct Loan, Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL), and Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant programs.
Unofficial Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Request for Comments. Comments due August 1, 2016.
PDF (1.41MB) | MS Word (1.45MB)
[Note: The official version of this document is the document published in the Federal Register. This document has been sent to the Office of the Federal Register but has not yet been scheduled for publication.]
Borrower Defense Frequently Asked Questions: PDF (212K) | MS Word (41K)
Request for additional negotiator nominations
On December 21, 2015, the Department published a notice in the Federal Register requesting additional nominations to represent the following constituencies: (1) State higher education executive officers; (2) Minority serving institutions; (3) Two-year public institutions of higher education; (3) Private, for-profit institutions of higher education; and (4) National, regional, or specialized accrediting agencies.
Information on how to submit a nomination is provided in the Federal Register notice. The deadline for submitting nominations is December 28, 2015.
Request for negotiator nominations
On October 20, 2015, the Department published a notice in the Federal Register requesting nominations for negotiators to serve on a negotiated rulemaking committee that will address for loans made under the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Federal Direct Loan) Program: (1) the procedures to be used for a borrower to establish a defense to repayment; (2) the criteria that the Department will use to identify acts or omissions of an institution that constitute defenses to repayment of Federal Direct Loans, including the creation of a Federal standard; (3) the standards and procedures that the Department will use to determine the liability of the institution for amounts based on borrower defenses; (4) the effect of borrower defenses on institutional capability assessments; and (5) other loan discharges. In addition, the committee may also consider if and how these issues will affect the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program.
Information on how to submit a nomination is provided in the Federal Register notice. The deadline for submitting nominations is Tuesday, November 19, 2015.
Intent to Establish Negotiated Rulemaking Committee; Public Hearings
On August 20, 2015 the Department published a notice in the Federal Register announcing our intention to establish a negotiated rulemaking committee to prepare proposed regulations for the Federal Student Aid programs authorized under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA). This notice announced two public hearings at which interested parties may comment on the topics suggested by the Department in the notice, and suggest additional topics for consideration for action by the negotiated rulemaking committee.
Written comments submitted in response to this notice may be viewed through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. Instructions for finding comments are available on the site under "How to Use Regulations.gov" in the Help section. Individuals can locate the appropriate docket for the notice by entering Docket ID ED-2015-OPE-0103 in the search box.
Committee Members List of negotiators MS Word (74K) | PDF (218K)
Meeting ScheduleFor the January and February meetings, the Committee will convene at:
The U.S. Department of Education
8th Floor Conference Center
1990 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006
For the March committee meetings, the Committee will convene at:
The U.S. Department of Education
Union Center Plaza (UCP) Learning Center
830 First Street N.E., Lobby Level
Washington, DC 20002
Meetings will run from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Meetings are open to the public.
Materials that the Department provided to the negotiating committee prior to Session 1:
Materials provided by the Department to the negotiating committee at Session 1:
Materials provided by non-Federal negotiators to the negotiating committee at Session 1:
Materials that the Department provided to the negotiating committee prior to Session 2:
Materials provided by non-Federal negotiators to the negotiating committee prior to Session 2:
Materials provided by non-Federal negotiators to the negotiating committee at Session 2:
Materials that the Department provided to the negotiating committee prior to Session 3:
Materials provided by non-Federal negotiators to the negotiating committee prior to Session 3:
Materials provided by the Department to the negotiating committee at Session 3:
Materials provided by non-Federal negotiators to the negotiating committee at Session 3:
September 10, 2015--U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C., Eighth Floor Conference Center, 1990 K Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006
September 16, 2015--Courtyard San Francisco Downtown, San Francisco, California, 299 2nd Street, Rincon Hill Room, San Francisco, California 94105
The public hearings will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., local time.