Federal Updates

Congress passes HEA technical corrections bill

On June 23, 2009, both the Senate and House approved H.R. 1777 — a bill to make technical corrections to the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) — and cleared it for the White House. While the president has not yet signed H.R. 1777, he is expected to do so in the near future.

Except as otherwise provided in H.R. 1777, the amendments made shall take effect as if enacted on the date of enactment of the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA, Public Law 110-315), that is, August 14, 2008.

In part, the technical corrections bill:

• Allows a guarantor or lender to provide entrance counseling;
  
  
• Permits a guarantor to sell or assign a rehabilitated loan to ED, if ED determines that the guarantor, due to market conditions, has been unable to sell the loan to an eligible lender;
  
  
• Accelerates the exclusion of veterans educational benefits from a student's estimated financial assistance from July 1, 2010, to July 1, 2009;
  
  
• Revises the Self-Certification Form For Private Education Loans; and
  
  
• Delays implementation of the EZ FAFSA until July 1, 2010.

For more information
To access the text of H.R. 1777, go to THOMAS, the U.S. Congress Web site, at http://thomas.loc.gov. In the space for "Search Bill Summary & Status" enter "H.R. 1777," click on "Bill Number," and then "Search." On the resulting table, click on "Text of Legislation," then choose the link after item 4: "To make technical corrections to the Higher Education Act of 1965, and for other purposes. (Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate)[H.R. 1777.ENR]."

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

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