| 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. |