General Guidance For Title IV Institutions Affected By A Disaster

In the wake of devastating tornadoes last week, NASFAA reminds institutions of guidance provided by the Department of Education for institutions that participate in Title IV programs and have been affected by a disaster. Our thoughts go out to the students, schools, and families whose lives have been affected by these natural disasters. The Department issued a Dear Colleague Letter (GEN-04-04/FP-04-03) in 2004 to assist Title IV participants, including students, borrowers, institutions, lenders, and guaranty agencies, in the event they are impacted by a Federally-declared disaster. In the past, the Department 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. 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 Department has provided 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).

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. Should further relief be necessary at any point, institutions are encouraged to contact their School Participation Team representative. For a list of School Participation Team contacts, go to the schools portal at ifap.ed.gov/schoolparticipation.htm. 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.

Institutions with specific regulatory questions can also contact NASFAA with their questions by emailing askregs@nasfaa.org.

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.

Posted 02/11/08 to www.NASFAA.org. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited. Please submit Web Site questions or comments to Web@NASFAA.org.