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Student Assistance General Provisions; TEACH Grant Program; Federal Pell Grant Program; Academic Competitiveness Grant Program and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant Program rule (2010)

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The Student Assistance General Provisions; Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program; Federal Pell Grant Program; Academic Competitiveness Grant Program and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant Program rule is a significant rule issued by the U.S. Department of Education effective January 22, 2010, that amended department regulations regarding the Academic Competitiveness Grant and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant programs. The changes were made to align the regulations with the stated goals of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended by the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008 and the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008.[1]

HIGHLIGHTS
  • Name: Student Assistance General Provisions; Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program; Federal Pell Grant Program; Academic Competitiveness Grant Program and National Science and Mathematics Access To Retain Talent Grant Program
  • Code of Federal Regulations: 34 CFR Parts 668, 686, 690, and 691
  • Agency: Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education
  • Type of significant rule: Economically significant rule

    • Timeline

    The following timeline details key rulemaking activity:

    Background

    Education Policy
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    President Lyndon Johnson (D) signed the Higher Education Act (HEA) into law on November 8, 1965, in an effort to strengthen educational resources and financial assistance for college students by increasing federal grants to universities, creating low-interest student loans, and issuing scholarships. Title IV of the HEA established standards for offering financial assistance to college students, which governed Student Assistance General Provisions regulations.[4]

    The HEA was amended in 2008 by the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) and the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act (ECASLA). The HEOA amended and reauthorized programs for offering financial assistance to college students under Title IV of the Higher Education Act and implemented new requirements for certain areas such as education loans, accreditation, and discretionary grants. The ECASLA amended the HEA to increase the loan amounts that undergraduate students were eligible to receive under the Federal Family Education Loan program.[5][6]

    The Secretary of Education issued amendments in an interim final rule on May 1, 2009, to regulations regarding the Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant (National SMART Grant) programs, in an effort to further the stated goals of the Higher Education Act, as amended by the ECASLA and the HEOA. The interim final rule also issued amendments to the Student Assistance General Provisions, the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program, and the Federal Pell Grant Program, to reflect the changes made to the ACG and National SMART grant programs.[2]

    Summary of the rule

    The following is a summary of the rule from the rule's entry in the Federal Register:

    “ The Secretary is adopting as final, with changes, interim final regulations for the Academic Competitiveness (ACG) and National Science and Mathematics to Retain Talent Grant (National SMART Grant) programs; Student Assistance General Provisions; Federal Pell Grant Program; and Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program. These final regulations are needed to implement provisions of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), as amended by the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008 (ECASLA) and the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA). The new statutory provisions became effective July 1, 2009.[1][7] ”

    Summary of provisions

    The following is a summary of the provisions from the final rule's entry in the Federal Register:[1]

    “ The Secretary amended the definition of the term ACG Scheduled Award to be the maximum amount of an ACG that would be paid to a full-time first-year student or a full-time second-year student for the applicable year. A National SMART Grant Scheduled Award was defined as the maximum amount of a National SMART Grant that would be paid to a full-time third-year, fourth-year, or fifth-year student for the applicable year (see § 691.2(d)).

    In § 691.2(d), the Secretary defined the term annual award to be the maximum ACG or National SMART Grant amount a student would receive for enrolling as a full-time, three-quarter-time, or half-time student and remaining in that enrollment status for one year.

    The Secretary amended the definition of the term eligible major in § 691.2(d) to include, in addition to majors in physical, life, or computer sciences, mathematics, technology, engineering or a critical foreign language, a qualifying liberal arts curriculum as determined by the Secretary.

    The Secretary amended the definition of the term eligible program to include, for the ACG program, an undergraduate certificate program of at least one academic year in length and, for the National SMART Grant program, a degree program with at least five full undergraduate years of coursework at a degree-granting institution of higher education (see § 691.2(d)).

    In § 691.2(e), the Secretary defined the terms first-year, second-year,

    third-year fourth-year, and fifth-year as a student's grade level in the student's eligible program as determined by the institution for all students in the eligible program.

    The Secretary amended the method by which the duration of student eligibility was determined, by basing eligibility on a student's grade level, rather than on the student's academic year (see §§ 691.2(d) and 691.6). In § 691.6(b)(2), the Secretary provided that a fourth-year student enrolled in a National SMART Grant-eligible program with less than five full years of coursework continues to be considered a fourth-year student for purposes of the National SMART Grant program until he or she completes his or her first undergraduate baccalaureate course of study, and that a fifth-year student, enrolled in a National SMART Grant-eligible program with a least five full years of coursework, continues to be considered a fifth-year student until he or she completes his or her first undergraduate baccalaureate course of study.

    In § 691.8, the Secretary detailed how correspondence courses would be applied toward a student's enrollment status (i.e., as a half-time, three-quarter-time, and full-time student) in an eligible program.

    The Secretary removed the provisions from § 691.15(a) that stated that eligibility for ACGs and National SMART Grants is limited to U.S. citizens and students who are enrolled full-time.

    With respect to eligibility for a first-year ACG, the Secretary provided that the restriction on prior enrollment does not apply to students who were enrolled as regular students in an eligible program of undergraduate education that was also part of a secondary school program of study, and clarified that transfer students who are first-year students are not considered to have been previously enrolled and, therefore, are not subject to the prior enrollment restriction (§ 691.15(b)(1)(ii)(C)).

    The Secretary amended § 691.16 to provide that starting with the 2009-2010 award year, a designated official, consistent with State law, may recognize and report to the Secretary any secondary school programs of study that prepare students for college and that the designated official deems rigorous. These programs supplement the secondary school programs previously recognized by the Secretary as rigorous. It is no longer the Secretary's role to recognize secondary school programs of study as rigorous.

    The Secretary exempted a student enrolled in a qualifying liberal arts curriculum from the requirement that the student must declare an eligible major to receive a National SMART Grant and provided that an institution need only document a student's progress in completing the program in the intended or declared National SMART Grant-eligible program (§§ 691.15(d)(3) and 691.15(e)).

    The Secretary amended the regulations to provide that an eligible major includes any “critical foreign language” found in section 103(3) of the HEA, rather than critical foreign languages identified by the Secretary after consulting with the Director of National Intelligence. The Secretary also amended the regulations to provide that an eligible major includes qualifying liberal arts curricula and to describe the process by which an institution requests designation of a liberal arts curriculum as an eligible major.

    In § 691.62, the Secretary set the ACG and National SMART Grant annual award amounts for full-time, three-quarter-time, and half-time students. The annual award for a full-time student is the same amount as the student's Scheduled Award.

    The Secretary described in §§ 691.63 and 691.66 how ACG and National SMART Grant payments for a payment period must be calculated for full-time, three-quarter-time, and half-time students as well as for students in a program of study offered by correspondence.

    The Secretary amended § 691.63(h) to provide that a student may not progress to the next year in a grade level (rather than next academic year) during a payment period.[7]

    		”

    Significant impact

    See also: Significant regulatory action

    The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) deemed this rule economically significant pursuant to Executive Order 12866. An agency rule can be deemed a significant rule if it has had or might have a large impact on the economy, environment, public health, or state or local governments. The term was defined by E.O. 12866, which was issued in 1993 by President Bill Clinton.[1]

    Text of the rule

    The full text of the rule is available below:[1]

    See also

    External links

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Federal Register, "Student Assistance General Provisions; Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program; Federal Pell Grant Program; Academic Competitiveness Grant Program and National Science and Mathematics Access To Retain Talent Grant Program," November 23, 2009
    2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Federal Register, "Student Assistance General Provisions; Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program; Federal Pell Grant Program; Academic Competitiveness Grant Program and National Science and Mathematics Access To Retain Talent Grant Program," May 1, 2009
    3. ↑ Federal Register, "Student Assistance General Provisions; Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program; Federal Pell Grant Program; Academic Competitiveness Grant Program and National Science and Mathematics Access To Retain Talent Grant Program," June 30, 2009
    4. ↑ Federal Student Aid, "Gainful Employment Information," accessed April 20, 2023
    5. ↑ U.S. Department of Education, "Higher Education Opportunity Act - 2008," accessed June 8, 2023
    6. ↑ [https://www.congress.gov/bill/110th-congress/house-bill/5715 Congress.gov, "H.R.5715 - Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008.
    7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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