February 2004
GEN-04-04
FP-04-03
SUBJECT: General guidance for helping Title IV participants affected by a disaster.
SUMMARY: This letter supplements the 2003-2004 Federal Student Aid Handbook and Disaster Letter 99-28 by providing guidance to assist Title IV participants affected by a disaster.
Dear Colleague:
This letter serves to assist Title IV participants, including students, borrowers, institutions, lenders, and guaranty agencies, in the event they are impacted by a Federally-declared disaster (disaster). In the past, the Secretary has assisted victims of disasters in their recovery by providing certain regulatory relief to students, as well as to institutions, lenders, and guaranty agencies, in their administration of the student financial assistance programs authorized by Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA). In an effort to ensure that affected individuals, as well as institutions, lenders, and guaranty agencies, have the means to act quickly whenever a disaster is declared by the President, the Secretary is providing general guidance for regulatory relief in these situations.
Unless stated otherwise, this regulatory relief applies to all Title IV loan borrowers, students, and their families who, at the time of a disaster, were residing in, employed in, or attending an institution located in an area designated as a Federally-declared disaster area. In addition, it applies to institutions, lenders, and guaranty agencies if they are located in such areas. Those designations are available by date of declaration on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Web site (www.fema.gov/disasters).
The information in this letter supplements the 2003-2004 Federal Student Aid Handbook, as well as Disaster Letter 99-28, published in August 1999, which provided separate guidance to lenders and guaranty agencies on the treatment of borrowers who have been affected by a disaster. The guidance in this letter will be incorporated into the 2004-2005 Federal Student Aid Handbook and updated annually thereafter. Discussions are presented alphabetically within each general topic. [Note: All regulatory references are to 34 CFR.]
A Title IV participant that deviates from otherwise required actions in its administration of the Title IV programs on the basis of the guidance in this letter must document that fact and indicate what alternative procedures were followed. As indicated in this letter, and should further relief be necessary at any point, institutions are encouraged to contact their Case Management Team representative. For a list of Case Management Team contacts, go to the schools portal at http://fsa4schools.ed.gov and click on the "Help Center" button, then choose "Contacts," and then "Case Management Teams." Lenders and guaranty agencies in the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program should contact Federal Student Aid's Financial Partners regional staff serving the location of the lender or agency.
Anyone needing further general information may contact the FSA Customer Service Call Center as follows:
- Via Phone, Call Center staff members are available Monday through Friday between the hours of 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM (Eastern Time) at 1-800-433-7327. After hours calls will be accepted by an automated voice response system. Callers leaving their name and phone number will receive a return call the next business day.
- FAX inquiries should be sent to the Call Center at (202) 275-5532.
- E-mail inquiries should be directed to the fsa.customer.support@ed.gov e-mail address.
- Via the Schools Portal on the Internet by going to http://fsa4schools.ed.gov/ then clicking on the "Help Center" followed by the "Got a Question?" link.
We hope that these options for regulatory relief will be of use to you in assisting students whose families have been affected by a disaster.
Sincerely,
Sally L. Stroup
Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education
Attachment:
General guidance for helping Title IV participants affected by a disaster in PDF Format, Size 689KB, 11 pages
Posted February 26, 2004 on www.NASFAA.org, the Web Site of the
National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA).
Please submit Web Site questions or comments to web@nasfaa.org
