Attached to this article is a copy of the Department of Education's GEN-08-12 Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) summarizing the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) with some improvements to help users navigate this 219 page document. NASFAA has linked the table of contents to corresponding text in the summary. This allows users to skip back and forth between summaries and the table of contents.

As you review this document in preparation to implement the HEOA you should keep the following things in mind:

Effective Dates

Generally, provisions in the HEOA were effective August 14, 2008, unless otherwise noted in the law. The Department provides a chart of HEOA provision implementation dates in the DCL. The Department has directed institutions to comply with the effective dates but indicates it will take into account any guidance it issued, or absence of guidance, in any future compliance reviews.

Summaries of Provisions

The summaries are largely straightforward statements of each provision, with no additional interpretation or implementation guidance. However, a few provisions that had generated confusion do include a little more information or clarification:

• The professional judgment provision allowing unsubsidized loans for unsupported dependent students ("Discretion of the Student Financial Aid Administrators" under Need Analysis)

• Unsubsidized Stafford loan limits (under FFEL and Direct Loan Programs-Common Provisions)

• PLUS repayment and deferment provisions ("Federal PLUS Repayment, Post-Half-Time Enrollment Deferment, and Interest Capitalization" under FFEL and Direct Loan Programs-Common Provisions)

The Department urges institutions to use the DCL summaries in conjunction with reviewing the text of the HEOA itself. At this time NASFAA is not aware of any official compilation of HEA language that incorporates the HEOA. However, the National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs (NCHELP) has an unofficial version on their Web site. The DCL provides a list of Department telephone number contacts for specific programs or broad areas. Links are also provided to other referenced laws.

Reports

Also of interest are the many varied non-institutional studies, reports, and summits that the law requires, including simplification studies, listed on pages 181 through 206 of the DCL.

Topical Areas

Provisions are grouped under topics arranged by Title in the law. The Title IV section includes the following groups of provisions

• Title IV Programs - General
• Accreditation
• Need Analysis
• Improvements to the FAFSA and Processes
• Model Institution Financial Aid Offer Form
• Student Eligibility
• Consumer Information
• Federal Pell Grant Program
• ACG/National SMART Grant Programs
• TEACH Grant Program
• Campus-based Programs
• FSEOG Program
• FWS Program
• LEAP /Grants for Access and Persistence Program (GAP)
• All Loan Programs (FFEL, Direct Loan, Perkins Loans)
• FFEL and Direct Loan Programs-Common Provisions
• FFEL Program
• Direct Loan Program
• Perkins Loan Program
• TRIO Programs
• GEAR-UP Program
• Special Programs for Students Whose Families are Engaged in Migrant and Seasonal Farmwork
• Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship Program
• Child Care Access Means Parents in School

Posted 01/09/09 to www.NASFAA.org. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited. Please submit Web Site questions or comments to Web@NASFAA.org.