Notice: Emergency Disaster Funds Available Under Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant Program for 1999-2000 and 2000-2001

[Federal Register: February 2, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 22)]

[Rules and Regulations]               

[Page 4886-4887]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr02fe00-14]                         


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


34 CFR Part 676



Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant Program


AGENCY:  Department of Education.


ACTION:  Notice of relief from specific statutory and regulatory 

provisions.


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SUMMARY:  We announce relief from specific statutory and regulatory 

provisions governing the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity 

Grant (FSEOG) Program for the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 award years. This 

statutory and regulatory relief applies to additional emergency FSEOG 

funds provided under recently enacted provisions of the Consolidated 

Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2000. These emergency FSEOG funds 

can be used only to assist individuals who suffered financial harm from 

Hurricanes Dennis and Floyd, and the flooding associated with these 

hurricanes, that struck the eastern United States in August and 

September 1999.


EFFECTIVE DATE:  Febraury 2, 2000.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Kathy S. Gause, U.S. Department of 

Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Regional Office Building 3, Room 

3045, Washington, DC 20202-5447. Telephone: (202) 708-8242. If you use 

a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may call the 

Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339.

    Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an 

alternate format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer 

diskette) by contacting the Alternate Format Center at (202) 260-9895.


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  Many student financial aid applicants and 

recipients have been adversely affected by Hurricanes Dennis and Floyd, 

and the flooding associated with these hurricanes. The President signed 

the Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2000 (Pub. L. 106-

113) on November 29, 1999, that provides an additional emergency 

appropriation of $10 million for allocations to institutions of higher 

education for Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants 

(FSEOGs) made under Title IV, part A, subpart 3, of the Higher 

Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA). The additional emergency FSEOG 

funds are being specifically provided for the purpose of assisting 

students who have suffered financial harm as a result of Hurricane 

Dennis or Hurricane Floyd, and are for use during award years 1999-2000 

and 2000-2001. We informed institutions of the means to request these 

emergency FSEOG funds in an announcement dated January 7, 2000, that 

was issued on the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) 

Web site (http://ifap.ed.gov).

    To facilitate the use of these additional emergency FSEOG funds, 

the Consolidated Appropriations Act also grants the Secretary authority 

to waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provisions, applicable 

to the FSEOG Program, necessary to assist individuals who suffered 

financial harm resulting from these natural disasters.

    We have already provided certain regulatory relief to lenders and 

guaranty agencies in the Federal Family Education Loan Program under 

section 432(a)(6) of the HEA and 34 CFR 682.406(b) and 682.413(f). The 

guaranty agency directors were informed of this relief in a letter 

dated August 5, 1999 as Disaster Letter 99-28. We have also provided 

guidance for helping Title IV participants affected by Hurricane Floyd 

in a Dear Partner letter published in September 1999 as GEN-99-27.


Covered Individuals


    This notice is intended to assist individuals who suffered 

financial harm as a result of Hurricanes Dennis and Floyd in 1999. This 

notice will apply only to students who, at the time of the disaster, 

were residing in, employed in, or attending an institution of higher 

education located in an area designated as a Federally declared natural 

disaster area (or, in the case of an individual who is a dependent 

student, whose parent or stepparent suffered financial harm from that 

disaster, and who resided or was employed in such an area at that 

time).

    A list of those areas designated as a Federally declared natural 

disaster due to these hurricanes is available by State on the Federal 

Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Web site (http://www.fema.gov/

library/diz99.htm). The nine States that had areas designated as a 

Federally declared natural disaster due to these hurricanes are 

Delaware, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, 

Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia.

    This notice of statutory and regulatory relief will be applicable 

only for awards made under the FSEOG Program from the additional 

emergency appropriation of $10 million during the 1999-2000 and 2000-

2001 award years (the periods from July 1, 1999 to June 30, 2000 and 

July 1, 2000 to June 30, 2001).

    For the awarding of the additional emergency appropriation of $10 

million in FSEOG funds allocated to institutions under the Consolidated 

Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2000, we provide the following 

waivers and modifications of specific statutory and regulatory 

provisions governing the FSEOG Program:


1. Section 413D of the HEA--Allocation of Funds and 34 CFR 673.4  

Allocation and Reallocation of FSEOG Funds


    To assist affected individuals, the Secretary has decided to modify 

the applicable statutory and regulatory


[[Page 4887]]


formula requirements for allocating FSEOG funds to institutions. During 

the 1999-2000 award year, the additional emergency FSEOG funds will be 

allocated for use during the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 award years, to 

participating institutions from the designated States. An institution 

must submit a request, in the format and by the deadline required by 

the Secretary, for these funds to assist students enrolled at that 

institution who suffered financial harm as a result of Hurricane Dennis 

or Hurricane Floyd.

    Also, to assist affected individuals, the Secretary has decided to 

waive the applicable statutory and regulatory penalty for unexpended 

FSEOG allocations. This penalty is being waived for these additional 

emergency FSEOG funds to best achieve the purpose of not having these 

funds impact future allocations. Therefore, the allocation from the 

additional emergency FSEOG funds will not be used in determining 

whether an institution returned more than 10 percent of its FSEOG 

allocation that would result in a reduction of its allocation for the 

second succeeding award year by the dollar amount unexpended. Upon the 

return of any of these funds to us, the institution must identify these 

funds as part of the additional amount of FSEOG funds awarded to 

institutions to assist individuals who suffered financial harm 

resulting from Hurricanes Dennis and Floyd and their aftermath.


2. Section 413C of the HEA  Agreements With Institutions; Selection of 

Recipients and 34 CFR 676.10 Selection of Students for FSEOG Awards


    To assist affected individuals, the Secretary has decided to waive 

the applicable statutory and regulatory priority order selection 

requirements for awarding FSEOG funds. The institution does not have to 

award these additional emergency FSEOG funds in lowest Expected Family 

Contribution order or give a priority to Federal Pell Grant recipients.

    Also, to assist affected individuals, the Secretary has decided to 

waive the applicable statutory and regulatory requirements for offering 

a reasonable proportion of these emergency FSEOG funds to less-than-

full-time and independent students. The institution may award these 

additional emergency FSEOG funds to an otherwise eligible student 

affected by Hurricane Dennis or Hurricane Floyd who demonstrates 

financial need.

    The institution must document in the student's file that the funds 

awarded are part of these additional emergency FSEOG funds. The 

institution must also document in the student's file that the student, 

or the student's family, is from one of the designated areas and 

suffered financial harm as a result of Hurricane Dennis or Hurricane 

Floyd.


3. Section 413E of the HEA--Carryover and Carryback Authority and 34 

CFR 676.18  Use of Funds


    To assist affected individuals, the Secretary has decided to modify 

the applicable statutory and regulatory carry forward authority for the 

additional emergency FSEOG funds received for the 1999-2000 award year. 

The existing authority allows an institution to carry forward no more 

than 10 percent of its current award year FSEOG funds to spend in the 

next year. However, the institution may carry forward any amount of the 

emergency FSEOG funds necessary to be used in the 2000-2001 award year. 

Any of the additional emergency FSEOG funds that are not spent by the 

end of the 2000-2001 award year (June 30, 2001) must be returned to the 

Department.


4. Section 413C of the HEA--Agreements With Institutions; Selection of 

Recipients and 34 CFR 676.21  FSEOG Federal Share Limitations


    To assist affected individuals, the Secretary has decided to waive 

the applicable statutory and regulatory requirement that the Federal 

share of FSEOG awards made by an institution may not exceed 75 percent. 

The Federal share for these additional emergency FSEOG funds may be 100 

percent. The institution must document in its records that it used this 

waiver of the Federal share limitation requirement for these additional 

emergency FSEOG funds.


Electronic Access to This Document


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Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe 

Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following sites:


http://ocfo.ed.gov/fedreg.htm

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http://ifap.ed.gov/csb__html/fedlreg.htm


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Washington, D.C., area at (202) 512-1530.


    Note:  The official version of this document is the document 

published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the 

official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal 

Regulations is available on GPO Access at: http://

www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html



    (Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number: 84.007)


    (Legal Authority: Pub. L. 106-113 and 20 U.S.C. 1082)


    Dated: January 27, 2000.

Richard W. Riley,

Secretary of Education.

[FR Doc. 00-2234 Filed 1-28-00; 1:33 pm]

BILLING CODE 4000-01-U