Notice Inviting Postsecondary Educational Institutions To Participate in Experiments Under the Experimental Sites Initiative; Federal Student Financial Assistance Programs Under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as Amended, 23652-23656 [2023-08162]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 74 (Tuesday, April 18, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23652-23656]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-08162]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Notice Inviting Postsecondary Educational Institutions To 
Participate in Experiments Under the Experimental Sites Initiative; 
Federal Student Financial Assistance Programs Under Title IV of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965, as Amended

AGENCY: Federal Student Aid, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Secretary invites postsecondary educational institutions 
(institutions) that currently participate in the Second Chance Pell 
experiment to apply to participate in a revised Second Chance Pell 
institution-based experiment under the Experimental Sites Initiative 
(ESI).

DATES: Letters of application to participate in the revised experiment 
described in this notice must be received by the Department of 
Education (the Department) no later than May 18, 2023. Letters of 
interest received after May 18, 2023 may still, at the discretion of 
the Secretary, be considered for participation.

ADDRESSES: Letters of interest must be submitted by electronic mail to 
the following email address: [email protected]. For formats and 
other required information, see ``Instructions for Submitting Letters 
of Interest'' under the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this 
notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carolyn Rose, U.S. Department of 
Education, Federal Student Aid, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, DC 
20202. Telephone: (202) 803-1502. Email: [email protected].
    If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and 
wish to access telecommunications relay services, please dial 7-1-1.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Instructions for Submitting Letters of Interest: Letters of 
interest should take the form of an Adobe Portable Document Format 
(PDF) attachment to an email message sent to the email address provided 
in the ADDRESSES section of this notice. The subject line of the email 
should read ``ESI 2023--Pell for Students Who Are Incarcerated.'' The 
text of the email should include the name and address of the 
institution. The letter of interest should be on institutional 
letterhead and be signed by the institution's financial aid 
administrator. The letter of interest must include the institution's 
official name and the Department's Office of Postsecondary Education 
Identification (OPEID) number, the name of a contact person at the 
institution, including a mailing address, email address, and telephone 
number, as well as the name and address of the correctional 
facility(ies) with which the institution partners. Please include in 
the letter a listing of the academic programs that the institution is 
offering under the current experiment and that the institution expects 
to include in the revised experiment. For each of those

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programs, provide an estimate of the number of participating students. 
We understand that institutions' academic program listings and the 
actual number of students who participate may vary from the information 
submitted in the letter.
    Background: Under the ESI, the Secretary may waive certain 
statutory and regulatory requirements under title IV of the Higher 
Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), to allow a limited number of 
institutions to test alternative methods for administering the title IV 
HEA programs. The alternative methods permitted under the ESI 
facilitate institutional efforts to test innovative practices that 
improve student outcomes and the delivery of services.
    The Second Chance Pell experiment was established in 2015 and 
provides need-based Pell Grants to incarcerated individuals to allow 
them to participate in eligible postsecondary programs. The experiment 
has expanded to over 200 programs around the country. With the passage 
of the FAFSA Simplification Act in 2020, Congress further expanded the 
ability to serve confined or incarcerated individuals by reinstating 
Pell Grant eligibility for otherwise-eligible confined or incarcerated 
individuals enrolled in eligible prison education programs (PEPs) 
beginning July 1, 2023.
    The revised Second Chance Pell experiment will provide new waivers 
to allow current Second Chance Pell institutions to continue serving 
their students after July 1, 2023 while also continuing to allow the 
Department to learn more about the challenges schools face when 
implementing the new regulations. This will give participating 
institutions time to seek Department approval of their PEPs (as defined 
under the new regulations in 34 CFR part 668 subpart P) and avoid 
interrupting the educational opportunities of students currently 
enrolled in approved programs under the experiment.
    Specifically, the revised experiment will allow current 
participating institutions to continue offering their current programs 
to confined or incarcerated individuals for up to 3 award years while 
they work through the application and approval process for the PEP(s) 
they wish to offer under the new provisions. Through the revised 
experiment, the Department will also evaluate the impact and 
effectiveness of the new regulations as institutions transition to PEP.

The Revised Experiment

    Description: This revised experiment will waive the statutory 
provision in new HEA section 484(t)(3), requiring that a student 
confined or incarcerated in a Federal or State penal institution be 
enrolled in an eligible PEP (as defined in subpart P of 34 CFR part 
668) in order to receive a Pell Grant. The experiment will allow some 
otherwise-eligible students who are confined or incarcerated in Federal 
or State penal institutions to receive a Pell Grant to help cover the 
costs of their participation in a postsecondary education and training 
program offered by a participating postsecondary educational 
institution while the institution works to meet the new PEP 
requirements. This experiment only waives specific requirements of the 
title IV, HEA programs. Additional restrictions or requirements 
associated with postsecondary study imposed by postsecondary or 
correctional institutions may still apply, and students' eligibility to 
receive aid from Federal Pell Grants under this experiment would remain 
subject to those requirements.
    Under the revised experiment, the education and training programs 
offered by the postsecondary institution must continue to meet all 
title IV, HEA program eligibility requirements. While the program must 
be credit-bearing and result in a certificate or degree, up to 1 full 
year of remedial coursework is allowed for students in need of academic 
support.
    Institutional Requirements: The experiment will require that 
participating institutions:
     Partner with their current Federal or State correctional 
facility(ies) to offer one or more title IV, HEA eligible academic 
program(s) to incarcerated students.
     Work with the partnering correctional facilities to 
encourage interested students to submit a FAFSA;
     Only enroll students in postsecondary education and 
training programs that prepare them for occupations from which they are 
not legally barred from entering due to restrictions on formerly 
incarcerated individuals obtaining any necessary licenses or 
certifications for those occupations in the State in which the 
partnering facility(ies) are located;
     Disclose to interested students and to the Department 
information about the options available for incarcerated students to 
complete any remaining program requirements post-release;
     As appropriate, offer students the opportunity to continue 
their enrollment in the academic program if the student is transferred 
to another correctional facility or released from prison prior to 
program completion;
     Inform students of the academic and financial options 
available if they are not able to complete the academic program while 
incarcerated. This includes explaining how the students can continue in 
the program after release, transfer credits earned in the program to 
another program offered by the institution, or transfer credits earned 
in the program to another postsecondary institution;
     In partnership with Federal or State correctional 
facilities, provide academic and career guidance, as well as transition 
services, to incarcerated students to support successful reentry.
     Use the Pell Grant funds made available to eligible 
students through this experiment to supplement, not supplant, existing 
investments in postsecondary prison-based education programs by either 
the postsecondary institution, the correctional facility, or outside 
sources;
     Report all correctional facilities where the institution 
offers 50 percent or more of an educational program as an additional 
location regardless of whether students enrolled receive instruction 
in-person or through distance education at that location; and
     Actively seek PEP approval under the new regulations for 
programs offered under the revised experiment or prepare a plan to wind 
down programs it does not plan to continue under the new provisions 
within three years.
    An institution may continue to enroll students in existing programs 
as long as it continues to demonstrate progress toward compliance with 
the new requirements. However, an institution that participates in the 
revised experiment may not expand beyond the correctional facilities 
with which it currently partners or beyond the programs it offers 
already offer under the experiment.
    In addition, programs under the experiment are subject to the 
following requirements:
     Enrollment cap for incarcerated students (34 CFR 
600.7(c)). Institutions that are granted a waiver prior to July 1, 
2023, that permits more than 25 percent of the institution's regular 
students to be confined or incarcerated will continue to receive the 
waiver and will not need to reapply under the new provisions outlined 
in 34 CFR 600.7(c). However, no more than 50 percent of the 
institution's regular students may be confined or incarcerated for the 
duration of the experiment.\1\ Institutions

[[Page 23654]]

that have not been granted a waiver to exceed the 25 percent confined 
or incarcerated student enrollment threshold prior to July 1, 2023, 
will not be eligible to apply for a waiver of the limitation on their 
enrollment of incarcerated students for programs under the experiment. 
As a result, no more than 25 percent of the institution's regular 
students may be confined or incarcerated for the duration of the 
experiment. Such institutions may apply for a waiver under these 
provisions once the Department has approved at least one of the 
institution's PEPs under the new regulatory requirements in subpart P 
of 34 CFR part 668.
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    \1\ Some institutions in the current Second Chance Pell 
experiment have been granted a waiver to exceed the 25 percent 
enrollment threshold for incarcerated students. Although these 
institutions are permitted to have up to 100 percent incarcerated 
student enrollment, they will be limited to 50 percent incarcerated 
student enrollment for the duration of the revised experiment. 
However, institutions that are chartered for the explicit purpose of 
educating confined or incarcerated individuals will not be subject 
to the incarcerated student cap.
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     Consumer information requirements (34 CFR 
668.43(a)(5)(vi)). If a program under the experiment is designed to 
meet educational requirements for a specific professional license or 
certification that is required for employment in an occupation (as 
described in 34 CFR 668.236(a)(7) and (8)), the institution must 
disclose information to students regarding whether that occupation 
typically involves State or Federal prohibitions of the licensure or 
employment of formerly incarcerated individuals in any other State for 
which the institution has made a determination about State prohibitions 
on the licensure or certification of formerly incarcerated individuals. 
This aligns the consumer information requirements for confined or 
incarcerated students enrolled in programs under the experiment with 
the requirements for all PEPs as described under 34 CFR 
668.43(a)(5)(vi), effective on July 1, 2023.
     Cost of attendance for programs under the experiment. For 
experiment purposes, no Federal Pell Grant can exceed the cost of 
attendance (as defined in section 472 of the HEA) at the institution at 
which that student is in attendance. If an institution determines that 
the amount of a Federal Pell Grant for that student exceeds the cost of 
attendance for that year, the amount of the Federal Pell Grant must be 
reduced until the Federal Pell Grant does not exceed the cost of 
attendance at such institution and does not result in a title IV credit 
balance under 34 CFR 668.164(h). Further, if the student's Pell Grant, 
combined with any other financial assistance, exceeds the student's 
cost of attendance, the financial assistance other than the Pell Grant 
must be reduced by the amount of the total financial assistance that 
exceeds the student's cost of attendance. In addition, if the student's 
other financial assistance cannot be reduced, the student's Pell Grant 
must be reduced by the amount that the student's total financial 
assistance exceeds the student's cost of attendance. This aligns the 
cost of attendance requirements for confined or incarcerated 
individuals enrolled in programs under the experiment with the 
requirements for all PEPs as described under 34 CFR 690.62(b).
    In addition, participating institutions must reach specific 
milestones that demonstrate progress toward developing approved PEP(s).
    Milestones: Participating institutions must meet the following 
milestones by the end of each award year of the experiment:
    2023-24 award year: By June 30, 2024, the participating institution 
must have a signed written agreement with its correctional partner(s) 
to comply with the new requirements outlined in subpart P of 34 CFR 
part 668. The agreement must be submitted to the Department and 
include, at a minimum, the oversight entity's permission to offer the 
PEP at the correctional facility, and assurances that the oversight 
entity will provide the following: the best interest determination for 
the proposed program within the first 2 years of the program's 
approval, and transfer and release data to the institution during the 
existence of the PEP.
    2024-25 award year: By June 30, 2025, the institution must have 
completed several specific steps toward submission of its PEP 
application to the Department. Specifically, by June 30, 2025, the 
institution must be able to attest (and demonstrate if requested) that 
it has, at a minimum:
     Determined the programs(s) to be offered under the new 
provisions. The institution must be able to provide a description of 
the proposed program(s), including the educational credential offered 
(degree level or certificate) and the field of study as required by 34 
CFR 668.238(b)(1);
     Received approval from the oversight entity to offer the 
program(s) at the correctional facility;
     Received accreditor approval to offer at least one PEP; 
and
     Informed the Department of the date on which it plans to 
submit the PEP application to the Department (the date must be on or 
before January 1, 2026).
    As part of this 2024-25 award year milestone, the institution must 
also provide the status of the following additional PEP requirements 
and the date they anticipate submitting this information to the 
Department:
     The methodology, including thresholds, benchmarks, 
standards, metrics, data, and other information the oversight entity 
will use in approving the prison education program and how all of the 
information was/will be collected;
     Information about the types of services (to be) offered to 
admitted students, including orientation, tutoring, academic and career 
advising, and reentry counseling;
     The status of all programs currently offered under the 
experiment and the date on which those programs will be reported to the 
Department. If the institution plans to offer programs beyond the first 
program at the first two additional locations, specific reporting 
requirements outlined in 34 CFR 600.21(a) will apply. The institution 
must prepare all programs offered under the experiment, that it plans 
to continue after the experiment ends, to be in compliance with the new 
PEP provisions as outlined in 34 CFR 668.238(c). Any program beyond the 
first program at the first two additional locations must be reported to 
the Department prior to June 30, 2026, or students attending those 
programs will not be eligible for Pell Grants after the conclusion of 
the experiment. The Department will perform ongoing monitoring during 
the experiment to ensure that participating institutions meet these 
requirements. The Department will monitor participating institutions to 
ensure they are making progress toward developing a PEP that will be 
submitted for consideration under subpart P of 34 CFR part 668. The 
Department will also monitor all other program(s) the institution is 
offering under the experiment to ensure the institution has a plan to 
report those programs pursuant to 34 CFR 668.238(c) so they may 
continue offering Pell Grants to students enrolled in those programs 
after the experiment ends.
    2025-26 award year: Participating institutions must submit the PEPs 
to the Department for approval by January 1, 2026, and must have PEP 
programs approved before July 1, 2026, to continue offering Pell Grants 
to enrolled students.
    Statutory and Regulatory Modifications: Under this experiment, the 
Secretary will modify certain statutory and regulatory provisions.
    By agreeing to the alternative procedures and requirements for this

[[Page 23655]]

revised experiment, the institution will be exempt from the following 
new statutory and regulatory provisions, either in whole or to the 
extent noted:
     HEA section 484(t)(3) Confined or incarcerated individuals 
as in effect beginning July 1, 2023. A student confined or incarcerated 
in a Federal or State penal institution need not be enrolled in an 
eligible PEP in order to receive a Pell Grant. However, confined or 
incarcerated students must be enrolled in title IV eligible programs 
that are part of the experiment in order to receive Pell Grant funds.
     34 CFR 668.32(c)(2)(ii) Student eligibility. Confined or 
incarcerated students enrolled at participating institutions need not 
be enrolled in an eligible PEP to receive Pell Grant funds. Students 
are required to be enrolled in a title IV eligible program.
     34 CFR 668, subpart P Prison education program 
requirements (34 CFR 668.236 through 34 CFR 668.241). Participating 
institutions are exempt from all of subpart P of 34 CFR part 668 with 
respect to their existing Second Chance Pell programs, since those 
programs are not required to be eligible PEPs. However, participating 
institutions must only enroll incarcerated students in title IV 
eligible programs.
    All other provisions and regulations of the title IV HEA student 
assistance programs will remain in effect.
    Reporting and Evaluation: On an annual basis, participating 
institutions will be required to upload an Excel spreadsheet that will 
be available in the ESI Reporting Tool in the Common Origination & 
Disbursement (COD) website (or its successor system) to report 
information about students who submit a FAFSA for enrollment in 
programs offered by the institution that are included in the 
experiment. The spreadsheet will collect programmatic and student 
information, including:
     Identifying information (e.g., Social Security number, 
last name) for students receiving Pell Grant funds under the 
experiment;
     The name of the program and Classification of 
Instructional Programs (CIP) code in which the student enrolled;
     The number of postsecondary credits the student attempted, 
and the number earned;
     Indicators of academic progress, including program 
completion; and
     Other experiment-specific information as determined by the 
Department.
    In addition to the annual reporting, participating institutions 
will be required to upload, on a monthly basis, the Excel spreadsheet 
in COD (or its successor system) to provide the Department with:
     Identifying information for students receiving Pell Grant 
funds under the experiment; and
     The status of the institution's development of all PEPs it 
plans to offer under the new provisions.
    Participating institutions will also be required to complete annual 
surveys collecting information about:
     The name of each program offered under the experiment, the 
name and address of the facility(ies) at which the program is being 
offered, and the oversight entity responsible for the facility;
     The progress that the institution has made toward 
complying with the new statutory and regulatory requirements;
     The postsecondary instruction (if any) provided to 
incarcerated population(s) prior to participating in the experiment;
     The institution's arrangement(s) with correctional 
facilities and oversight entities and any unforeseen challenges;
     Terms of the postsecondary institution's arrangements with 
correctional facilities and oversight entities (e.g., tuition and fees, 
caps on credits earned, support services provided, instructional 
delivery methods, and faculty characteristics);
     Challenges encountered by the institution as it develops a 
PEP to comply with the new provisions, and the specific solutions the 
institution put in place to respond to those challenges;
     Benefits experienced by the institution or its students as 
a PEP complying with the new provisions is put in place; and
     Balanced and thoughtful reflection of what the institution 
and incarcerated students gain and lose with the adoption of the new 
PEP provisions that are put in place.
    The experiment will be evaluated using information the institution 
provides to the Department, as well as any other information available 
to the Department. The Department seeks to evaluate specific challenges 
encountered by the institution while administering the experiment, 
including:
     Partnering with correctional facilities to offer 
postsecondary education to incarcerated students;
     Incarcerated students' ability to complete the FAFSA;
     The verification process for incarcerated students;
     The program approval process for PEPs under the new 
provisions;
     The process for an oversight entity to make the 
determination that program(s) being developed under the new provisions 
are operating in the best interest of students; and
     Challenges that the institution encountered while 
obtaining programmatic accreditation for PEPs and how they were 
resolved.
    The Department also intends to evaluate how institutions 
successfully implemented the new provisions, including the PEP approval 
process and metrics used by the oversight entity to determine if the 
program is operating in the best interest of students.
    The Department will finalize the specific evaluation and reporting 
requirements prior to the start of the experiment, in consultation with 
the Department's Institute of Education Sciences. An information 
collection will be made available for public comment regarding further 
information gathering connected with this notice.
    Application and Selection: The Department will make its 
institutional selections for the revised experiment based on the 
following factors:
    1. Only institutions that are approved and actively participating 
in the Second Chance Pell experiment as of June 30, 2023, may 
participate in the revised experiment.
    2. An institution interested in participating in the revised 
experiment must:
    a. Notify the Department of its desire to participate in the 
revised experiment by submitting a letter of interest;
    b. Agree to make efforts to reach the specific milestones that 
demonstrate progress toward developing approved PEP(s), as outlined in 
the Institutional Requirements section of this notice; and
    c. Be in compliance with the reporting requirements under the 
current experiment as outlined in the Program Participation Agreement 
(PPA) Amendment.
    3. The institution must be in compliance with title IV HEA 
regulatory and statutory requirements, including administrative 
capability and financial responsibility; and
    4. The institution must adequately describe in its letter of 
interest how it will comply with the requirements of the revised 
experiment outlined in this notice, including its plan and the date it 
expects to comply with the new PEP provisions in subpart P of 34 CFR 
part 668.
    Accessible Format: On request to the person listed under FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, individuals with disabilities can obtain 
this document in an accessible format. The Department will provide the 
requestor with an accessible format that may include Rich Text Format 
(RTF) or text format (txt),

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a thumb drive, an MP3 file, braille, large print, audiotape, or compact 
disc, or other accessible format.
    Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this 
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may 
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of 
Federal Regulations at www.govinfo.gov. 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 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.
    Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1094a(b).

Richard Cordray,
Chief Operating Officer, Federal Student Aid.
[FR Doc. 2023-08162 Filed 4-17-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P