Publication Date: July 9, 2015
Posted Date: July 10, 2015
Subject: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking - Title IV Loan issues
FR Type: Notice
[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 131 (Thursday, July 9, 2015)] [Proposed Rules] [Pages 39607-39641] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 2015-16623] [[Page 39607]] Vol. 80 Thursday, No. 131 July 9, 2015 Part IV Department of Education ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 34 CFR Parts 668, 682, and 685 Student Assistance General Provisions, Federal Family Education Loan Program, and William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program; Proposed Rule Federal Register / Vol. 80 , No. 131 / Thursday, July 9, 2015 / Proposed Rules [[Page 39608]] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 34 CFR Parts 668, 682, and 685 RIN 1840-AD18 [Docket ID ED-2014-OPE-0161] Student Assistance General Provisions, Federal Family Education Loan Program, and William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education. ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The Secretary proposes to amend the regulations governing the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program to create a new income-contingent repayment plan in accordance with the President's initiative to allow more Direct Loan borrowers to cap their loan payments at 10 percent of their monthly incomes. The Secretary is also proposing changes to the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program and Direct Loan Program regulations to streamline and enhance existing processes and provide additional support to struggling borrowers. These proposed regulations would also amend the Student Assistance General Provisions regulations by expanding the circumstances under which an institution may challenge or appeal a draft or final cohort default rate based on the institution's participation rate index. DATES: We must receive your comments on or before August 10, 2015. ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. We will not accept comments submitted by fax or by email or those submitted after the comment period. To ensure that we do not receive duplicate copies, please submit your comments only once. In addition, please include the Docket ID at the top of your comments. If you are submitting comments electronically, we strongly encourage you to submit any comments or attachments in Microsoft Word format. If you must submit a comment in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), we strongly encourage you to convert the PDF to print-to-PDF format or to use some other commonly used searchable text format. Please do not submit the PDF in a scanned format. Using a print-to-PDF format allows the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) to electronically search and copy certain portions of your submissions.Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to submit your comments electronically. Information on using Regulations.gov, including instructions for accessing agency documents, submitting comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site under ``Are you new to the site?'' Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery: The Department strongly encourages commenters to submit their comments electronically. However, if you mail or deliver your comments about the proposed regulations, address them to Jean-Didier Giana, U.S. Department of Education, 1990 K Street NW., Room 8055, Washington, DC 20006-8502. Privacy Note: The Department's policy is to make all comments received from members of the public available for public viewing in their entirety on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. Therefore, commenters should be careful to include in their comments only information that they wish to make publicly available. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information related to the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), the treatment of lump sum payments made under Department of Defense student loan repayment programs for the purposes of public service loan forgiveness, and expanding the use of the participation rate index (PRI) challenge and appeal, Barbara Hoblitzell at (202) 502-7649 or by email at: Barbara.Hoblitzell@ed.gov. For information related to loan rehabilitation, Ian Foss at (202) 377-3681 or by email at: Ian.Foss@ed.gov. For information related to the Revised Pay As You Earn repayment plan, Brian Smith or Jon Utz at (202) 502-7551 or (202) 377- 4040 or by email at: Brian.Smith@ed.gov or Jon.Utz@ed.gov. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1- 800-877-8339.