The Department of Education (the
Department) amends the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct
Loan) Program regulations issued under the Higher Education Act of
1965, as amended (HEA), to implement changes made to the
regulations in §685.300. These final regulations are a result of
negotiated rulemaking and will add new requirements to the current
regulations. These final regulations in §685.300 will add
provisions to schools’ Direct Loan program participation agreements
that, for claims that may form the basis for borrower defenses that
prevent schools from requiring that students first engage in a
school’s internal complaint process before contacting accrediting
and government agencies about the complaint; prohibit the use of
mandatory pre-dispute arbitration agreements by schools; prohibit
the use of class action lawsuit waivers; to the extent schools and
borrowers engage in arbitration in a manner consistent with
applicable law and regulation, require schools to disclose to and
notify the Secretary of arbitration filings and awards.
This request is for a new
information collection. These changes are due to the regulations
offered through agency discretion. The increase in burden to this
information collection is 179,362 hours. These new regulations are
a result of negotiated rulemaking.
$0
No
No
No
No
No
Uncollected
Beth Grebeldinger 202
708-8242
No
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.