Section 483 of the Higher Education
Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), mandates that the Secretary of
Education "…shall produce, distribute, and process free of charge
common financial reporting forms as described in this subsection to
be used for application and reapplication to determine the need and
eligibility of a student for financial assistance...". The
determination of need and eligibility are for the following title
IV, HEA, federal student financial assistance programs: the Federal
Pell Grant Program; the Campus-Based programs (Federal Supplemental
Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), Federal Work-Study (FWS),
and the Federal Perkins Loan Program); the William D. Ford Federal
Direct Loan Program; the Teacher Education Assistance for College
and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant; and the Iraq and Afghanistan
Service Grant. Federal Student Aid, an office of the U.S.
Department of Education (hereafter "the Department"), subsequently
developed an application process to collect and process the data
necessary to determine a student's eligibility to receive title IV,
HEA program assistance. The application process involves an
applicant's submission of the Free Application for Federal Student
Aid (FAFSA®). After submission of the FAFSA, an applicant receives
a Student Aid Report (SAR), which is a summary of the data they
submitted on the FAFSA. The applicant reviews the SAR, and, if
necessary, will make corrections or updates to their submitted
FAFSA data. Institutions of higher education listed by the
applicant on the FAFSA also receive a summary of processed data
submitted on the FAFSA which is called the Institutional Student
Information Record (ISIR). The Department seeks OMB approval of all
application components as a single ''collection of information".
The aggregate burden will be accounted for under OMB Control Number
1845-0001. The specific application components, descriptions and
submission methods for each are listed in Table one.
The Department is projecting a
burden decrease of 3,522,674 hours. Since there are no substantial
changes being made to the 2016-2017 FAFSA, the burden decrease is
attributed to the 4,857,050 decrease in annual responses from the
prior year. This decrease is primarily due to a revised manner of
calculating responses being implemented for this FAFSA. This change
in applicant burden model (ABM) has been discussed and approved by
OMB. The burden decrease represents an adjustment and not a program
change. This is discussed more fully in the supporting statement
#12. .
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.