Department Of Education Request For Recommendations;
Please Respond By Friday, January 20th
Pam Moran of the Department of Education has contacted COHEAO and other organizations to ask for our assistance in identifying recommendations for waivers or modification of statutory or regulatory provisions related to Higher Education Act Title IV student financial assistance that will aid individuals, institutions of higher education, lenders, guaranty agencies, and grantees impacted by the Gulf hurricane disaster.
The following is the complete text of the message we received from Ms. Moran:
“Pub. L. 109-148 (the Department of Defense, Emergency Supplemental Appropriations to Address Hurricanes in the Gulf of New Mexico, and Pandemic Influenza Act, 2006, enacted 12/30/05) authorizes the Secretary of Education to waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision applicable to the title IV student financial assistance programs, or student or institutional eligibility provisions related to the title IV student financial assistance programs, 1) to ease the burden of administrative requirements on affected individuals, affected institutions of higher education, lenders, guaranty agencies, and grantees to the extent possible, and 2) to grant temporary relief to institutions of higher education, lenders, guaranty agencies, and other entities that serve the Gulf hurricane affected disaster areas from requirements that were rendered infeasible or unreasonable due to the affects of the disaster.If you have any suggestions you would like to submit to the Department, please either forward them to Andrew Stringer at astringer@wpllc.net or to Harrison Wadsworth at hwadsworth@wpllc.net, or send them to Pam Moran or David Bergeron directly. Pam may be emailed at Pamela.Morgan@ed.gov; David is at David.Bergeron@ed.gov .
“We would like to solicit your members' recommendations for any waivers and modifications you believe the Secretary should consider granting under this authority, particularly as it relates to title IV student loan origination, disbursement, servicing, and collection. Because we would like to expedite this relief, we are requesting that your recommendations be submitted to David Bergeron or me no later than Monday, January 23, 2005. If you have questions regarding this request, please feel free to contact me.”