Maintained for Historical Purposes

This resource is being maintained for historical purposes only and is not currently applicable.

General Institutional Responsibilities

PublicationDate: 7/1/95
ChapterNumber: 2
ChapterTitle: General Institutional Responsibilities
SectionNumber: 4
SectionTitle: Student Consumer Information
PageNumbers: 38-40


2.4 Student Consumer Information

Sections 668.41-668.47 of the Student Assistance General Provisions
specify the types of published information that institutions are
required to make available to students, prospective students, and
employees. This is an area of responsibility that is shared among
institutional offices. In general, the financial aid and business offices
share primary responsibility for providing this information, but other
offices must be involved as well.

The topic of consumer information is covered in great detail in
Chapter 3, Section 8, of The 1995-96 Federal Student Financial Aid
Handbook (the Handbook). The information presented here is an
overview of that section.

((Financial aid information))
All institutions are required to provide information on:

- all financial aid programs available to students, the amounts of aid
available from each source, and the required application
procedures,

- how student eligibility for aid is determined,

- how the school distributes aid among students,

- the rights and responsibilities of financial aid recipients,

- how and when financial aid will be disbursed,

- the terms and conditions of any employment offered as financial
aid,

- the terms of, schedules for, and necessity of loan repayment,

- the criteria for measuring satisfactory academic progress and the
procedures students must follow to regain eligibility if they have
failed to meet these criteria,

- information on preventing drug and alcohol abuse,

- information regarding availability of federal financial aid funds
for study-abroad programs, and

- information on availability of community-service FWS jobs.

((General information))
Schools are also required to provide general information about
themselves, as detailed in the Handbook. This information includes
matters related to fiscal operations, such as:

- licensing and accreditation,

- costs of attendance, including tuition, fees, room and board,
transportation, books and supplies, loan fees, and additional costs
associated with certain programs of study,

- institutional refund and repayment policies, and

- the federally prescribed order for distributing student financial aid
refunds and repayments to Title IV programs.

((Availability of personnel))
Federal regulations require that schools make personnel available
during their normal operating hours to help current and prospective
students obtain consumer information.

((Job placement claims))
A school that makes marketing claims about job placement rates to
recruit students must disclose information supporting these claims to
prospective students at or before the time of application. This means
that schools must provide detailed statistics and other information
necessary to substantiate the truthfulness of their claims.

((Student Right-To-Know provisions))
All schools participating in Title IV programs are subject to the
disclosure requirements of the Student Right-To-Know and Campus
Security Act of 1990, as amended. The Student Right-To-Know
provisions require a school to disclose its completion or graduation
rates to both current students and prospective students before they
enroll or enter into any financial obligation or loan agreement. This
same legislation also requires schools that award athletically related
student aid to report to ED annually regarding:

- the number of students who receive athletic aid as compared to the
total number of students at the institution and

- the completion rate for student athletes compared to the rate for
the student body as a whole.

For more detailed information about disclosure requirements under
the Student Right-To-Know Act, consult Chapter 3, Section 8 of the
Handbook. (Student Right-To-Know Act regulations have not yet
been published in final form.)

((Campus Security provisions))
The Campus Security provisions require schools to collect, prepare,
publish, and distribute specific crime-related information to all
current students and employees and, on request, to prospective
students and employees. This is an extensive report that must be
prepared annually and submitted to ED. The report includes
information about a school's security policies and procedures, crime
prevention programs, and on-campus crime statistics. For more
information about campus safety reporting requirements, see Section
668.47 of the Student Assistance General Provisions.