1845-0059(8)

Supporting Statement

Information Collection for 1845-0059

William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program

and

Federal Family Education Loan Program

Teacher Loan Forgiveness Forms

A. Justification

1. Necessity of Information Collection

Sections 428J and 460 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA) provide for teacher loan forgiveness in the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program and the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program. Borrowers who teach for five consecutive years at schools or educational service agencies serving low-income families and meet certain other requirements may receive up to $17,500 in loan forgiveness. The teacher loan forgiveness regulations at 34 CFR 682.216 (for the FFEL Program) and 34 CFR 685.217 (for the Direct Loan Program) require borrowers to provide their loan holders with documentation establishing their eligibility for teacher loan forgiveness and for teacher loan forgiveness forbearance.

2. Purpose and Use of Information Collected

The Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application included in this submission will be used by loan holders to collect information needed to determine whether borrowers are eligible for teacher loan forgiveness based on their teaching service.

Borrowers apply for teacher loan forgiveness by completing the application and returning it to their loan holder. Borrowers must also have Section 3 of the application completed by the Chief Administrative Officer(s) of the school(s) or educational service agency(ies) where the borrowers performed their qualifying teaching service.

The Teacher Loan Forgiveness Forbearance Request included in this submission will be used by loan holders to collect information needed to determine whether borrowers are eligible for forbearance on their outstanding federal student loans during the period when they are performing their qualifying teaching service. During the five years of required teaching, borrowers may apply annually for forbearance on the loans for which they are seeking forgiveness if the loan forgiveness amount for which they are eligible will satisfy the anticipated outstanding balance on their loans upon completion of their qualifying teaching service.

Borrowers apply for forbearance by completing the form and returning it to their loan holder. This form is self-certifying. Borrowers may obtain the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Forbearance Form by contacting their loan holder. In some cases, borrowers may obtain the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Forbearance Form by downloading it from their loan holders' web sites.

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is requesting a revision of the currently approved forms. The most significant change to the current forms is the addition of references to educational service agencies in various places on each form. The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-315) (HEOA) amended sections 428J and 460 of the HEA to provide that an otherwise eligible borrower may qualify for loan forgiveness if the borrower has performed qualifying teaching service at an eligible educational service agency. Prior to this change in the law, borrowers could qualify for loan forgiveness only by teaching at an eligible elementary or secondary school.

In addition to the substantive change described above, ED has also made certain formatting and wording changes in an effort to present information to borrowers more clearly. There are no changes to any of the data elements on the forms, except in Section 2 of each form where three new check boxes have been added to distinguish between teaching at an elementary school, a secondary school, or an educational service agency. These changes impose no significant additional burden on borrowers who complete the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application or Teacher Loan Forgiveness Forbearance Request.

3. Consideration of Improved Information Technology

Since the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application requires a borrower’s signature and as signed certification from the chief administrative officer of the borrower’s school or educational service agency, the United States Postal Service currently provides the only feasible means for borrowers to return completed applications to their loan holders.

However, the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Forbearance Form requires only the borrower's signature. Therefore, loan holders may allow borrowers to submit the forbearance form electronically.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

There is no information available from other sources that can be used for the purpose described in Item 2 of this supporting document.

5. Burden Minimization as Applied to Small Business

No small businesses are affected by this information collection.

6. Consequences of Less Frequent Data Collection

The data must be collected to determine a borrower’s eligible for teacher loan forgiveness. Without the collection of this data, a borrower could not receive the benefit of loan forgiveness.

The regulations in 34 CFR Parts 682.216 and 685.217 require borrowers to apply for loan forgiveness with their loan holder. Therefore, a borrower may be required to complete more than one Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application or Teacher Loan Forgiveness Forbearance Request if the borrower is seeking forgiveness of multiple loans that are with different holders.

7. Special Circumstances Governing Data Collection

This information collection does not involve any of the conditions listed in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).

8. Consultations outside the Agency

Both a 60-day and 30-day Federal Register Notice was published for 1845-0059 and received no comments.

9. Payments or Gifts to Respondents

No payments or gifts will be provided to the respondents.

10. Assurance of Confidentiality

These teacher loan forgiveness forms include a Privacy Act Disclosure Notice which (1) informs the borrower of the statutory authority for collecting the information; (2) explains that the disclosure of the information is voluntary, but that it is required in order for the borrower to be considered for the forgiveness; and (3) identifies the third parties to whom the information may be disclosed and explains the circumstances under which such disclosures may occur.

11. Questions of a Sensitive Nature

These teacher loan forgiveness forms do not contain any sensitive questions.

12. Annual Hour Burden for Respondents/Recordkeepers

The total estimated annual reporting hour burden for this information collection is approximately 2,871 hours (2,640 for the application and 231 for the forbearance form) for the FFEL Program and the Direct Loan Program. The burden estimate was calculated as follows:

Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application

Estimated annual number of respondents:	8,000
Number of responses per borrower:	x 1
Hours per response:	x .33 (20 minutes)
Annual hour burden:	2,640 hours

Teacher Loan Forgiveness Forbearance Request

Estimated annual number of respondents:	700
Number of responses per borrower:	x 1
Hours per response:	x .33 (20 minutes)
Annual hour burden:	231 hours

13. Estimated Annual Cost Burden for Respondents/Recordkeepers

There are no capital/startup costs to respondents, nor are there any annual costs to respondents associated with operating or maintaining systems or purchasing services.

14. Estimated Annual Cost to Federal Government

The cost to the federal government is minimal for the use of the teacher loan forgiveness forms in the FFEL Program, because FFEL Program lenders will distribute the applications, collect the information, and process Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application for FFEL Program borrowers.

For the Direct Loan Program, the total estimated annual cost to the Federal Government for this information collection is $49,047. This includes costs associated with printing, mailing, and processing the forms.

15. Reason for Changes to Annual Reporting/Recordkeeping Hour Burden and Annual Reporting/Recordkeeping Cost Burden to Respondents

ED is not reporting any changes to the application or forbearance request instruments, there is a cost burden to respondents adjustment of $3,828.00 for, the total cost of postage for each of the 8,700 respondents.

16. Collection of Information with Published Results

The results of this collection will not be published.

17. Approval Not to Display Expiration Date

ED is not seeking this approval.

18. Exceptions to the Certification Statement

ED is not requesting any exceptions to the "Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions" of OMB Form 83-I.

B. Collection of Information Employing Statistical Methods

This information collection does not employ statistical methods.

3