Neg Reg Summary for Committees III and IV

Negotiated Rulemaking (Neg Reg) Committees III and IV have completed their negotiations. Committee III was responsible for negotiating rules on student eligibility, program eligibility, and return of Title IV funds issues. The committee reached final consensus on all issues, excluding one item regarding return of Title IV funds that was removed from the negotiations but will be included in the proposed regulations. Committee IV was responsible for a variety of school eligibility issues. Negotiators reached final consensus on all issues subject to negotiation except for regulatory provisions regarding the 90/10 rule for proprietary schools, which stipulates that a school may receive no more than ninety percent of its revenues from the Title IV funds received by its students.

The Department of Education (ED) expects to issue 11 Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) reflecting the four Negotiated Rulemaking Committees' agreements very soon. The complete NPRMs for all Neg Reg Committees will be published on the National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs web site at www.nchelp.org and the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administration web site at www.nasfaa.org. Schools and lenders are urged to provide ED with their comments on specific issues. Comment periods will be 45 or 60 days, depending on the time constraints of the individual NPRM. If you do not plan, or do not wish, to provide comments to an NPRM on behalf of your individual organization, you are invited to send your comments to Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation (TG). TG will be providing comments on most of the 11 NPRM packages and appreciates learning of any issues that school and lender customers wish to highlight. Send your comments by e-mail to Steven Smith in TG Policy and Regulatory Affairs (steven.smith@tgslc.org) no later than ten business days before the comment deadline of the NPRM for which you are providing comments. Please include a telephone number in the event that TG needs to discuss your comments with you.

Rules that are finalized by November 1, 1999, are scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2000. For a recap of the Neg Reg for Committees III and IV by topic, access TG Online at www.tgslc.org under Resources for Schools and Lenders.