Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program

Issuing agencies

Abstract

This matching program will assist the U.S. Department of Education (Department or ED) in its obligation to ensure that borrowers whom the Social Security Administration (SSA) identifies as disabled with Medical Improvement Not Expected (MINE) status and who either owe balances on or who have had any of loans made under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA) written off due to default for the Federal Perkins Loan Program (20 U.S.C. 1087aa et seq.), the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program (20 U.S.C. 1087a et seq.), the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program (20 U.S.C. 1071 et seq.), or the Federal Insured Student Loan (FISL) Program (20 U.S.C. 1071 et seq.) or with Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant service obligations (referred to collectively herein as "Title IV loans") more efficiently and effectively are able to obtain Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) discharges of their Title IV loans.

Full Text

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 163 (Tuesday, August 25, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 163 (Tuesday, August 25, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54862-54863]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-17302]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket ID ED-2026-FSA-2773]


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: This matching program will assist the U.S. Department of 
Education (Department or ED) in its obligation to ensure that borrowers 
whom the Social Security Administration (SSA) identifies as disabled 
with Medical Improvement Not Expected (MINE) status and who either owe 
balances on or who have had any of loans made under Title IV of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA) written off due to 
default for the Federal Perkins Loan Program (20 U.S.C. 1087aa et 
seq.), the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program (20 U.S.C. 1087a 
et seq.), the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program (20 U.S.C. 
1071 et seq.), or the Federal Insured Student Loan (FISL) Program (20 
U.S.C. 1071 et seq.) or with Teacher Education Assistance for College 
and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant service obligations (referred to 
collectively herein as ``Title IV loans'') more efficiently and 
effectively are able to obtain Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) 
discharges of their Title IV loans.

DATES: Submit your comments on the proposed re-establishment of the 
matching program on or before September 24, 2026.
    The matching program will become effective on the later of the 
following two dates: (1) October 1, 2026, or (2) 30 days after the 
publication of this notice, on August 25, 2026, unless comments have 
been received from interested members of the public requiring 
modification and republication of the notice. The matching program will 
continue for 18 months after the effective date and may be renewed for 
up to an additional 12 months if, within 3 months prior to the 
expiration of the 18 months, the respective Data Integrity Boards of ED 
and the SSA 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 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: Corinne Sauri, Management and Program 
Analyst, Office of Operations and Governance, Federal Student Aid, U.S. 
Department of Education, 77 K Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. 
Telephone: (202) 245-5612.

[[Page 54863]]

    If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text 
telephone (TTY), you may call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll-
free, at 1-800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, 
as amended (Privacy Act) (5 U.S.C. 552a); Office of Management and 
Budget (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 the Department and VA.

Participating Agencies

    The U.S. Department of Education and the Social Security 
Administration.

Authority for Conducting the Matching Program

    ED's legal authority to enter into this agreement and to disclose 
information under this agreement is sections 420N(c), 437(a)(1), 
455(a)(1), and 464(c)(1)(F)(ii & iii) of the Higher Education Act (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 assist ED in allowing borrowers who have 
balances on Title IV loans or have had Title IV loans written off due 
to default and recipients of TEACH Grants who have service or repayment 
obligations whom SSA identifies as disabled with MINE status using data 
about disability onset dates and review cycles, should they wish to do 
so, to more efficiently and effectively apply for TPD discharge of 
their Title IV loans or TEACH Grant service or repayment obligations. 
ED proactively sends notices to such Title IV borrowers and TEACH Grant 
recipients whom SSA identifies as disabled. The notice informs the 
individual that ED will discharge the borrowers' Title IV loans or 
recipients' TEACH Grants with service or repayment obligations. ED will 
not process the discharge earlier than 61 days after the notice date, 
unless within 60 days of that date, the individual either chooses an 
earlier discharge or chooses to opt out of the TPD discharge process. 
The notices also inform these Title IV borrowers and TEACH Grant 
recipients that ED will accept their matched MINE information in lieu 
of the submission of a paper application and SSA certification letter 
to ED. If Title IV student loan borrowers and TEACH Grant recipients do 
not apply for the TPD loan discharge, their SSA benefits may be offset 
to repay their Title IV loans or TEACH Grants with repayment 
obligations.

Categories of Individuals

    This matching program covers veterans whom the VA has designated as 
having a service-connected disability rating that is 100 percent 
disabling or being totally disabled based on an individual 
unemployability rating, as described in 38 CFR 3.4(b) and 3.340, and 
who have title IV loans (as defined above).

Categories of Records

    This matching program covers the following records on the 
aforementioned individuals: the name (first, middle, and last), date of 
birth (DOB), and Social Security number (SSN), and an indicator if the 
medical data in SSA's Disability Control File (DCF) indicates MINE 
status.

System(s) of Records

    SSA will disclose to ED information from the DCF, which originates 
from the system of records identified as ``Completed Determination 
Record--Continuing Disability Determinations'' (60-0050), last 
published in full in the Federal Register on November 25, 2025 (90 FR 
53413). VA has determined that routine use 39 in the foregoing system 
of records is compatible with the purpose for which the information is 
collected and contains appropriate Privacy Act disclosure authority.
    ED will disclose information to SSA from the system of records 
entitled ``National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS)'' (18-11-06), the 
system of records notice last published in full in the Federal Register 
on April 22, 2026 (91 FR 21480).
    ED will maintain information obtained from SSA in the NSLDS (18-11-
06), and in ``Aid Awareness and Application Processing (18-11-21)'', as 
last published in full in the Federal Register on April 22, 2026 (91 FR 
21450).
    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, 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.

Wayne Sullivan,
Acting Principal Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Federal Student Aid.
[FR Doc. 2026-17302 Filed 8-24-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P


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