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

WReier-Aviles on DSKGBLS3C1PROD with RULES266894 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 209 / Friday, October 29, 2010 / Rules and Regulationsconsidered to have withdrawn from thepayment period or period of enrollmentand the student’s withdrawal date andthe total number of calendar days in thepayment period or period of enrollmentwould be the withdrawal date and totalnumber of calendar days that wouldhave applied if the student had notprovided written confirmation of futureattendance.Title IV, HEA program funds areawarded to a student with theexpectation that the student willcomplete the period of time for whichthe aid has been awarded. When astudent does not complete enough of hisor her education to earn all of theoriginally awarded title IV, HEAprogram funds, it is in the best interestof the taxpayer to have the unearnedFederal funds returned to thegovernment as expeditiously as possiblefor use by other students. It is also fairerto all students receiving title IV, HEAprogram funds to have the way thosefunds are earned be comparableregardless of the way their programs arestructured. In general, the Secretarybelieves that long gaps in attendanceduring a payment period or period ofenrollment are not in the best interest ofstudents and increase the likelihoodthat a student will not return to theinstitution. Should the student notreturn, the Secretary does not wish tounduly delay the return of title IV, HEAprogram funds. The Secretary agreeswith the suggestion that, for clock-hourand nonterm programs, a student beconsidered to have withdrawn if thestudent has not been in attendance fora specified period of time and has notcompleted the payment period or periodof enrollment, although the Secretarybelieves that 45 days, rather than 35days, as suggested by the commenter, isan appropriate period of time. Thus, inaddition to limiting a student’sconfirmation of return in a nonterm ornonstandard-term program to a modulethat begins no later than 45 calendardays after the end of the module thestudent ceased attending, if a student ina nonterm or nonstandard-term programis not scheduled to begin another coursewithin a payment period or period ofenrollment for more than 45 calendardays, the institution must treat thestudent as a withdrawal for title IV,HEA program fund purposes, unless thestudent is on an approved leave ofabsence, as defined in § 668.22(d).We do not believe that studentsshould be penalized if they do notconfirm an intent to return to a modulelater in the payment period or period ofenrollment, but do return to the moduleanyway, or if they are not scheduled tobegin a course within a payment periodor period of enrollment in a nonterm ornonstandard-term program for over 45days, but do return and begin a coursewithin that payment period or period ofenrollment. Thus, in these situations,we believe it is appropriate for theinstitution to ‘‘undo’’ the Return of TitleIV Funds calculation and treat thosestudents as if they had not ceasedattendance. This final regulation isconsistent with current regulations forstudents who withdraw from clock-hourprograms and nonterm credit-hourprograms. Under § 668.4(f), a studentwho returns to a nonterm credit-hourprogram or clock-hour program(regardless of whether the program isoffered in modules) within 180 daysafter withdrawing is treated as if he orshe did not cease attendance (i.e., isconsidered to remain in that samepayment period, and is eligible toreceive any title IV, HEA program fundsfor which he or she was eligible prior towithdrawal, including funds that werereturned by the institution or studentunder the provisions of § 668.22). If astudent returns to a clock-hour ornonterm credit-hour programs after 180days, the student’s withdrawal is not‘‘undone’’; he or she must begin a newpayment period and aid for that periodis determined in accordance with theprovisions of § 668.4(g). The Secretarybelieves that similar treatment iswarranted for students who withdrawfrom term-based programs offered inmodules. That is, if a student returns toa term-based credit-hour programoffered in modules prior to the end ofthe payment period or period ofenrollment, the student is treated as ifhe or she did not cease attendance, andis eligible to receive any title IV, HEAprogram funds for which he or she waseligible prior to withdrawal, includingfunds that were returned by theinstitution or student under theprovisions of § 668.22. However, theinstitution must make adjustments toreflect any changes to the student’senrollment status.While we acknowledge that requiringinstitutions to treat as withdrawalsstudents who cease attending at anypoint during the payment period orperiod of enrollment, rather than justthose students who cease attendingbefore completing at least one course, islikely to increase the number of Returnof Title IV Fund calculations aninstitution must perform for theseprograms, we note that institutions havealways had to track students in moduleprograms beyond the first course/module to determine whether a studentbegan attendance in all the courses theywere scheduled to attend, in case theVerDate Mar2010 14:10 Oct 28, 2010 Jkt 223001 PO 00000 Frm 00064 Fmt 4701 Sfmt 4700 E:\FR\FM\29OCR2.SGM 29OCR2student’s enrollment status changedupon ceasing attendance, resulting inrequired recalculations of the title IV,HEA program funds awarded. While werecognize that some students mustwithdraw due to circumstances beyondtheir control, we are concerned with thecommenters’ contention that there willbe a substantial increase in burden dueto the number of students who ceaseattendance during a payment period orperiod of enrollment. We do not believethat it is in a student’s best interest towithdraw and we would expect thatinstitutions are doing all they can toprevent withdrawals throughcounseling, student support services,and proper enrollment procedures. Inresponse to the commenter whobelieved the proposed regulationswould force institutions to delaydisbursements to prevent the institutionor student from having to returnunearned title IV, HEA program funds ifthey withdraw, we are providing that,under amended § 668.164(i), aninstitution would be required to providea way for a Federal Pell Grant eligiblestudent to obtain or purchase requiredbooks and supplies by the seventh dayof a payment period under certainconditions if the student were to havea title IV credit balance.The commenter who noted that thedetermination of title IV, HEA programfunds that are earned by a student whowithdraws from a clock-hour programare based on scheduled hours is correctin that once it has been determined thata student has not completed thepayment period or period of enrollment,the percentage of the payment period orperiod of enrollment completed isdetermined by dividing the totalnumber of clock hours in the paymentperiod or period of enrollment into thenumber of clock hours scheduled to becompleted at the time the studentceased attending (§ 668.22(f)(1)(ii)(A)).However, a student has not completeda clock hour payment period or periodof enrollment until he or she hascompleted all the hours and all of theweeks of instructional time that he orshe was scheduled to attend in thatperiod.Because different institutions usedifferent names to refer to this type ofprogram structure, in amended§ 668.22(l)(6), we have defined the term‘‘offered in modules’’ to mean if a courseor courses in the program do not spanthe entire length of the payment periodor period of enrollment. In addition, toclarify the types of programs that areconsidered to be nonstandard-termprograms or nonterm programs, inamended § 668.22(l)(8), we have definedthe term ‘‘nonstandard-term program’’ as