Notice2023-08162
Notice Inviting Postsecondary Educational Institutions To Participate in Experiments Under the Experimental Sites Initiative; Federal Student Financial Assistance Programs Under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as Amended
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Published
April 18, 2023
Issuing agencies
Education Department
Abstract
The Secretary invites postsecondary educational institutions (institutions) that currently participate in the Second Chance Pell experiment to apply to participate in a revised Second Chance Pell institution-based experiment under the Experimental Sites Initiative (ESI).
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 74 (Tuesday, April 18, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 74 (Tuesday, April 18, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23652-23656]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-08162]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Notice Inviting Postsecondary Educational Institutions To
Participate in Experiments Under the Experimental Sites Initiative;
Federal Student Financial Assistance Programs Under Title IV of the
Higher Education Act of 1965, as Amended
AGENCY: Federal Student Aid, Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Secretary invites postsecondary educational institutions
(institutions) that currently participate in the Second Chance Pell
experiment to apply to participate in a revised Second Chance Pell
institution-based experiment under the Experimental Sites Initiative
(ESI).
DATES: Letters of application to participate in the revised experiment
described in this notice must be received by the Department of
Education (the Department) no later than May 18, 2023. Letters of
interest received after May 18, 2023 may still, at the discretion of
the Secretary, be considered for participation.
ADDRESSES: Letters of interest must be submitted by electronic mail to
the following email address: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a2c7dad2c7d0cbcfc7ccd6c3ced1cbd6c7d1e2c7c68cc5cdd4"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="25405d5540574c48404b514449564c5140566540410b424a53">[email protected]</span></a>. For formats and
other required information, see ``Instructions for Submitting Letters
of Interest'' under the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this
notice.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carolyn Rose, U.S. Department of
Education, Federal Student Aid, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, DC
20202. Telephone: (202) 803-1502. Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#4f0c2e3d20233621611d203c2a0f2a2b61282039"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="f5b694879a998c9bdba79a8690b59091db929a83">[email protected]</span></a>.
If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and
wish to access telecommunications relay services, please dial 7-1-1.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Instructions for Submitting Letters of Interest: Letters of
interest should take the form of an Adobe Portable Document Format
(PDF) attachment to an email message sent to the email address provided
in the ADDRESSES section of this notice. The subject line of the email
should read ``ESI 2023--Pell for Students Who Are Incarcerated.'' The
text of the email should include the name and address of the
institution. The letter of interest should be on institutional
letterhead and be signed by the institution's financial aid
administrator. The letter of interest must include the institution's
official name and the Department's Office of Postsecondary Education
Identification (OPEID) number, the name of a contact person at the
institution, including a mailing address, email address, and telephone
number, as well as the name and address of the correctional
facility(ies) with which the institution partners. Please include in
the letter a listing of the academic programs that the institution is
offering under the current experiment and that the institution expects
to include in the revised experiment. For each of those
[[Page 23653]]
programs, provide an estimate of the number of participating students.
We understand that institutions' academic program listings and the
actual number of students who participate may vary from the information
submitted in the letter.
Background: Under the ESI, the Secretary may waive certain
statutory and regulatory requirements under title IV of the Higher
Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), to allow a limited number of
institutions to test alternative methods for administering the title IV
HEA programs. The alternative methods permitted under the ESI
facilitate institutional efforts to test innovative practices that
improve student outcomes and the delivery of services.
The Second Chance Pell experiment was established in 2015 and
provides need-based Pell Grants to incarcerated individuals to allow
them to participate in eligible postsecondary programs. The experiment
has expanded to over 200 programs around the country. With the passage
of the FAFSA Simplification Act in 2020, Congress further expanded the
ability to serve confined or incarcerated individuals by reinstating
Pell Grant eligibility for otherwise-eligible confined or incarcerated
individuals enrolled in eligible prison education programs (PEPs)
beginning July 1, 2023.
The revised Second Chance Pell experiment will provide new waivers
to allow current Second Chance Pell institutions to continue serving
their students after July 1, 2023 while also continuing to allow the
Department to learn more about the challenges schools face when
implementing the new regulations. This will give participating
institutions time to seek Department approval of their PEPs (as defined
under the new regulations in 34 CFR part 668 subpart P) and avoid
interrupting the educational opportunities of students currently
enrolled in approved programs under the experiment.
Specifically, the revised experiment will allow current
participating institutions to continue offering their current programs
to confined or incarcerated individuals for up to 3 award years while
they work through the application and approval process for the PEP(s)
they wish to offer under the new provisions. Through the revised
experiment, the Department will also evaluate the impact and
effectiveness of the new regulations as institutions transition to PEP.
The Revised Experiment
Description: This revised experiment will waive the statutory
provision in new HEA section 484(t)(3), requiring that a student
confined or incarcerated in a Federal or State penal institution be
enrolled in an eligible PEP (as defined in subpart P of 34 CFR part
668) in order to receive a Pell Grant. The experiment will allow some
otherwise-eligible students who are confined or incarcerated in Federal
or State penal institutions to receive a Pell Grant to help cover the
costs of their participation in a postsecondary education and training
program offered by a participating postsecondary educational
institution while the institution works to meet the new PEP
requirements. This experiment only waives specific requirements of the
title IV, HEA programs. Additional restrictions or requirements
associated with postsecondary study imposed by postsecondary or
correctional institutions may still apply, and students' eligibility to
receive aid from Federal Pell Grants under this experiment would remain
subject to those requirements.
Under the revised experiment, the education and training programs
offered by the postsecondary institution must continue to meet all
title IV, HEA program eligibility requirements. While the program must
be credit-bearing and result in a certificate or degree, up to 1 full
year of remedial coursework is allowed for students in need of academic
support.
Institutional Requirements: The experiment will require that
participating institutions:
<bullet> Partner with their current Federal or State correctional
facility(ies) to offer one or more title IV, HEA eligible academic
program(s) to incarcerated students.
<bullet> Work with the partnering correctional facilities to
encourage interested students to submit a FAFSA;
<bullet> Only enroll students in postsecondary education and
training programs that prepare them for occupations from which they are
not legally barred from entering due to restrictions on formerly
incarcerated individuals obtaining any necessary licenses or
certifications for those occupations in the State in which the
partnering facility(ies) are located;
<bullet> Disclose to interested students and to the Department
information about the options available for incarcerated students to
complete any remaining program requirements post-release;
<bullet> As appropriate, offer students the opportunity to continue
their enrollment in the academic program if the student is transferred
to another correctional facility or released from prison prior to
program completion;
<bullet> Inform students of the academic and financial options
available if they are not able to complete the academic program while
incarcerated. This includes explaining how the students can continue in
the program after release, transfer credits earned in the program to
another program offered by the institution, or transfer credits earned
in the program to another postsecondary institution;
<bullet> In partnership with Federal or State correctional
facilities, provide academic and career guidance, as well as transition
services, to incarcerated students to support successful reentry.
<bullet> Use the Pell Grant funds made available to eligible
students through this experiment to supplement, not supplant, existing
investments in postsecondary prison-based education programs by either
the postsecondary institution, the correctional facility, or outside
sources;
<bullet> Report all correctional facilities where the institution
offers 50 percent or more of an educational program as an additional
location regardless of whether students enrolled receive instruction
in-person or through distance education at that location; and
<bullet> Actively seek PEP approval under the new regulations for
programs offered under the revised experiment or prepare a plan to wind
down programs it does not plan to continue under the new provisions
within three years.
An institution may continue to enroll students in existing programs
as long as it continues to demonstrate progress toward compliance with
the new requirements. However, an institution that participates in the
revised experiment may not expand beyond the correctional facilities
with which it currently partners or beyond the programs it offers
already offer under the experiment.
In addition, programs under the experiment are subject to the
following requirements:
<bullet> Enrollment cap for incarcerated students (34 CFR
600.7(c)). Institutions that are granted a waiver prior to July 1,
2023, that permits more than 25 percent of the institution's regular
students to be confined or incarcerated will continue to receive the
waiver and will not need to reapply under the new provisions outlined
in 34 CFR 600.7(c). However, no more than 50 percent of the
institution's regular students may be confined or incarcerated for the
duration of the experiment.\1\ Institutions
[[Page 23654]]
that have not been granted a waiver to exceed the 25 percent confined
or incarcerated student enrollment threshold prior to July 1, 2023,
will not be eligible to apply for a waiver of the limitation on their
enrollment of incarcerated students for programs under the experiment.
As a result, no more than 25 percent of the institution's regular
students may be confined or incarcerated for the duration of the
experiment. Such institutions may apply for a waiver under these
provisions once the Department has approved at least one of the
institution's PEPs under the new regulatory requirements in subpart P
of 34 CFR part 668.
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\1\ Some institutions in the current Second Chance Pell
experiment have been granted a waiver to exceed the 25 percent
enrollment threshold for incarcerated students. Although these
institutions are permitted to have up to 100 percent incarcerated
student enrollment, they will be limited to 50 percent incarcerated
student enrollment for the duration of the revised experiment.
However, institutions that are chartered for the explicit purpose of
educating confined or incarcerated individuals will not be subject
to the incarcerated student cap.
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<bullet> Consumer information requirements (34 CFR
668.43(a)(5)(vi)). If a program under the experiment is designed to
meet educational requirements for a specific professional license or
certification that is required for employment in an occupation (as
described in 34 CFR 668.236(a)(7) and (8)), the institution must
disclose information to students regarding whether that occupation
typically involves State or Federal prohibitions of the licensure or
employment of formerly incarcerated individuals in any other State for
which the institution has made a determination about State prohibitions
on the licensure or certification of formerly incarcerated individuals.
This aligns the consumer information requirements for confined or
incarcerated students enrolled in programs under the experiment with
the requirements for all PEPs as described under 34 CFR
668.43(a)(5)(vi), effective on July 1, 2023.
<bullet> Cost of attendance for programs under the experiment. For
experiment purposes, no Federal Pell Grant can exceed the cost of
attendance (as defined in section 472 of the HEA) at the institution at
which that student is in attendance. If an institution determines that
the amount of a Federal Pell Grant for that student exceeds the cost of
attendance for that year, the amount of the Federal Pell Grant must be
reduced until the Federal Pell Grant does not exceed the cost of
attendance at such institution and does not result in a title IV credit
balance under 34 CFR 668.164(h). Further, if the student's Pell Grant,
combined with any other financial assistance, exceeds the student's
cost of attendance, the financial assistance other than the Pell Grant
must be reduced by the amount of the total financial assistance that
exceeds the student's cost of attendance. In addition, if the student's
other financial assistance cannot be reduced, the student's Pell Grant
must be reduced by the amount that the student's total financial
assistance exceeds the student's cost of attendance. This aligns the
cost of attendance requirements for confined or incarcerated
individuals enrolled in programs under the experiment with the
requirements for all PEPs as described under 34 CFR 690.62(b).
In addition, participating institutions must reach specific
milestones that demonstrate progress toward developing approved PEP(s).
Milestones: Participating institutions must meet the following
milestones by the end of each award year of the experiment:
2023-24 award year: By June 30, 2024, the participating institution
must have a signed written agreement with its correctional partner(s)
to comply with the new requirements outlined in subpart P of 34 CFR
part 668. The agreement must be submitted to the Department and
include, at a minimum, the oversight entity's permission to offer the
PEP at the correctional facility, and assurances that the oversight
entity will provide the following: the best interest determination for
the proposed program within the first 2 years of the program's
approval, and transfer and release data to the institution during the
existence of the PEP.
2024-25 award year: By June 30, 2025, the institution must have
completed several specific steps toward submission of its PEP
application to the Department. Specifically, by June 30, 2025, the
institution must be able to attest (and demonstrate if requested) that
it has, at a minimum:
<bullet> Determined the programs(s) to be offered under the new
provisions. The institution must be able to provide a description of
the proposed program(s), including the educational credential offered
(degree level or certificate) and the field of study as required by 34
CFR 668.238(b)(1);
<bullet> Received approval from the oversight entity to offer the
program(s) at the correctional facility;
<bullet> Received accreditor approval to offer at least one PEP;
and
<bullet> Informed the Department of the date on which it plans to
submit the PEP application to the Department (the date must be on or
before January 1, 2026).
As part of this 2024-25 award year milestone, the institution must
also provide the status of the following additional PEP requirements
and the date they anticipate submitting this information to the
Department:
<bullet> The methodology, including thresholds, benchmarks,
standards, metrics, data, and other information the oversight entity
will use in approving the prison education program and how all of the
information was/will be collected;
<bullet> Information about the types of services (to be) offered to
admitted students, including orientation, tutoring, academic and career
advising, and reentry counseling;
<bullet> The status of all programs currently offered under the
experiment and the date on which those programs will be reported to the
Department. If the institution plans to offer programs beyond the first
program at the first two additional locations, specific reporting
requirements outlined in 34 CFR 600.21(a) will apply. The institution
must prepare all programs offered under the experiment, that it plans
to continue after the experiment ends, to be in compliance with the new
PEP provisions as outlined in 34 CFR 668.238(c). Any program beyond the
first program at the first two additional locations must be reported to
the Department prior to June 30, 2026, or students attending those
programs will not be eligible for Pell Grants after the conclusion of
the experiment. The Department will perform ongoing monitoring during
the experiment to ensure that participating institutions meet these
requirements. The Department will monitor participating institutions to
ensure they are making progress toward developing a PEP that will be
submitted for consideration under subpart P of 34 CFR part 668. The
Department will also monitor all other program(s) the institution is
offering under the experiment to ensure the institution has a plan to
report those programs pursuant to 34 CFR 668.238(c) so they may
continue offering Pell Grants to students enrolled in those programs
after the experiment ends.
2025-26 award year: Participating institutions must submit the PEPs
to the Department for approval by January 1, 2026, and must have PEP
programs approved before July 1, 2026, to continue offering Pell Grants
to enrolled students.
Statutory and Regulatory Modifications: Under this experiment, the
Secretary will modify certain statutory and regulatory provisions.
By agreeing to the alternative procedures and requirements for this
[[Page 23655]]
revised experiment, the institution will be exempt from the following
new statutory and regulatory provisions, either in whole or to the
extent noted:
<bullet> HEA section 484(t)(3) Confined or incarcerated individuals
as in effect beginning July 1, 2023. A student confined or incarcerated
in a Federal or State penal institution need not be enrolled in an
eligible PEP in order to receive a Pell Grant. However, confined or
incarcerated students must be enrolled in title IV eligible programs
that are part of the experiment in order to receive Pell Grant funds.
<bullet> 34 CFR 668.32(c)(2)(ii) Student eligibility. Confined or
incarcerated students enrolled at participating institutions need not
be enrolled in an eligible PEP to receive Pell Grant funds. Students
are required to be enrolled in a title IV eligible program.
<bullet> 34 CFR 668, subpart P Prison education program
requirements (34 CFR 668.236 through 34 CFR 668.241). Participating
institutions are exempt from all of subpart P of 34 CFR part 668 with
respect to their existing Second Chance Pell programs, since those
programs are not required to be eligible PEPs. However, participating
institutions must only enroll incarcerated students in title IV
eligible programs.
All other provisions and regulations of the title IV HEA student
assistance programs will remain in effect.
Reporting and Evaluation: On an annual basis, participating
institutions will be required to upload an Excel spreadsheet that will
be available in the ESI Reporting Tool in the Common Origination &
Disbursement (COD) website (or its successor system) to report
information about students who submit a FAFSA for enrollment in
programs offered by the institution that are included in the
experiment. The spreadsheet will collect programmatic and student
information, including:
<bullet> Identifying information (e.g., Social Security number,
last name) for students receiving Pell Grant funds under the
experiment;
<bullet> The name of the program and Classification of
Instructional Programs (CIP) code in which the student enrolled;
<bullet> The number of postsecondary credits the student attempted,
and the number earned;
<bullet> Indicators of academic progress, including program
completion; and
<bullet> Other experiment-specific information as determined by the
Department.
In addition to the annual reporting, participating institutions
will be required to upload, on a monthly basis, the Excel spreadsheet
in COD (or its successor system) to provide the Department with:
<bullet> Identifying information for students receiving Pell Grant
funds under the experiment; and
<bullet> The status of the institution's development of all PEPs it
plans to offer under the new provisions.
Participating institutions will also be required to complete annual
surveys collecting information about:
<bullet> The name of each program offered under the experiment, the
name and address of the facility(ies) at which the program is being
offered, and the oversight entity responsible for the facility;
<bullet> The progress that the institution has made toward
complying with the new statutory and regulatory requirements;
<bullet> The postsecondary instruction (if any) provided to
incarcerated population(s) prior to participating in the experiment;
<bullet> The institution's arrangement(s) with correctional
facilities and oversight entities and any unforeseen challenges;
<bullet> Terms of the postsecondary institution's arrangements with
correctional facilities and oversight entities (e.g., tuition and fees,
caps on credits earned, support services provided, instructional
delivery methods, and faculty characteristics);
<bullet> Challenges encountered by the institution as it develops a
PEP to comply with the new provisions, and the specific solutions the
institution put in place to respond to those challenges;
<bullet> Benefits experienced by the institution or its students as
a PEP complying with the new provisions is put in place; and
<bullet> Balanced and thoughtful reflection of what the institution
and incarcerated students gain and lose with the adoption of the new
PEP provisions that are put in place.
The experiment will be evaluated using information the institution
provides to the Department, as well as any other information available
to the Department. The Department seeks to evaluate specific challenges
encountered by the institution while administering the experiment,
including:
<bullet> Partnering with correctional facilities to offer
postsecondary education to incarcerated students;
<bullet> Incarcerated students' ability to complete the FAFSA;
<bullet> The verification process for incarcerated students;
<bullet> The program approval process for PEPs under the new
provisions;
<bullet> The process for an oversight entity to make the
determination that program(s) being developed under the new provisions
are operating in the best interest of students; and
<bullet> Challenges that the institution encountered while
obtaining programmatic accreditation for PEPs and how they were
resolved.
The Department also intends to evaluate how institutions
successfully implemented the new provisions, including the PEP approval
process and metrics used by the oversight entity to determine if the
program is operating in the best interest of students.
The Department will finalize the specific evaluation and reporting
requirements prior to the start of the experiment, in consultation with
the Department's Institute of Education Sciences. An information
collection will be made available for public comment regarding further
information gathering connected with this notice.
Application and Selection: The Department will make its
institutional selections for the revised experiment based on the
following factors:
1. Only institutions that are approved and actively participating
in the Second Chance Pell experiment as of June 30, 2023, may
participate in the revised experiment.
2. An institution interested in participating in the revised
experiment must:
a. Notify the Department of its desire to participate in the
revised experiment by submitting a letter of interest;
b. Agree to make efforts to reach the specific milestones that
demonstrate progress toward developing approved PEP(s), as outlined in
the Institutional Requirements section of this notice; and
c. Be in compliance with the reporting requirements under the
current experiment as outlined in the Program Participation Agreement
(PPA) Amendment.
3. The institution must be in compliance with title IV HEA
regulatory and statutory requirements, including administrative
capability and financial responsibility; and
4. The institution must adequately describe in its letter of
interest how it will comply with the requirements of the revised
experiment outlined in this notice, including its plan and the date it
expects to comply with the new PEP provisions in subpart P of 34 CFR
part 668.
Accessible Format: On request to the person listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, 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),
[[Page 23656]]
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 <a href="http://www.govinfo.gov">www.govinfo.gov</a>. 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
<a href="http://www.federalregister.gov">www.federalregister.gov</a>. Specifically, through the advanced search
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published
by the Department.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1094a(b).
Richard Cordray,
Chief Operating Officer, Federal Student Aid.
[FR Doc. 2023-08162 Filed 4-17-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
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