Uncover the Mysteries of the Law and Regulations Devin Croft Margaret Day

Uncover the Mysteries of the Law and Regulations

Devin CroftMargaret Day

2

What’s Important?• How Does a Bill Become a Law? • Laws VS. Regulations• What's the Federal Register? • What's the Blue Book? • What is meant by “Guidance"? • Finding Answers Using the Federal

Student Aid Handbook and Dear Colleague Letters

3

Title IV Federal StudentAid Programs

• Pell Grants• ACG & National SMART Grant• Campus Based Programs

FSEOG, FWS, Federal Perkins Loans• FFELP/FDLP

4

Who’s Responsible?• Congress

Creation and modification of programs

Need analysis formula

Maximum grant and loan amounts

Amount of funding

Executive Branch

Cash management

Audit criteria Enforcement (L,

S & T) FAFSA design Reporting

requirements

5

Legislation VS. Regulation• Legislation

Congress Adopts with presidential signature or after overriding a veto

Amends the U.S. Code -- the statute (e.g., Higher Education Act)

Public Laws (108-XX)

6

How the Law is Numbered• P.L. 105-244 (10/7/98) reauthorized the

HEA• Title IV, Part G - General Provisions

•Subpart (Arabic numerals when used)•Section 484 - Student Eligibility•Subsection (c) - Satisfactory Progress

– Paragraph (1)– Subparagraph (A)– Division - lower case Roman - (i), (ii), (iii)– Clause - upper case Roman - (I), (II), (III)

• Example: Sec. 484(c)(1)(A)

7

Legislative Process• Authorizing Legislation:

Introduced by a Representative or Senator to amend or create a federal statute

• Appropriating Legislation: Sets annual funding levels for

federal programs

8

Legislative Process Applied to HEA

• Authorizing LegislationEstablished HEA of 1965 as

amendedReauthorization changes/renews

authorizing legislation approximately every 5 years

• Appropriating LegislationAnnually funds programsBudget bills

9

What is Reauthorization?Process of “reauthorizing” or continuing the existing law • Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act

of 1965, as amended Originally enacted as part of President

Johnson’s “Great Society” programs

Authorizations “sunset” and must be renewed

Authorizes all federal Higher Education Programs

10

Why Reauthorization?• Reauthorization provides the opportunity

for Congressional review Public hearings More time to consider ideas Ability to review fundamental issues

Access Choice Eligibility Subsidies Accountability

11

Hand-off to the Executive Branch

• Presidential signature required on all changes to the law– Date of enactment is the date that

the President signs a bill into law

12

Hand-off to the Executive Branch

• Executive Branch must execute and enforce Laws Statutory language may be vague Congress may direct that regulations be

written or may prohibit regulation Regulations are the primary vehicles

that executive branch agencies use to interpret and enforce statutes

Sub-Regulatory guidance includes Dear Colleague Letters, forms, Audit Guide

13

Legislation VS. Regulation• Regulations

Promulgated by appropriate federal agency•U.S. Department of Education •Reviewed by Office of Management

and Budget (OMB) Interprets and adds detail to statuteAmends Code of Federal

Regulations (C.F.R.)

14

Regulatory Process• Negotiated Rulemaking (Neg-Reg)

Mandated by the Higher Education Act (HEA)

All rules implementing changes to the Higher Education Act, and revisions to regulations, are subject to this process

Secretary consults with the “community”

15

Regulatory Process• New/amended regulations initially

published in the Federal Register Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

(NPRM)• Comment periods 30, 45, 60, or 120 days

Final Rules• Effective date 45-days following

publication or• Later date published in Federal Register

Notices• Regulations compiled once a year

16

Regulatory Process - Master Calendar

• Rules must be published by the preceding November 1 to be effective for an academic yearExample: rules published by

November 1, 2007 will be effective on July 1, 2008 for 2008-2009 award year

Secretary may permit earlier implementation

17

Title IV Regulations -Federal Register

• The official daily compilation of federal regulations and notices

• prepared by the NARA; published by GPO

• Available on online or in hardcopy

18

Title IV Regulations - Code of Federal Regulations

• Codification of the regulations

• Divided into 50 titles; Title 34 governs federal financial aid

• Updated once each calendar year

• Available online or in hardcopy

19

How Regulations Are Numbered

• Title - 34• Part – numbers 600 thru 694 • Subpart – numbers following the

decimal point• Section – small letter, e.g. (a) • Explanatory Subsections

– (1)(i)(A)• Example: the Standards of

Administrative Capability Regulatory Cite is 34 CFR 668.16

20

Guidance vs. Laws and/or Regulations

• Guidance is information that provides direction or advice as to a decision or course of action

• Guidance, as related to the Title IV programs, is Issued by ED Helps financial aid administrators

interpret laws/regs Administered in several different

forms

21

Title IV Guidance - FSA Handbook

• Primary resource for financial aid administrators

• Provides “plain language” explanation of laws and regulations

• Published annually• Available online or

in hardcopy

22

Title IV Guidance - The Blue Book

• Primary resource for school Business Office

• Available online or in hardcopy

23

Title IV Guidance -Dear Colleague Letters

• Issued by ED to provide additional policy/guidance Q&A’s Technical information Introduce new rulesExplain rules in existenceExplain policies

24

Dear Colleague Letter Numbering

ANNTraining Announcements CB Campus-based Programs FP Financial Partners (FFEL

lenders & guarantee agencies) GENGeneral Distribution P Pell Grant Program DLB Direct Loan Bulletins

Dear Colleague Letter Numbering

GEN-07-02GEN = type of letter07 = calendar year02 = number of letter in that calendar year

Second GEN letter in 2007

26

Title IV Guidance -Electronic Announcements

• Less formal memos/letters from Senior FSA staff to assist schools

• Provide updates, guidance, reminders, notices

• Delivered electronicallySent to SAIG mailboxListed on IFAP by date

27

Where can I find this information?

• IFAP – ifap.ed.gov•

• FAP Portal – fsa4schools.ed.gov

28

Federal Student Aid (FSA) Handbook

29

Order hardcopies of Handbooks, Blue Books,

CFRs and other items

30

What’s Involved? - Review• The Law – Higher Education Act of 1965,

as amended Created by Congress

• Regulations – implement the Law Created by ED through negotiated

rulemaking process• Dear Colleague Letters

Issued by ED to provide additional policy/guidance

• Electronic Announcements Less formal information from ED to

assist schools

31

Legislation and Regulation

Now You’re An Expert!!!

32

Contacts

Margaret Day• Phone: (303) 844-3677 ext. 127 • Email: margaret.day@ed.gov

We appreciate your feedback and comments.

We can be reached at:

Devin Croft• Phone: (303) 844-3677 ext. 125 • Email: devin.croft@ed.gov

33

Please provide any comments regarding this training or the trainers

to:

Jo Ann BorelTitle IV Training Supervisor

joann.borel@ed.gov202-377-3930