Office of Postsecondary Education - U.S. Department of Education

Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 209 / Friday, October 29, 2010 / Rules and Regulations66891WReier-Aviles on DSKGBLS3C1PROD with RULES2completed high school and obtained avalid high school diploma might stillnot be ready for college. The commenterstated that the Department should focusinstead on improving secondary schooleducation and not connect title IV, HEAeligibility to the high school credentialuntil the work of improving highschools has been completed.Discussion: Improving high schooleducation is an important objective ofthe Secretary; however, the Departmentdoes not consider it necessary to refrainfrom requiring institutions to developand follow procedures for evaluating thevalidity of high school diplomas untilthe task of improving high schooleducation nationwide has beencompleted. And we believe verifying thevalidity of high school diplomas isnecessary to ensuring compliance withthe eligibility requirements for thereceipt of title IV, HEA aid.Changes: None.Comment: One commenter suggestedthat because § 668.16(p) does notrequire documentation of a diploma orgraduation from an applicant’s highschool directly, the fraud surroundingthis issue will just switch to the use offraudulent diplomas or transcriptspurportedly from legitimate highschools. Also, this commenter pointedout that it will be easy for unscrupulouscollege employees to skirt thisrequirement by telling students tosimply list the name of a legitimateschool or where to get a forged diploma,just as recruiters now tell studentswhere they can buy a high schooldiploma.Discussion: Institutions are free torequest that documentation comedirectly from the high school. We alsoacknowledge that it will be impossibleto eliminate all potential fraud, yet webelieve that the extra step of requiringvalidation under § 668.16(p) will help toeliminate some of it. As we noted in thepreamble to the NPRM, the Departmenthas other avenues for addressingfraudulent activities committed at aninstitution.Changes: None.Comment: One commenter noted thatwhen an institution is evaluating thevalidity of a student’s high schooleducation and his or her diploma ortranscript is not available, it should beable to accept a certified statement fromthe student that serves asdocumentation of graduation andexplains why the student could notobtain a copy of the diploma.Discussion: A certified statement froma student is not sufficientdocumentation of this requirement. Itshould be rare that students cannotprovide a copy of either their highschool diploma or final transcript, andthere might be such instances where aninstitution can still validate a student’shigh school education without a copy ofthe diploma or transcript. But FAAsshould remember that there areestablished alternatives for a highschool diploma, such as the GEDcertificate or ATB test.Changes: None.Comment: One commenter suggestedthat the Department should determine ifa significant number of studentsindicated they had valid diplomas,when they, in fact, did not. Thecommenter recommended that theDepartment make § 668.16(p) voluntaryor require compliance through a pilotprogram because building andmaintaining an accurate database willbe difficult and students will makemistakes that could delay theireligibility for a semester, a year, or awhole degree program.Discussion: We do not plan to makecompliance with § 668.16(p) voluntaryor part of a pilot program. We expectthat delays resulting from evaluation ofhigh school diplomas will be minimalor nonexistent.Changes: None.Comment: One commenter stated thatthe new FAFSA questions on highschool completion should be requiredand that students should not be able toenter an invalid school, or leave thequestions blank.Discussion: As noted earlier, weintend to require that students whoindicate that they have a high schooldiploma also give the name of theschool that awarded the diploma andthe city and State in which the schoolis located. They will be able to select aschool from the Department’s list or beprompted to write in the name of theschool. Students will be unable tocomplete the online FAFSA unless theyprovide this information.Changes: None.Comment: Commenters noted that,even if students indicate that theirdiploma is from an acceptable school, itdoes not prove the student actuallygraduated from that school. Thesecommenters argued that proposed§ 668.16(p) is not an improvement to thecurrent practice, and that the extra steprequired under the new regulatoryprovision will not help for institutionsthat do not require a diploma foradmission.Discussion: The proposed changereflected in § 668.16(p) is designed toreduce the number of students whoindicate that they have a high schooldiploma, but who do not, or who onlypossess a credential from a ‘‘diplomamill.’’ We believe that many studentsVerDate Mar2010 14:10 Oct 28, 2010 Jkt 223001 PO 00000 Frm 00061 Fmt 4701 Sfmt 4700 E:\FR\FM\29OCR2.SGM 29OCR2with such credentials will indicate thename of the entity they received it from,either because they honestly believethey have a legitimate high schooldiploma or because they will bereluctant to provide the name of aschool they did not graduate frombecause the financial aid office willeasily be able to determine that such astatement is false. All institutions,including those that do not require ahigh school diploma for admission, willbe subject to the requirements in§ 668.16(p) and, therefore, will need toevaluate the credentials supplied bystudents as proof of high schoolcompletion if they or the Departmenthas reason to believe the credential isnot valid. We believe that this requiredprocess will reduce the number of badcredentials.Changes: None.Comment: One commenter suggestedthat unless the Department clarifieswhat is a valid high school diploma, itshould not, as part of a program review,substitute its judgment for aninstitution’s determination. Thecommenter argued that if an institutionacted reasonably, the eligibility of astudent should not be questioned, evenif the Department, or another school,reaches a different conclusion about thehigh school the student attended.Another commenter asked that theDepartment make clear in this preamblethat institutions may change theirdeterminations about a given highschool. New information may move aschool from the ‘‘good’’ list to the ‘‘bad’’one, or vice versa. The commenterwanted to ensure that the Departmentdoes not dissuade institutions frommaking such adjustments by deemingthat a later determination indicates anearlier one was inappropriate.Discussion: We do not plan to secondguessthe decisions of collegeadministrators in these matters, such asmoving a high school from a ‘‘good’’ listto a ‘‘bad’’ list (or vice versa), as long asthey are reasonable.Changes: None.Comment: One commenter stated thatit was not fair to require students toprovide a high school diploma because,in the commenter’s experience,homeschooled students have only atranscript as proof of completing asecondary school education.Discussion: As we noted earlier in thispreamble, the procedure for determiningthe validity of homeschooled students’education is not affected by § 668.16(p).Changes: None.Comment: One commenter observedthat students in high school specialeducation programs might receive acertificate or award that is not a high