Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records, 18534-18536 [2014-07294]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 63 (Wednesday, April 2, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18534-18536]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-07294]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

AGENCY: Federal Student Aid, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of an altered system of records.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended 
(Privacy Act), the Chief Operating Officer for Federal Student Aid 
(FSA) of the Department of Education (Department) publishes this notice 
to revise the system of records entitled ``National Student Loan Data 
System (NSLDS)'' (18-11-06).
    The Department revises to make necessary updates to the heading 
entitled ``SYSTEM LOCATION'' resulting from the Department's review of 
the system of records notice and to the heading entitled ''CATEGORIES 
OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM'' in response to comments that the 
Department received regarding the Department's proposed revisions to 
the NSLDS system of records.
    The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-130, Appendix 
I, indicates that minor changes to systems of records need not be 
reported. In this notice, we are making minor changes to the NSLDS 
system of records, as explained in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION 
section. Therefore, the Department has not filed a report describing 
the altered system of records covered by this notice with the Chair of 
the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the 
Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, or the 
Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB.

DATES: This altered system of records will become effective April 2, 
2014.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Director, NSLDS Systems, Operations 
and Aid Delivery Management Services, FSA, U.S. Department of 
Education, UCP, 830 First Street NE., room 41F1, Washington, DC 20202-
5454. Telephone: 202-377-3547.
    If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text 
telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-
800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Introduction

    The Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4) and (11)) requires the 
Department to publish this notice of an altered system of records in 
the Federal Register. The Department's regulations implementing the 
Privacy Act are in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), in 34 CFR 
part 5b.
    The Privacy Act applies to information about an individual that is 
maintained in a system of records from which information is retrieved 
by a unique identifier associated with each individual, such as a name 
or Social Security number (SSN). The information about each individual 
is called a ``record,'' and the system, whether manual or computer-
based, is called a ``system of records.''
    The Privacy Act requires each Federal agency to publish a notice of 
a new or altered system of records in the Federal Register and to 
prepare, whenever the agency publishes a new system of records or makes 
a significant change to an established system of records, a report to 
the Chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the 
House of Representatives, the Chair of the Committee on Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, and the Administrator 
of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB. A significant 
change must be reported whenever an agency expands the types or 
categories of information maintained, significantly expands the 
numbers, types, or categories of

[[Page 18535]]

individuals about whom records are maintained, changes the purposes for 
which the information is used, changes equipment configuration in a way 
that creates substantially greater access to the records, or adds a 
routine use disclosure to the system. The Department has not filed a 
report describing the altered system of records covered by this notice 
because the changes we are making are minor.

Revisions

    On June 28, 2013, the Department published a notice of an altered 
system of records for NSLDS in the Federal Register (78 FR 38963) and 
requested comments on those revisions. We received a comment in 
response to the June 2013 NSLDS system of records notice; in part, the 
commenter objected that the Department does not have the legal 
authority to maintain in NSLDS the records of students who do not 
receive aid under the title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as 
amended (HEA) and who attended, or who are attending, a gainful 
employment program at a postsecondary educational institution. We are 
revising the CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM section of 
the NSLDS system of records notice to clarify that the Department no 
longer will collect or maintain records of students who do not receive 
aid under title IV of the HEA and who attended, or who are attending a 
gainful employment program at a postsecondary educational institution 
in this system of records. The commenter also noted that we made a 
minor error in listing the date that the NSLDS was originally published 
in the Federal Register as being on December 27, 1999 (this was instead 
a date on which the NSLDS system of records notice was republished in 
full). The Department should have explained that the original system of 
records notice for NSLDS was published on June 29, 1994 (59 FR 33491), 
and altered on December 20, 1994 (59 FR 65532). We appreciate the 
commenter calling our attention to this and note that the full citation 
should read as follows: National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS)'' 
(18-11-06), originally published on June 29, 1994 (59 FR 33491-33494), 
altered on December 20, 1994 (59 FR 65532-65535), republished on 
December 27, 1999 (64 FR 72395-72397), altered on September 7, 2010 (75 
FR 54331-54336), altered on June 24, 2011 (76 FR 37095-37100), and most 
recently altered on June 28, 2013 (78 FR 38963-38969).
    In addition, as a result of the Department's internal review of the 
system of records, we have determined that we because the Department 
cannot retrieve records from NSLDS back-up tapes using individual 
identifiers. Consequently, the Department's back-up tapes should not 
have been listed as being part of the NSLDS system of records, as that 
term is defined in section (a)(5) of the Privacy Act of 1974, as 
amended (5 U.S.C. 552a(a)(5)), and therefore we are deleting the 
location where the back-up tapes are maintained under the SYSTEM 
LOCATION section.
    Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this 
document in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, audiotape 
or compact disc) on request to the contact person listed under FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this 
document is the document published in the Federal Register. Free 
Internet access to the official edition of the Federal Register and the 
Code of Federal Regulations is available via the Federal Digital System 
at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys. At this site you can view this document, as well 
as all other documents of this Department published in the Federal 
Register, in text or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). To use PDF 
you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at the 
site.
    You may also access documents of the Department published in the 
Federal Register by using the article search feature at: 
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search 
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published 
by the Department.

    Dated: March 27, 2014.
James W. Runcie,
Chief Operating Officer, Federal Student Aid.

    For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Chief Operating 
Officer, Federal Student Aid, of the U.S. Department of Education 
(Department), publishes a notice of an altered system of records. The 
following amendments are made to the Notice of Altered System of 
Records entitled ``National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS)'' (18-11-
06), as published in the Federal Register on June 28, 2013 (78 FR 
38963-38969):
    1. On page 38964, third column, under the heading ``SYSTEM 
LOCATION'', the paragraph is revised to read as follows:

SYSTEM LOCATION:
    Dell Perot Systems, 2300 West Plano Parkway, Plano, TX 75075-8247. 
(This is the computer center for the NSLDS Application Virtual Data 
Center.)
    2. On pages 38964, third column, and 38965, first column, under the 
heading ``CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM,'' the 
paragraph is revised to read as follows:

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    This system contains records on persons who were recipients of aid 
under the title IV, Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA) 
programs.
    This system contains records on borrowers who received loans under 
the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program, the 
Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program, the Federal Insured 
Student Loan (FISL) Program, and the Federal Perkins Loan Program 
(including National Defense Student Loans, National Direct Student 
Loans, and Perkins Expanded Lending and Income Contingent Loans) 
(Perkins Loans). The system also contains records on recipients of 
Federal Pell Grants, Academic Competitiveness Grants (ACG), National 
Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (National SMART) 
Grants, Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education 
(TEACH) Grants, and Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants, as well as on 
persons who owe an overpayment on a Federal Pell Grant, an ACG Grant, a 
National SMART Grant, a Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity 
Grant (FSEOG), an Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant, and a Federal 
Perkins Loan.
    NSLDS further contains student enrollment information for persons 
who have received title IV, HEA student assistance as well as Master 
Conduit Loan Program Data, Loan Participation Program (LPP) Data, and 
loan-level detail on FFEL Subsidized, Unsubsidized, and PLUS loans 
funded through those programs.
    The system also contains records on students who are title IV, HEA 
recipients and who attended, or who are attending a gainful employment 
program at a postsecondary educational institution.
    The system also contains records on the level of study, CIP code, 
and published length of an educational program in which a student 
receiving title IV, HEA Federal student aid is enrolled to limit his or 
her eligibility for Direct Subsidized Loans to no more than 150 percent 
of the published length of the educational program in which the student 
is enrolled, and to determine the periods for which a borrower who 
enrolls after reaching the 150 percent limit will be responsible for 
the

[[Page 18536]]

accruing interest on outstanding Direct Subsidized Loans.

[FR Doc. 2014-07294 Filed 4-1-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P