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Federal Updates

Shoptalk Online 409, June 12, 2007

Federal Updates

Official Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published

As announced in last week's Shoptalk Online Edition 408, ED recently released an unofficial Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) addressing many topics of importance to the financial aid industry. Today, the official NPRM was published in the Federal Register, providing the public with a 60 day comment period.

To view the NPRM and submit comments online

Go to www.regulations.gov.
Select "Department of Education" from the agency drop-down menu, then click "Submit."
In the Document ID column, select ED_FRDOC_0001-0008 (Federal Perkins Loan Program, Federal Family Education Loan Program, and William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program).
To submit comments, click on the yellow icon next to "Add Comments."

New Military Deferment Request form approved

Yesterday, ED released Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) GEN-07-04, which announced the approval of a new Military Deferment Request form.

The new military deferment was created by the Higher Education Reconciliation Act (HERA) of 2005. The provision allows for borrowers with loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2001, under the Federal Family Educational Loan (FFEL), Direct Loan, and Perkins Loan programs to defer repayment on eligible loans for up to three years while the borrower is serving on active duty during a war or other military operation or national emergency. Borrowers performing qualifying National Guard duty during a war or other military operation or national emergency may also qualify for the new military deferment.

Implementation of the New Military Deferment Request form
Lenders and servicers may begin to use the new form immediately, but must provide only the newly approved form to borrowers beginning October 1, 2007. However, ED clarifies that requests for the military deferment made by a borrower using other means that were in place before October 1, 2007, may continue to be processed after that date.

More information
To access GEN-07-04, visit http://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/GEN0704.html. A PDF version of the new form is also available on TG Online at www.tgslc.org/forms/frms_def.cfm.

For questions about deferments, contact TG customer assistance at (800) 845-6267, or send an message to cust.assist@tgslc.org.