Posted Date:November 23, 2015
| Author: | Sue O'Flaherty, Service Director, Program Management, Federal Student Aid |
Subject: Deadline to Apply for Designation as a Title III or Title V Institution and Request a Waiver of the Non-Federal Share Requirement for the Campus-Based Programs for the 2016-2017 Award Year (Updated on November 24, 2015)
Note: We updated this announcement on November 24, 2015 by correcting the deadline to apply for designation as a Title III or Title IV institution and request a waiver of the non-federal share requirement for the FWS and FSEOG programs for the 2016-2017 Award Year. The correct deadline is January 4, 2016.
We provide the following information regarding the designation of Title III or Title V status for institutions and the resulting waiver of the non-federal share requirements for the Federal Work-Study (FWS) and Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) programs.
Campus-Based Programs Title III or Title V Non-Federal Share Requirement Waiver
Institutions participating in the FWS and FSEOG programs are normally required to provide a non-federal share under each program. However, certain institutions are eligible for a waiver of those requirements under 34 CFR 675.26(d) of the FWS regulations and 34 CFR 676.21(b) of the FSEOG regulations. To receive a waiver of the FWS and FSEOG non-federal share requirement, the institution must be designated by the Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education Institutional Service (OPE/IS) as an eligible Title III or Title V institution under the Higher Education Act (the HEA).
If an institution is designated as a Title III or Title V institution, it will receive a waiver of the requirement for the non-federal share of earned compensation paid to students under the FWS Program and of FSEOG funds awarded to students. This waiver is for the award year following the year in which the institution received the Title III or Title V designation. For example, if an institution receives its Title III or Title V designation during the current 2015-2016 Award Year, it will receive a matching requirement waiver for the 2016-2017 Award Year.
If an institution receives Title III or Title V designation from OPE/IS under the process described below, Federal Student Aid will send a notice to the financial aid administrator of the institution, indicating that waivers have been granted for the following award year. An institution may choose to continue to provide a non-federal share and to determine the amount of that share for one or both of the two campus-based programs.
It is important to note that the 50 percent federal share limitation for FWS wages paid to students employed by a private for-profit organization and the 80-percent federal share limitation for the administration of the Job Location and Development (JLD) Program are not waived under the Title III or Title V designations.
Designation as an Eligible Institution for Title III or Title V Programs
OPE/IS has streamlined its Title III and Title V designation process by automatically determining an institution’s designation as an eligible institution for Title III and Title V Programs using information already available. OPE/IS will post the results on those streamlined determinations on an Eligibility Matrix on its Web site at http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/idues/eligibility.html. Institutions that are listed on the OPE/IS Eligibility Matrix as eligible to apply for and/or as a current grantee of a Title III or Title V grant program automatically receive the waiver of the non-federal share requirement for the Campus-Based Programs for the 2016-2017 Award Year.
A notice has been published in the Federal Register dated November 19, 2015 (http://www.ifap.ed.gov/fregisters/FR111915.html) announcing the details of the new automated Title III and Title V determination process.
Institutions that are not coded on the OPE/IS Eligibility Matrix as being designated as an eligible Title III and Title V institution may have the option to submit to OPE/IS a waiver requesting reconsideration of Title III or Title V eligibility. The deadline to submit such a waiver is January 4, 2016, as described in the above referenced Federal Register notice.
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) or Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs) automatically qualify for the waiver of the Campus-Based non-federal share requirement. These waivers are granted indefinitely unless Federal Student Aid’s Grants and Campus-Based Programs division receives information from OPE/IS that the institution has lost its HBCU or TCCU status. If an institution loses HBCU or TCCU status, it may have the option to submit to OPE/IS a waiver requesting consideration of Title III or Title V eligibility. The deadline to submit such a waiver is January 4, 2016 , as described in the above referenced Federal Register notice.
Single Institutional Applications
To qualify for a Title III or Title V waiver of the non-federal share requirement an institution (one having a unique six-digit OPEID with a two-digit extension of “00”) must submit its own annual Fiscal Operations Report and Application to Participate (FISAP). Its FISAP cannot be submitted as part of an affiliated institution’s FISAP.
Contact Information
For questions about Title III or Title V eligibility, contact:
U.S. Department of Education, OPE
Higher Education Programs
Institutional Service
Strengthening Institutions Program
1990 K Street, NW, 6th Floor
Washington, DC 20006-8512
Christopher Smith
E-mail: christopher.smith@ed.gov
Tel: (202) 219-7012
or
Jeffrey Hartman
E-mail: jeffrey.hartman@ed.gov
Tel: (202) 502-7607
For questions about the Title III or Title V waiver of the non-federal share requirement for the FWS and FSEOG programs, contact the Campus-Based Call Center at 877/801-7168. Customer service representatives are available Monday through Friday from 8:00 A.M. until 8:00 P.M. (ET). You may also e-mail CBFOB@ed.gov.