Foreign Institution Reporting Requirements under the CARES Act

The Department of Education (the Department) is requesting a reinstatement information collection, 1845-0161, Foreign Institution Reporting Requirements under the CARES Act, be made available for full clearance with public comment. Section 3510(a) of the CARES Act, Pub. L. No. 116-136 (March 27, 2020), authorized the Secretary of Education (Secretary) to permit a foreign institution, in the case of a public health emergency, major disaster or emergency, or national emergency declared by the applicable government authorities in the country in which the foreign institution is located, to provide any part of an otherwise eligible program to be offered via distance education for the duration of such emergency or disaster and the following payment period for purposes of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq.). Additionally, under Section 3510(d) of the CARES Act, the Secretary may allow a foreign institution to enter into a written arrangement with an institution of higher education located in the United States that participates in the Federal Direct Loan Program under part D of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087a et seq.) for the purpose of allowing a student of the foreign institution who is a borrower of a loan made under such part to take courses from the institution of higher education located in the United States. The CARES Act requires foreign institutions that use either type of authority described above to report such use to the Secretary. Institutions are required to report use of either distance education or written arrangements to the Department no later than 30 days after it begins offering coursework online to Direct Loan recipients. The Department must also collect specific information from a school that requests a waiver in order to determine if the school is eligible to receive the waiver. On May 12, 2020, Federal Student Aid, an Office of the Department, notified foreign institutions of the new authority and requested that any foreign institution who wished to utilize this new authority to respond with information specified in the email. This information collection was discontinued following the discontinuation of the national COVID-19 emergency status. However, due to other global situations we are now requesting a new collection to allow for the on-going use of the CARES Act waiver.

The latest form for Foreign Institution Reporting Requirements under the CARES Act expires 2027-05-31 and can be found here.

Foreign Institution Reporting Requirements under the CARES Act

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