Department of Defense May 15, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Defense is publishing this notice to announce the following Federal Advisory Committee meeting of the Response Systems to Adult Sexual Assault Crimes Panel.

The Department of Defense (DoD) is publishing this final rule to implement new policy, responsibilities, and procedures for the operation of voluntary education programs within DoD. The new policies discussed in the rule include the following: All educational institutions providing education programs through the DoD Tuition Assistance (TA) Program will provide meaningful information to students about the financial cost and attendance at an institution so military students can make informed decisions on where to attend school; not use unfair, deceptive, and abusive recruiting practices; and provide academic and student support services to Service members and their families. New criteria are created to strengthen existing procedures for access to DoD installations by educational institutions. An annual review and notification process is required if there are changes made to the uniform semester-hour (or equivalent) TA caps and annual TA ceilings. Military Departments will be required to provide their Service members with a joint services transcript (JST). The DoD Postsecondary Education Complaint System is implemented for Service members, spouses, and adult family members to register student complaints. The Military Departments are authorized to establish Service-specific TA eligibility criteria and management controls. The requirement to sign a new DoD Voluntary Education Partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for all participating educational institutions will be effective 60 days following the publication of this final rule in the Federal Register. Additionally, educational institutions with a current DoD Voluntary Education Partnership MOU that have initiated their application for Title IV eligibility with the Department of Education will have 18 months following the publication of this final rule in the Federal Register to successfully meet the Title IV requirement. New applicants will be required to meet the Title IV requirement before signing a DoD Voluntary Education Partnership MOU.