Notice2023-19446
Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program
Primary source
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Published
September 8, 2023
Issuing agencies
Education Department
Abstract
Pursuant to the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended by the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988 and the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Amendments of 1990 (Privacy Act) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance on the conduct of matching programs, notice is hereby given of the re-establishment of the matching program between the U.S. Department of Education (ED or Department), as the recipient agency, and the Social Security Administration (SSA), as the source agency, to assist the Department in meeting its obligations under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), including to ensure that applicants for title IV, HEA program assistance satisfy eligibility requirements.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 173 (Friday, September 8, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 173 (Friday, September 8, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62069-62071]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-19446]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[Docket ID ED-2023-FSA-0088]
Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program
AGENCY: Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice of a new matching program.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended by the
Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988 and the Computer
Matching and Privacy Protection Amendments of 1990 (Privacy Act) and
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance on the conduct of
matching programs, notice is hereby given of the re-establishment of
the matching program between the U.S. Department of Education (ED or
Department), as the recipient agency, and the Social Security
Administration (SSA), as the source agency, to assist the Department in
meeting its obligations under title IV of the Higher Education Act of
1965, as amended (HEA), including to ensure that applicants for title
IV, HEA program assistance satisfy eligibility requirements.
DATES: The period of this matching program is estimated to cover the
12-month period from October 11, 2023, through October 10, 2024.
However, the computer matching agreement (CMA) will become applicable
at the later of the following two dates: October 11, 2023, or 30 days
after the publication of this notice, on September 8, 2023, unless
comments have been received
[[Page 62070]]
from interested members of the public requiring revision to and
republication of the notice. The matching program will continue for 12
months after the applicable date and may be extended for up to an
additional 12 months, if the respective agency Data Integrity Boards
(DIBs) determine that the conditions specified in 5 U.S.C.
552a(o)(2)(D) have been met.
ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking
Portal at <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a>. However, if you require an accommodation or
cannot otherwise submit your comments via <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a>, please
contact the program contact person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT. The Department will not accept comments submitted by fax or by
email, or comments submitted after the comment period. To ensure that
the Department does not receive duplicate copies, please submit your
comments only once. In addition, please include the Docket ID at the
top of your comments.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> 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 the
``FAQ'' tab.
Privacy Note: The Department's policy is generally to make comments
received from members of the public available for public viewing in
their entirety on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at
<a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>. Therefore, commenters should be careful to include
in their comments only information that they wish to make publicly
available.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gerard Duffey, Management and Program
Analyst, U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid,
Philadelphia, PA 19107. Telephone: (215) 656-3249.
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: In accordance with the Privacy Act; OMB
``Final Guidance Interpreting the Provisions of Public Law 100-503, the
Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988,'' published in
the Federal Register on June 19, 1989 (54 FR 25818); and OMB Circular
No. A-108, notice is hereby provided of the re-establishment of the
matching program between SSA and ED to assist ED in the verification of
Social Security numbers (SSNs), confirmation of citizenship status as
recorded in SSA records, and death indicators (when applicable) of
individuals who initiate the steps associated with accessing programs
authorized by title IV of the Higher Education Act, or participating in
the application process for such assistance, to assist ED in meeting
its obligations under title IV of the HEA, including to ensure that
applicants for Title IV, HEA program assistance satisfy eligibility
requirements.
Participating Agencies
ED and SSA.
Authority for Conducting the Matching Program
ED's legal authority to enter into the CMA includes:
<bullet> Section 484(p) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1091(p)) (which will
be section 484(o) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1091(o)) following
implementation of the FAFSA Simplification Act on July 1, 2024);
<bullet> Section 484(g) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1091(g));
<bullet> Section 483(a)(12) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1090(a)(12))
(which will be section 483(a)(2)(B) (20 U.S.C. 1090(a)(2)(B)) following
implementation of the FAFSA Simplification Act);
<bullet> Section 428B(f) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1078-2(f));
<bullet> Sections 427, 432, 451, 483, and 484 of the HEA (20 U.S.C.
1077, 1082, 1087a, 1090, and 1091); and
<bullet> Subsection (b)(3) of the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C.
552a(b)(3)).
SSA is authorized to participate in the matching program under
section 1106 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1306) and the
regulations promulgated pursuant to that section (20 CFR part 401), and
subsection (b)(3) the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3)). Section 7213
of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004
provides SSA authority to add a death indicator to verification
routines that SSA determines to be appropriate.
Purpose(s)
The CMA establishes the terms, safeguards, and procedures under
which the SSA will provide to ED SSN verification, citizenship status
as recorded in SSA records, and death indicators (when applicable) of
individuals who initiate the steps associated with accessing programs
authorized by title IV of the HEA, or participating in the application
process for such assistance, to assist ED in meeting its obligations
under title IV of the HEA, including to ensure that applicants for
title IV, HEA program assistance satisfy eligibility requirements.
Categories of Individuals
Under the CMA, ED will send to SSA records on individuals who apply
for Federal student financial assistance through the Free Application
for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA[supreg]) and on individuals who initiate
the steps associated with accessing programs administered under the
authority of title IV of the HEA. These individuals also include the
parents of dependent students and applicants for Federal PLUS loans.
Under the CMA, SSA will match ED's records to its files on each
individual who has applied for, and obtained, an SSN.
Categories of Records
The specific data elements that ED will transmit to SSA are: SSN,
first name, last name, and date of birth (DOB).
SSA's system of records involved in the matching program maintains
information required to apply for, and obtain, an SSN. The specific
data elements that SSA will send back to ED include: SSN, first name,
last name, DOB, and an SSA verification code on each record to indicate
the match results. The verification codes are: 1 = No match on SSN, 3 =
SSN match, name match, no match on DOB, 5 = SSN match, no match on
name, DOB not checked, 6 = SSN not verified, Blank = SSN match, name
match, DOB match. SSA will also send a death indicator if one is
present on SSA's database for the record. Records returned from SSA
also will include a citizenship status code as follows: A = U.S.
citizen, B = legal alien, eligible to work, C = legal alien, not
eligible to work, D = other, E = alien, student restricted, F =
conditionally legalized alien, * = foreign born, Blank = domestic born
(U.S. citizen), N = unable to verify citizenship due to no match on
name, DOB, or SSN.
System(s) of Records
There are two ED systems of records notices that cover information
disclosed by ED to SSA in this matching program. The first is entitled,
``Aid Awareness and Application Processing'' (AAAP)(18-11-21), and was
last fully published in the Federal Register on June 15, 2023 (88 FR
39233-39248) (available at: <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/06/15/2023-12831/privacy-act-of-1974-system-of-records">https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/06/15/2023-12831/privacy-act-of-1974-system-of-records</a>). Note: The
Central Processing System (CPS) and FAFSA Processing System (FPS) are
the ED information systems that process FAFSA data. CPS will process
this data through September 30, 2024, for Award
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Year (AY) 2023-2024. FPS will become operational on or after December
1, 2023, and begin processing FAFSA data for AY 2024-25. After
September 30, 2024, CPS will be decommissioned and be fully replaced by
FPS. FPS will process data for all AYs thereafter. The second system of
records notice is entitled, ``Person Authentication Service (PAS)''
(18-11-12) and was last fully published in the Federal Register on July
28, 2023 (88 FR 48817-48824) (available at: <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/07/28/2023-16001/privacy-act-of-1974-system-of-records">https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/07/28/2023-16001/privacy-act-of-1974-system-of-records</a>). This is the system of records that covers the
records of applicants for FSA IDs. In addition, ED will maintain the
information that it receives back from SSA in the ``Common Origination
and Disbursement (COD) System'' (18-11-02), for which ED last fully
published a system of records notice in the Federal Register on June
28, 2023 (88 FR 41942-41951) (available at: <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/06/28/2023-13698/privacy-act-of-1974-system-of-records">https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/06/28/2023-13698/privacy-act-of-1974-system-of-records</a>).
SSA's system of records involved in this matching program is
entitled, ``Master Files of Social Security Number (SSN) Holders and
SSN Applications'' (Enumeration System) 60-0058, last fully published
in the Federal Register on January 4, 2022 (87 FR 263-267).
Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this
document in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, or
audiotape) by contacting the contact person listed in the preceding
paragraph.
Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this
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Richard Cordray,
Chief Operating Officer Federal Student Aid.
[FR Doc. 2023-19446 Filed 9-7-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on September 8, 2023.
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