July 6 -- The Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education, announces its 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). 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 one public hearing at which interested parties may comment on the topic suggested by the Department and may suggest additional topics that we should consider for action by the negotiating committee. In addition, we announce that the Department will accept written comments on the topics suggested by the Department and suggestions for additional topics that we should consider for action by the negotiating committee.
Section 492 of the HEA requires that, before publishing any proposed regulations to implement programs authorized under title IV of the HEA, the Secretary must 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 negotiators from nominees of the organizations and groups that represent the interests significantly affected by the proposed regulations. To the extent possible, we will select individual negotiators from the nominees who reflect the diversity among program participants, in accordance with section 492(b)(1) of the HEA.
We intend to convene a committee to develop proposed regulations pertaining to topics in the title IV, HEA programs. Those topics are the authorities granted to the Secretary in HEA Section 432(a), which relate to the modification, waiver, or compromise of Federal student loans.
After reviewing the public comments presented at the public hearing and in the written submissions, we will publish a document (or documents) in the Federal Register announcing the specific topics for which we intend to establish a negotiated rulemaking committee and a request for nominations for individual negotiators for the committee who represent the communities of interest that would be significantly affected by the proposed regulations. This document will also be posted on the Department's website at:
https://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2023/index.html.
We will hold a virtual public hearing for interested parties to discuss the rulemaking agenda from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Eastern time, on July 18, 2023. Further information on the public hearing is available at:
https://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2023/index.html.
The Department will accept written comments via the Federal eRulemaking portal through July 20, 2023.
We will announce dates for negotiations of any committee established after the public hearing through a notice published in the Federal Register. We anticipate holding three sessions of no less than 2 days each at roughly 4-week intervals. The dates and locations of these virtual meetings will be published in a subsequent Federal Register document and posted online at:
https://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2023/index.html.
FRN:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2023-14329
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