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Uncover the Mysteries of the Law and Regulations
Devin CroftMargaret Day
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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
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Title IV Federal StudentAid Programs
• Pell Grants• ACG & National SMART Grant• Campus Based Programs
FSEOG, FWS, Federal Perkins Loans• FFELP/FDLP
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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
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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)
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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)
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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
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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
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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of 1965, as amended Originally enacted as part of President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
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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
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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
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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
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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.)
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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”
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Title IV Guidance - The Blue Book
• Primary resource for school Business Office
• Available online or in hardcopy
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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
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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
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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
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Where can I find this information?
• IFAP – ifap.ed.gov•
• FAP Portal – fsa4schools.ed.gov
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Federal Student Aid (FSA) Handbook
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Order hardcopies of Handbooks, Blue Books,
CFRs and other items
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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
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Legislation and Regulation
Now You’re An Expert!!!
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Contacts
Margaret Day• Phone: (303) 844-3677 ext. 127 • Email: [email protected]
We appreciate your feedback and comments.
We can be reached at:
Devin Croft• Phone: (303) 844-3677 ext. 125 • Email: [email protected]
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Please provide any comments regarding this training or the trainers
to:
Jo Ann BorelTitle IV Training Supervisor
