Notices. Notice of required electronic processes and related system requirements

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BILLING CODE 6050-$$-P DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request AGENCY: Department of Education. SUMMARY: The Leader, Information Management Case Services Team, Regulatory Information Management Services, Office of the Chief Information Officer invites comments on the submission for OMB review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before October 14, 2004. ADDRESSES: Written comments should be addressed to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Attention:

Carolyn Lovett, Desk Officer, Department of Education, Office of Management and Budget, 725 17th Street, NW., Room 10235, New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 20503 or faxed to

(202)395-6974. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 3506 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35) requires that the Office of Management and Budget

(OMB)provide interested Federal agencies and the public an early opportunity to comment on information collection requests. OMB may amend or waive the requirement for public consultation to the extent that public participation in the approval process would defeat the purpose of the information collection, violate State or Federal law, or substantially interfere with any agency's ability to perform its statutory obligations. The Leader, Information Management Case Services Team, Regulatory Information Management Services, Office of the Chief Information Officer, publishes that notice containing proposed information collection requests prior to submission of these requests to OMB. Each proposed information collection, grouped by office, contains the following:

(1)Type of review requested, *e.g.* new, revision, extension, existing or reinstatement;

(2)Title;

(3)Summary of the collection;

(4)Description of the need for, and proposed use of, the information;

(5)Respondents and frequency of collection; and

(6)Reporting and/or Recordkeeping burden. OMB invites public comment. Dated: September 8, 2004. Angela C. Arrington, Leader, Information Management Case Services Team, Regulatory Information Management Services, Office of the Chief Information Officer. Office of the Chief Financial Officer *Type of Review:* Extension. *Title:* Streamlined Process for Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) Approved Grant Applications. *Frequency:* Annually. *Affected Public:* State, local, or tribal gov't, SEAs or LEAs; Businesses or other for-profit; not-for-profit institutions. *Reporting and Recordkeeping Hour Burden: Responses* —1. *Burden Hours* —1. *Abstract:* In April 1997, EDGAR's menu of selection criteria became effective. For each competition, the Secretary would select one or more criteria that best enable the Department to identify the highest quality applications consistent with the program purpose, statutory requirements, and any priorities established. This allows the Secretary the flexibility to weigh the criteria according to the needs of each individual program. This menu of selection criteria will provide the Department the flexibility to choose a set of criteria tailored to a given competition and obviate the need to create specific selection criteria through individual program regulations. ED is requesting a streamlined clearance process for programs of approved applications that choose to change:

(1)Criteria from the same EDGAR menu or

(2)program criteria to EDGAR criteria. Requests for copies of the submission for OMB review; comment request may be accessed from *http://edicsweb.ed.gov* , by selecting the “Browse Pending Collections” link and by clicking on link number 2580. When you access the information collection, click on “Download Attachments “ to view. Written requests for information should be addressed to U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Potomac Center, 9th Floor, Washington, DC 20202-4700. Requests may also be electronically mailed to the Internet address *OCIO_RIMG@ed.gov* or faxed to 202-245-6621. Please specify the complete title of the information collection when making your request. Comments regarding burden and/or the collection activity requirements should be directed to Sheila Carey at her e-mail address *Sheila.Carey@ed.gov* . Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf

(TDD)may call the Federal Information Relay Service

(FIRS)at 1-800-877-8339. [FR Doc. E4-2179 Filed 9-13-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4000-01-P DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Student Assistance General Provisions, Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Work-Study, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, Federal Family Education Loan, William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan, Federal Pell Grant, and Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership Programs AGENCY: Department of Education. ACTION: Notice of required electronic processes and related system requirements. SUMMARY: We give notice that, beginning with the 2005-2006 award year, institutions participating in the Federal student aid programs must ensure they participate in the designated electronic processes included in this notice and satisfy the hardware and software specifications described in this notice. The Federal student aid programs are authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (Title IV, HEA Programs). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Student Assistance General Provisions regulations in 34 CFR 668.16(o) provide, in part, that to be administratively capable an institution must participate in electronic processes designated by the Secretary. These processes were first identified in a notice published in the **Federal Register** on September 19, 1997 (62 FR 49414). In that notice, we also provided information regarding the hardware and software requirements needed for an institution to participate in the designated electronic processes. Because of advances in technology, we updated those hardware and software requirements in a **Federal Register** notice published on December 22, 2000 (65 FR 80841). In this notice, we update both the designated electronic processes that an institution must participate in and the software and hardware requirements (presented as a minimum system configuration and an optimal system configuration) that an institution must have to participate in these processes. Most of the electronic processes included in this notice are the same processes that were included in the previous **Federal Register** notices, although the specific technology and/or names of those processes may have changed (for example, the Student Aid Information Gateway

(SAIG)has replaced the Title IV Wide Area Network (TIV WAN)). A new process included in this notice is that all institutions must send and receive origination and disbursement data for the Federal Pell Grant Program and the Federal Direct Loan Program to our Common Origination and Disbursement

(COD)system using the Extensible Markup Language

(XML)“Common Record: COD.” Beginning with the 2005-2006 award year, this requirement will apply to all institutions, including COD phase-in participants that currently submit and receive information using flat-file record formats. Additional information on this requirement is provided in item 11 under Designated Electronic Processes below. Designated Electronic Processes To be in compliance with 34 CFR 668.16(o), an institution must: 1. Participate in the Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG); 2. Use our electronic process whenever it is required to submit or update its Application for Approval to Participate in the Federal Student Aid Programs (for example, when the institution initially applies to participate, when it is recertified, or when it reports required changes, or seeks to be reinstated); 3. Use our electronic processes to submit its Fiscal Operations Report and Application to Participate (FISAP) and other required reports or requests for the campus-based programs (Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Work-Study, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant); 4. Electronically receive Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) from our Central Processing System

(CPS)using the Student Aid Information Gateway (SAIG); 5. Use the Student Aid Information Gateway

(SAIG)and approved electronic processes when submitting a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) on behalf of an applicant for Federal student aid to our Central Processing System

(CPS)or when submitting corrections or updates to FAFSA data to CPS for an applicant; 6. If not already listed, add itself to the Central Processing System

(CPS)record for a student it wishes to consider for Title IV assistance; 7. Have on-line Internet access to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) and submit to NSLDS its Federal Perkins Loan data, its student enrollment records, its Title IV program overpayments, and its NSLDS Transfer Monitoring records using either the offered Student Aid Information Gateway

(SAIG)services or the Internet, as appropriate; 8. Access the “Information for Financial Aid Professionals”

(IFAP)Web site; 9. Electronically submit its annual compliance and financial statement audits, and any other required audits; 10. Receive its draft and official cohort default rate data electronically; and 11. Beginning with the 2005-2006 award year, send and receive origination and disbursement data for the Federal Pell Grant Program and the Federal Direct Loan Program to the COD system using the Student Aid Information Gateway

(SAIG)and the Extensible Markup Language

(XML)“Common Record: COD” that complies with the published schema for each award year. Technical Specifications For an institution to effectively and efficiently participate in the designated electronic processes listed above, it must obtain appropriate software and hardware. While many institutions currently participate in these electronic processes, at least partially, using mainframe technology, many other institutions, and to some extent many of the mainframe schools, use a desktop computing environment for all or part of their Title IV student aid processing. Specifically, many institutions use our EDCONNECT process for receiving and sending data over the SAIG. Also, many institutions use one or more of the processes included in our EDExpress suite of products. Accordingly, we are providing the following minimum and optimal hardware and software configurations as part of this electronic processes notice. Although all of the required electronic processes included in this notice can be performed using the minimum configuration, we strongly recommend the optimal configuration, particularly in cases where an institution sends or receives 4,000 or more records in an XML document (batch). This is because the new XML file formats used by EDExpress and COD (and in the future by CPS) are larger and require greater storage and computing power. For the same reason, while we include “high speed Internet connection” only in the Optimal Configuration, we encourage institutions to consider moving away from a “dial-up” connection if they intend on submitting or receiving large amounts of data. This will significantly reduce transmission time and will increase the probability of an uninterrupted transmission session. System Configurations Minimum configuration Optimal configuration IBM or Fully IBM-compatible PC 1.2 GHz Processor 2.8 GHz/333 MHz Processor. 512 MB RAM 1 GB RAM. 60 GB Hard Drive 80 GB Hard Drive. 48x CD-ROM Drive (CD-RW recommended) 48x CD-ROM Drive (CD-RW recommended). Windows compatible keyboard and mouse Windows compatible keyboard and mouse. Monitor and Video Card Capable of Super Video Graphics Adapter

(SVGA)resolution (800 x 600) or higher Capable of Super Video Graphics Adapter

(SVGA)resolution (800 x 600) or higher. Internet Connection 56 Kbps Modem (meets or is upgradeable to V.90 standard) High speed Internet connection ( *i.e.* , DSL). Printer Laser printer capable of printing on standard paper (8.5″ x 11″) Laser printer capable of printing on standard paper (8.5″ x 11″). Operating System Windows 2000 or Windows XP Professional recommended (FSA will support Windows 98/98SE/ME only until June 30, 2006) Windows 2000 or Windows XP Professional recommended (FSA will support Windows 98/98SE/ME only until June 30, 2006). FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general questions relating to these requirements, contact John Kolotos, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., (UCP room 113F1), Washington, DC 20202. Telephone:

(202)377-4027, FAX:

(202)275-4552, or by e-mail: *john.kolotos@ed.gov.* For questions related to the Student Aid Information Gateway

(SAIG)and to the Central Processing System (CPS), contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support at 1-800-330-5947. For questions related to the Application To Participate, the Information for Financial Aid Professionals

(IFAP)Web site, and the electronic submission of audits, contact the Customer Service Call Center for Schools at 1-800-433-7327. For questions related to the campus-based programs, contact the Campus-Based Call Center at 1-877-801-7168. For questions related to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS), contact NSLDS Customer Service at 1-800-999-8219. For questions related to the Common Origination and Disbursement

(COD)system, contact the COD School Relations Center at 1-800-848-0978 for the Federal Direct Loan Program or 1-800-474-7268 (1-800-4PGRANT) for the Federal Pell Grant Program. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may call the Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339. Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an alternative format ( *e.g.* , Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer diskette) on request to John Kolotos using the contact information listed above. Electronic Access to This Document You may view this document, as well as all other documents of this Department published in the **Federal Register,** in text or Adobe Portable Document Format

(PDF)on the Internet at the following site: *http://www.ed.gov/news/fedregister.* To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF, call the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 1-888-293-6498; or in the Washington, DC area at

(202)512-1530. Note: The official version of this document is the document published in the **Federal Register.** Free Internet access to the official edition of the **Federal Register** and the Code of Federal Regulations is available on GPO Access at: *http://www.gpoaccess.gov/nara/index.html.* Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1070a, 1070b-1070b-4, 1070c-1070c-4, 1071-1087-2, 1087a-1087j, 1087aa-1087ii, 1094, and 1099c; 42 U.S.C. 2751-2756b. (Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance numbers: 84.007 Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) Program; 84.032 Federal Family Education Loan

(FFEL)Programs; 84.033 Federal Work-Study

(FWS)Program; 84.038 Federal Perkins (Perkins) Loans; 84.063) Federal Pell Grant

(Pell)Program; 84.069 Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership

(LEAP)Programs; and 84.268 William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Programs) Dated: September 8, 2004. Theresa S. Shaw, Chief Operating Officer, Federal Student Aid. [FR Doc. E4-2185 Filed 9-13-04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4000-01-P DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance; Meeting AGENCY: Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, Education. ACTION: Notice of upcoming teleconference meeting. SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda of a forthcoming teleconference meeting of the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance. Individuals who will need accommodations for a disability in order to attend the meeting ( *i.e.,* interpreting services, assistive listening devices, and/or materials in alternative format) should notify Ms. Hope M. Gray at

(202)219-2099 or via e-mail at *hope.gray@ed.gov* no later than 2 p.m. on Thursday, September 23, 2004. We will attempt to meet requests after this date but cannot guarantee availability of the requested accommodation. The meeting site is accessible to individuals with disabilities. This notice also describes the functions of the Committee. Notice of this meeting is required under Section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. This document is intended to notify the general public. DATE AND TIME: Monday, September 27, 2004, beginning at 1 p.m. and ending at approximately 3 p.m. ADDRESSES: 80 F Street, NW., Suite 412, Washington, DC 20001. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Brian K. Fitzgerald, Staff Director, Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, 80 F Street, NW., Suite 413, Washington, DC 20202-7582;

(202)219-2099. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance is established under Section 491 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 as amended by Public Law 100-50 (20 U.S.C. 1098). The Advisory Committee serves as an independent source of advice and counsel to the Congress and the Secretary of Education on student financial aid policy. Since its inception, the congressional mandate requires the Advisory Committee to conduct objective, nonpartisan, and independent analyses on important aspects of the student assistance programs under Title IV of the Higher Education Act. In addition, Congress expanded the Advisory Committee's agenda in the Higher Education Amendments of 1998 in several important areas: Access, Title IV modernization, distance education, and early information and needs assessment. Specifically, the Advisory Committee is to review, monitor and evaluate the Department of Education's progress in these areas and report recommended improvements to Congress and the Secretary. The FY2004 Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 2673), which was signed into law on January 23, 2004, directs the Advisory Committee to examine the federal financial aid formula and application forms in order to simplify and streamline the programs to make the system easier, more responsive, and fairer for students and families. The Advisory Committee is well suited to conduct this study, drawing upon the expertise of its eleven members and its experience conducting other broad studies on financial aid issues. The Advisory Committee also has the particular mission of examining the impact of these issues on low- and moderate-income students, a specific goal of the study. The proposed agenda includes:

(a)A discussion of the plan and direction for Phase II of the simplification study, and

(b)election of officers. Space is limited, and you are encouraged to contact the Advisory Committee staff through the Internet at *ADV_COMSFA@ed.gov no later than Thursday, September 23, 2004, if you wish to participate.* Also, you may contact the Advisory Committee staff at

(202)219-2099. The Advisory Committee will meet in Washington, DC via teleconference on Monday, September 27, 2004, from 1 p.m. until approximately 3 p.m. Space is limited and you are encouraged to register early if you plan to participate. You may register through the Internet by e-mailing the Advisory Committee at *ADV_COMSFA@ed.gov* or at *Tracy.Deanna.Jones@ed.gov.* Please include your name, title, affiliation, complete address (including Internet and e-mail—if available), and telephone and fax numbers. If you are unable to register electronically, you may mail or fax your registration information to the Advisory Committee staff office at

(202)219-3032. Also, you may contact the Advisory Committee staff at

(202)219-2099. **The registration deadline is Thursday, September 23, 2004.** Records are kept of all Committee proceedings, and are available for public inspection at the Office of the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, Capitol Place, 80 F Street, NW., Suite 413, Washington, DC from the hours of 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. Information regarding the simplification study will also be made available on the Advisory Committee's Web site *http://www.ed.gov/ACSFA.* Dr. Brian K. Fitzgerald, Staff Director, Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance. [FR Doc. 04-20631 Filed 9-13-04; 8:45 am]

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