Notice2024-00584
Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program
Primary source
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Published
January 12, 2024
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 a matching program between the U.S. Department of Education (Department), as the recipient agency, and the Social Security Administration (SSA), as the source agency, to enable the Department to contact individuals whom SSA identifies as disabled using Medical Improvement Not Expected (MINE) data, to inform them that the Department will issue Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) discharges of their balances of loans under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), their title IV HEA loans that have been written off due to default, or, their outstanding service or repayment obligations under the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program unless they opt out of the TPD discharge. Such TPD discharges will occur no earlier than 61 days from the date that the Department sends the notification to those individuals, unless those individuals choose to have their loans or outstanding service or repayment obligations discharged earlier, or choose to opt out of the TPD discharge within 60 days from the date that the Department sends the notification to them.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 9 (Friday, January 12, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 9 (Friday, January 12, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2216-2217]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-00584]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[Docket ID ED-2023-FSA-0180]
Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program
AGENCY: Federal Student Aid, 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 a
matching program between the U.S. Department of Education (Department),
as the recipient agency, and the Social Security Administration (SSA),
as the source agency, to enable the Department to contact individuals
whom SSA identifies as disabled using Medical Improvement Not Expected
(MINE) data, to inform them that the Department will issue Total and
Permanent Disability (TPD) discharges of their balances of loans under
title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), their
title IV HEA loans that have been written off due to default, or, their
outstanding service or repayment obligations under the Teacher
Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant
Program unless they opt out of the TPD discharge. Such TPD discharges
will occur no earlier than 61 days from the date that the Department
sends the notification to those individuals, unless those individuals
choose to have their loans or outstanding service or repayment
obligations discharged earlier, or choose to opt out of the TPD
discharge within 60 days from the date that the Department sends the
notification to them.
DATES: Submit your comments on the proposed re-establishment of the
matching program on or before February 12, 2024.
The matching program will go into effect on the later of the
following three dates: (1) March 30, 2024; (2) at the expiration of the
60-day period following the Department's transmittal of a report
concerning the matching program to OMB and to the appropriate
Congressional Committees, along with a copy of the Computer Matching
Agreement, unless OMB waives any of this 60-day review period for
compelling reasons, in which case, 60 days minus the number of days
waived by OMB from the date of the Department's transmittal of the
report of the matching program; or (3) at the expiration of the 30-day
public comment period following the Department's publication of notice
of this matching program in the Federal Register, assuming that the
Department receives no public comments or receives public comments but
makes no changes to the Matching Notice as a result of the public
comments, or 30 days from the date on which the Department publishes a
Revised Matching Notice in the Federal Register, assuming that the
Department receives public comments and revises the Matching Notice as
a result of public comments. If the latest date occurs on a non-
business day, then that date will be counted for purposes of this
paragraph as occurring on the next business day.
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
we do not receive duplicate copies, please submit your comments only
once. In addition, please include the Docket ID at the top of your
comments.
<bullet> 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 ``FAQ''.
Privacy Note: The Department's policy is to make all 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: Ron Bennett, Group Director Program
Technical & Business Support Group, Federal Student Aid, U.S.
Department of Education, 830 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20202-
5320. Telephone: (202) 377-3181. Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1a48757434587f74747f6e6e5a7f7e347d756c"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="9bc9f4f5b5d9fef5f5feefefdbfeffb5fcf4ed">[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: 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 given of the re-establishment of a matching
program between the Department and SSA to enable the Department to
contact certain individuals with loans under title IV of the HEA or
outstanding service or repayment obligations under the TEACH Grant
Program whom SSA identifies as disabled using MINE disability data to
inform them that, should they wish, the Department will facilitate a
TPD discharge of their loans under title IV of the HEA or TEACH Grant
service or repayment obligations.
Participating Agencies
The Department and SSA.
Authority for Conducting the Matching Program
The Department's legal authority to enter into the matching program
and to disclose information thereunder includes sections 420N(c),
437(a)(1), 455(a)(1), and 464(c)(1)(F)(ii & iii) of the HEA (20 U.S.C.
1070g-2(c), 1087(a)(1), 1087e(a)(1)), and 1087dd((c)(1)(F)(ii & iii)).
SSA's legal authority to disclose information under this Agreement
is section 1106 of the Act (42 U.S.C. 1306) and the regulations
promulgated pursuant to that section (20 CFR part 401). Subsection
(b)(3) of the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3) allows SSA to make the
disclosure without the prior written consent of the individuals to whom
the records pertain.
Purpose(s)
This matching program will enable the Department to send notices to
certain borrowers with loans under title IV of the HEA and TEACH Grant
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recipients whom SSA identifies as disabled based on MINE disability
data to inform them that the Department will discharge the individuals'
title IV loans or TEACH Grant service or repayment obligations no
earlier than 61 days from the date that the Department sends the
notification to the individual, unless the individual chooses to have
their loans or service or repayment obligations discharged earlier or
chooses to opt out of the TPD discharge within 60 days from the date
that the Department sends the notification to the individual.
Categories of Individuals
Under the Computer Matching Agreement (CMA) for this matching
program, the Department will disclose information to SSA from the
system of records entitled ``National Student Loan Data System
(NSLDS)'' (18-11-06) on individuals who owe a balance on one or more
title IV, HEA loans, who have had a title IV, HEA loan written off due
to default, or who have an outstanding service or repayment obligation
under the TEACH Grant Program.
Under the CMA for this matching program, SSA will disclose
information to the Department from the Disability Control File (DCF),
which originates from the ``Completed Determination Record--Continuing
Disability Determinations'' (60-0050) system of records, on individuals
whom SSA identifies as disabled using MINE disability data.
Categories of Records
The Department will disclose to SSA from the system of records
entitled ``National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS)'' (18-11-06) the
name, date of birth (DOB), and Social Security number (SSN) of the
individuals identified in the preceding section. These individuals will
be matched with SSA data recorded in the DCF, which originates from the
``Completed Determination Record--Continuing Disability
Determinations'' (60-0050) system of records, in order to provide the
Department with MINE disability data.
System(s) of Records
The Department will disclose records to SSA from its system of
records identified as ``National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS)''
(18-11-06), as last published in the Federal Register in full on June
28, 2023 (88 FR 41934).
SSA will disclose records back to the Department from its systems
of records identified as the ``Completed Determination Record--
Continuing Disability Determinations'' (60-0050), which was last fully
published in the Federal Register at 71 FR 1813 on January 11, 2006,
and updated on December 10, 2007 (72 FR 69723), November 1, 2018 (83 FR
54969), and April 26, 2019 (84 FR 17907).
The Department will maintain matched records that it receives from
SSA in the aforementioned system of records identified as ``National
Student Loan Data System (NSLDS)'' (18-11-06), along with the
Department's system of records identified as ``Common Services for
Borrowers (CSB)'' (18-11-16), last published in the Federal Register in
full on July 27, 2023 (88 FR 48449).
Accessible Format: On request to the program contact 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), 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.
Richard Cordray,
Chief Operating Officer, Federal Student Aid.
[FR Doc. 2024-00584 Filed 1-11-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
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