Posted Date: June 16, 2017
Author: Kathleen Smith, Acting Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education
Subject: Cash Management Electronic Announcement #7: Tier One and Tier Two Contract Data Reporting Format
On October 30, 2015, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) published Final Regulations in the Federal Register amending the Cash Management regulations at 34 CFR 668.161 – 668.167. Under §668.164(e)(2)(vii) and §668.164(f)(4)(iv), by September 1, 2017, any institution with a Tier one (T1) arrangement, and/or a Tier two (T2) arrangement that meets or exceeds the credit balance thresholds under §668.164(f)(2)(ii) must post on its website T1 and/or T2 contract data pertaining to the total consideration paid or received by the contracting parties under the arrangement for the most recently completed award year. No later than September 1, 2017, each such institution must also post the mean and median costs its students incurred, as well as the number of students who had financial accounts under the contract at any time during the most recently completed award year, unless the institution had fewer than 30 enrolled students with accounts opened under the T1 or T2 arrangement. The regulations require that thereafter, these postings must be updated within 60 days after the end of each award year.
Section 668.164(e)(2)(vii) and (f)(4)(iv) also states that the institution must post this contract information in “a format established by the Secretary.” To meet this requirement, institutions must do the following:
- Post information regarding the mean and median costs students incurred and the number of student accountholders prominently, and as the first piece of information at the URL provided to the Department under §668.164(e)(2)(viii) and (f)(4)(v)
- Place information regarding to the total monetary consideration paid or received by the contracting parties directly below the information regarding student accounts
- Place any non-monetary consideration between the contracting parties directly below information pertaining to the monetary consideration.
Information regarding the mean and median fees charged to students and the monetary consideration should be disclosed in a currency format that includes a dollar sign, a dollar amount in whole dollars, and a comma that functions as a thousands separator. For example, an institution may disclose that the monetary consideration received by the institution for award year 2016-2017 was: $1,234.
If the Department decides to specify a more prescriptive format in the future, it will notify institutions by electronic announcement before the end of the award year to which the format will apply.
Contact Information
The Cash Management Information Page on the IFAP website contains information on the Cash Management regulations, including Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). If you have a policy question about the Cash Management regulations that has not already been addressed in the FAQs section of the Cash Management Information Page, please contact Ashley Higgins at Ashley.Higgins@ed.gov.