ss 0149 2007

Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students

Application and Performance Report

Supporting Statement

1. Justification

1. Circumstances of Information Collection

This is a request for OMB reinstatement of the information collection requirements for the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA’s) Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students (SDS) program (OMB No. 0915- 0149). Following the completion of the application cycle for 2006-2007, the OMB control number was discontinued while the program clearance request was under review with HRSA’s Office of General Counsel (OGC). Following the expiration of the OMB approval, the data collection was discontinued. At this time, the program is preparing to begin a new round of application opportunities for scholarship funding to schools and OGC has approved the required Federal Register notices for the ICR. No data collection was undertaken following the official discontinuation of the OMB control number.

The SDS program is authorized by sections 725(f)(2) and 737(h)(2) of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act, as amended by the Disadvantaged Minority Health Improvement Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-527), as amended and renumbered by the Health Professions Education Extension Amendments of 1992 (Public Law 102-408), and amended by the Health Professions Education Partnerships Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-392, 42 U.S.C. 293a). The purpose of the SDS program is to provide funds to eligible schools for the purpose of providing scholarships to full-time financially needy students from disadvantaged backgrounds enrolled in health professions and nursing programs.

The SDS program provides scholarships to full-time, financially needy students from disadvantaged backgrounds, enrolled in health professions and nursing programs. Participating schools are responsible for selecting scholarship recipients, making reasonable determinations of need, and providing scholarships that do not exceed the cost of attendance (tuition, reasonable educational expenses, and reasonable living expenses). Eligible health professions and nursing schools apply to HRSA for grants to make scholarships to full-time students from disadvantaged backgrounds that have financial need..

To qualify for participation in the SDS program, a school must be carrying out a program for recruiting and retaining students from disadvantaged backgrounds, including students who are members of racial and ethnic minority groups (section 737(d)(1)(B) of the PHS Act). A school must meet the eligibility criteria to demonstrate that the program has achieved success based on the number and/or percentage of disadvantaged students who graduate from the school. In awarding SDS funds to eligible schools, funding priorities must be given to schools based on the proportion of graduating students going into primary care, the proportion of underrepresented minority students, and the proportion of graduate working in medically underserved communities (section 737(c) of the PHS Act).

Schools that are eligible for the SDS program are schools of medicine, dentistry, osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, optometry, podiatric medicine, and veterinary medicine, schools of nursing, public health, allied health, chiropractic, and graduate programs in clinical psychology, clinical social work, professional counseling, marriage and family therapy, and physician assistants training.

2. Purpose and Use of Information

Information collected for the SDS application is needed by the program to determine whether applicant schools meet the requirements of enabling legislation, to determine eligibility for program participation, and to establish priority for funding. Applicant schools are requested to complete an application for each discipline or program. Data are provided on numbers of full-time student enrollment, racial/ethnic data on students, disadvantaged full-time enrollment by class year, full-time students graduated, full-time disadvantaged students graduated, and full-time graduates serving in Medically Underserved Communities. Numbers of full-time graduates serving primary care must be provided only for schools of medicine, osteopathic medicine, dentistry, nursing (graduate degree program), and physician assistants.

Schools are eligible for SDS funding if they achieve at least 10% enrollment and 10% graduates from disadvantaged backgrounds, have economically disadvantaged students enrolled, and have economically disadvantaged graduates.

Currently, funding priority is given to eligible schools for:

• the proportion (at least 50%) of graduated students going into primary care

• the proportion (above the national average for the discipline) of underrepresented minority students; and

• the proportion (at least 10%) of graduated students working in Medically Underserved Communities

Each school will determine the eligibility of students based on financial need and whether a student is from a disadvantaged background.

SDS Application

The SDS application is for electronic preparation and submission through the Electronic Hand Book (EHB). In order to submit the application electronically, all applicants must register in grants.gov. The SDS application form and instructions are available through the EHB via the web. Applicants use the OMB approved Standard Form 424 R & R as the Application Face Page; however, the program has requirements for supplemental information contained in this information collection request.

The program specific information contained on this ICR that is required of applicants consists of the following:

1. The total full-time enrollment and full-time disadvantaged enrollment by class year for students in the program for the academic year.

2. The total full-time graduated and full-time disadvantaged students graduated from the program for the academic year.

3. The total full-time graduates serving in primary care and/or medically underserved communities and total full-time graduates serving in primary care and/or medically underserved communities that received SDS funding.

4. The total number of full-time students enrolled for the academic year by race and ethnicity.

In applying for funds, the schools must provide enrollment information on the number of full-time students by race and ethnicity for the academic year, as required in P.L. 105-392, Subtitle A, Section 101 “Underrepresented minority health professions grant programs.” The program uses the OMB Standards for the federal collection of data on race and ethnicity. The additional Asian category of “Asian Underrepresented” can be collapsed back into the overall category of Asian. This category is a subgroup of the Asian population for students that are in Asian groups that are under-represented in the student population. This would include Asian individuals that identify themselves as other than Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Asian Indian, or Thai, as these groups are considered under represented in the student population.

SDS Performance Report

Information collected for the SDS report is needed by the Department to determine how many students receiving SDS scholarship awards, the number of SDS students that graduated and their ethnic/racial background. Schools provide HRSA with the number of students receiving awards during the reporting period by race/ethnicity, and the number of these students who have graduated during the reporting period by race/ethnicity.

3. Use of Improved Information Technology

The entire application and report process is completed on-line. The SDS website is http://grants.hrsa.gov/webexternal/home.asp.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

The information requested in the application and performance report is specific to the schools and is unique to this program.

5. Involvement of Small Entities

This data collection will not have a significant impact on a substantial number of small entities. Only the minimum information necessary to make awards is requested.

6. Consequences if Information Collected Less Frequently

The information requested in the application and report is collected annually. In the absence of the collection of these data, the review and selection of qualified schools could not be completed.

7. Consistency with the Guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2)

The information collected is consistent with the Guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2)

8. Consultation Outside the Agency

The 60-day notice required in 5 CFR 1320.8(d) was published in the Federal Register on February 27, 2007 (Vol. 72, No. 38, page 8759). No comments were received.

The following SDS schools were contacted by program staff regarding the format, content of data to be collected, and time to complete the application. Based upon program experience in the past and recent comments from the schools, an average of 21 hours is required to complete the application and report.

Mr. Ed Wyckoff

Financial Aid Supervisor

University of New Mexico

Basic Medical Building, # 147

Albuquerque, NM 87131

(505) 272-8008

Mr. Eugene Wiggins

University of the District of Columbia

4200 Connecticut Avenue

Washington, DC 20008

(202) 274-6162

Dr. Pamela Hammond

Hampton University

Hampton, VA 23668

(757)

9. Remuneration of Respondents

There will be no remuneration of respondents.

10. Assurance of Confidentiality

The HRSA Privacy Act Coordinator has determined that a system of records notice is not required because no individual or student level data are collected. This activity collects aggregate data only; no personally identifiable information is requested from participating schools for the SDS. Only aggregate data are sent to the Department.

11. Questions of a Sensitive Nature

There are no questions of a sensitive nature.

12. Estimates of Annualized Burden

The following is an estimate of the total reporting burden:

Form	Number of Respondents	Responses per Respondents	Total Annual Response	Hours per Response	Total Burden Hours	Dollar Wage Rate	Total Hour Cost
Application	500	1	500	20	10,000	$30.00	$300,000
Report	500	1	500	1	500	$30.00	$ 1,500
Total	500		1,000		10,500		$301,500

Basis for Estimates for the Application:

Applicants: The number of SDS applicants is estimated to be approximately 500 next year. Each applicant must complete one application. The application consists of general information, instructions, and a data form. Some information should be readily available and some tracking of graduates will be necessary in order to comply with the mandated statutory requirements. The burden estimate is approximately 20 hours to review the instructions, collect data, and complete the form (500 applicants X 20 hours/response = 10,000 hours of response burden).

We estimate that the costs to the public will be $ 300,000 (20 hours X $30.00/hour = $ 600.00 x 500 applicants = $ 300,000). An average wage rate for processing the form for the SDS program application is $ 30.00 per hour.

Basis for Estimates for the Report:

Applicants that are funded: The number of SDS reports is estimated to be approximately 500 next year. Each applicant that receives funds must complete one report. The report consists of general information and requests for how many students receiving SDS scholarship awards, the number of SDS students that graduated and their racial/ethnic background. The burden estimate is approximately 1 hour to complete the report (500 applicants that were funded X 1 hour/response = 500 hours of response burden).

We estimate that the costs to the public will be $ 1,500 (1 hour X $ 30.00/hour = $ 30.00 X 500 applicants that are funded = $ 1,500)

13. Estimates of Annualized Cost Burden to Respondents:

Schools have no capital and start-up costs and no operational and maintenance costs for this activity.

14. Estimates of Annualized Cost to the Government

The staff cost for processing the application information for an estimated 500 applicants per year is expected to be $ 15,000. In addition, one full-time GS-12 at approximately 50% time reviews, analyzes and approves the applications for a cost of $35,000 for a total cost of $50,000 to the Government.

15. Changes in Burden

This is a request for reinstatement of an expired OMB control number. The previous OMB approval for this activity has a total number of burden hours of 10,575; however, there are no current hours on the OMB inventory. The new request is for approval for a program change from 0 burden hours to 10,500 hours, an increase of 10,500 hours.

16. Time Schedule, Publication and Analysis Plans

There are no plans for publication of the information. Plans for review of the data involve only internal tabulation of the aggregate information for program management.

17. Exemption for Display of Expiration Date

The expiration date will be displayed.

18. Certifications

This fully complies with the guidelines set forth in 5 CFR 1320.9. The certifications are included in the package.