Federal Register: October 28, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 207)
DOCID: fr28oc09-43 FR Doc E9-25973
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Education Department
NOTICE: NOTICES
DOCID: fr28oc09-43
DOCUMENT ACTION: Notice inviting suggestions for new experiments for the Experimental Sites Initiative.
SUBJECT CATEGORY:
Federal Student Financial Assistance Programs Under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as Amended
DATES: Suggestions must be submitted no later than December 18, 2009 in order to ensure consideration for inclusion in the first phase of ESI.
DOCUMENT SUMMARY:
The Secretary of Education invites institutions of higher education that participate in the student assistance programs authorized under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (the HEA), or consortiums of such institutions, to propose ideas for institutionally based experiments designed to test new ways of administering the student financial assistance programs authorized by title IV of the HEA (the Title IV, HEA programs). This effort is called the Experimental Sites Initiative (ESI). This notice is the first of two notices that the Secretary will publish regarding the ESI.
Under section 487A(b) of the HEA, the Secretary has the authority to grant waivers from specific Title IV, HEA statutory or regulatory requirements to allow institutions to test alternative methods for administering the Title IV, HEA programs. Such institutions are referred to in the HEA as ``experimental sites''. The Secretary seeks suggestions on how best to use this authority to reduce burden in the administration of the Title IV, HEA programs.
Consistent with section 487A(b) of the HEA, the Secretary cannot waive requirements related to need analysis, award rules, and grant and loan maximum award amounts. However, the Secretary anticipates approving experiments in a wide variety of other areas. The Secretary is particularly interested in suggestions for experiments that might produce stronger academic outcomes for students, such as improved persistence, shorter time to degree, and reduced reliance on outside work.
After reviewing the suggestions submitted by institutions as a result of this notice and constructing an evaluation design for approved experiments, the Secretary will publish a second notice in the Federal Register announcing approved experiments as well as the implementation and evaluative criteria for each approved experiment. The subsequent notice will invite institutions to apply to participate in one or more of those experiments, with preference given to the institution(s) that submitted the original suggestion.
SUMMARY:
Federal Student Financial Assistance Programs under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as Amended
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
Background
Through ESI, we seek to experiment with ways to both improve
services to students and free institutions and students from
administrative burdens, while maintaining (or increasing) the [[Page 55543]]
financial and programmatic integrity of the Title IV, HEA programs.
While the Title IV, HEA programs help make a postsecondary education possible for millions of students, their costs to the American taxpayer are considerable. Therefore, Congress and the Secretary have a justifiable interest in protecting the integrity of the programs and do so by establishing statutory and regulatory requirements. In many instances, these requirements also provide students with protections and safeguards. They also ensure that students and families are fully informed of their rights and responsibilities as applicants and recipients of assistance from the Title IV, HEA programs and have the information needed to make informed decisions.
At this time, we seek the assistance of institutions in identifying areas in the administration of the Title IV, HEA programs that could benefit from testing alternative ways of accomplishing the underlying goals of the current statutory or regulatory requirements. We also seek suggestions on how these alternatives could be evaluated.
We understand that the ability to construct rigorous experimental designs is a specialized skill not expected of most financial aid professionals. Therefore, we are not asking institutions that submit suggestions for experiments to prepare full project designs, including evaluation designs. In collaboration with the submitting institution, we will develop the final experimental designs and evaluation plans for each approved experiment before we invite institutions to participate in the experiments. The designs of all experiments must measure not only the results of the alternative approach, but also provide reasonable measures of what would have happened under the existing requirements.
We also may develop experiments in addition to those proposed by institutions and we will invite institutions to participate in those experiments as well as any submitted by institutions.
We will require institutions that participate in the experiments to provide data about the effectiveness of the proposed alternatives. For this reason, we are interested in suggestions about methodologies that could be used to collect comparable information about current statutory requirements. This comparable data could be based upon the treatment of a control group of students at the institution who are subject to the current requirement or collected from other, similar institutions whose students are subject to the current requirement.
This invitation for suggestions is a part of the Secretary's continuing effort to improve Title IV, HEA program administration in partnership with the higher education community. We have benefited tremendously from the community's contributions through the negotiated rulemaking process and in other ways and we look forward to working with the institutions that participate in the ESI.
Invitation for Suggestions
We hope that this invitation will encourage institutions to suggest innovative strategies that improve postsecondary student outcomes, relieve unnecessary burden, and maintain program accountability. We will consider the outcomes of these experimental strategies when proposing changes to the Title IV, HEA program regulations or, if appropriate, in legislative proposals to the Congress.
We note that the results of earlier experiments under the ESI contributed to a statutory change that relaxed the 30day delay requirement for the disbursement of loan funds to firstyear, first time borrowers, and eased the requirement that singleterm loans be disbursed in multiple installments.
The flexibilities tested by a consortium of community colleges also resulted in a statutory change in the HEA regarding the Ability to Benefit (ATB) requirements. Specifically, the HEA now provides another alternative for students without a high school diploma, or its equivalent, to become eligible to receive Title IV, HEA student aid funds.
Under ESI, we seek innovative approaches in a variety of different
areas related to the administration of the Title IV, HEA programs. We
also encourage institutions to collaborate in the development process
of proposals. We are interested in receiving suggestions that address the following:
Because we must demonstrate that the experiments we implement have
the potential to improve efficiency while at the same time protecting
the integrity of Title IV, HEA programs, we are especially interested
in experiments that integrate scientifically valid evaluation
methodologies into the suggested experiments. Thus, we would appreciate
receiving suggestions that address the following components for evaluating the experiments:
Reports on past experiments under the ESI can be found on the Experimental Sites Web site at https://experimentalsites.ed.gov/exp/ reports.html. The Secretary encourages new experiments in areas other than those previously tried.
Electronic Access to This Document
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) on the Internet at the following site: http:// www.ed.gov/news/fedregister/index.html.
To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF, call the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 18882936498; or in the Washington, DC area at (202) 5121530.
Note: 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 on GPO Access at: http:// www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1094a.
Delegation of Authority: The Secretary of Education has delegated
authority to Daniel T. Madzelan, Director, Forecasting and Policy
Analysis for the Office of Postsecondary Education, to perform the
functions and duties of the Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education.
Dated: October 23, 2009.
Daniel T. Madzelan,
Director, Forecasting and Policy Analysis.
[FR Doc. E925973 Filed 102709; 8:45 am]
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
Warren Farr, U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid, Room 43H2, 830 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20002. Email at: Warren.Farr@ed.gov or by telephone at (202) 3774380.
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 18008778339. Individuals with disabilities can obtain this document in an accessible format (e.g. Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer diskette) by contacting Warren Farr.