Accreditation Participation and Disclosures

1845-0156 Affected Entity – State, Local or Tribal Governments 7/26/2022

The Department of Education (the Department) proposes to amend the Student Assistance General Provisions regulations to implement changes to §668.43 – Financial assistance information . These proposed changes are based on requirements of Section 485(a)(1)(G) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, (HEA). These proposed regulations are a result of negotiated rulemaking in 2021 and would add new requirements to the current regulations.

The proposed regulations in §668.43 would put in place new institutional disclosure requirements for participants in the proposed Prison Education Program (PEP). Specifically, §668.43(a)(5)(v) would be amended to require disclosure of typical State or Federal prohibitions on the licensure or employment of formerly confined or incarcerated individuals for a PEP that is designed to meet educational requirements for a specific professional license or certification. This information would be required for licensure requirements in States other than the State where the correctional facility is located or the State where most students are likely to return.

We believe that of an estimated 400 institutions who would participate in PEPs, 20 percent or 80 institutions would have programs that would be required to perform such research and disclosure development. We further believe that of an estimated 800 programs at those institutions, 20 percent or 160 programs would require such research.

We anticipate that to fully research the licensure requirements in the required State or States and prepare documentation for students in the eligible PEP, an institution would need 25 hours per program for an estimate total burden of 4,000 hours (160 x 25 = 4,000).

Affected Entity Respondent Responses Hrs/Response Total Burden Cost/Entity

Public Inst. 66 132 25 3,300 $153,747

TOTALS

Respondents 1,860

Responses 8,805

Burden Hours 343,533