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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 92 / Friday, May 14, 2021 / Rules and Regulations communities in a material way also referred to as an economically significant rule;
2 Create serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with an action taken or planned by another agency;
3 Materially alter the budgetary impacts of entitlement grants, user fees, or loan programs, or the rights and obligations of recipients thereof; or 4 Raise novel legal or policy issues arising out of legal mandates, the Presidents priorities, or the principles stated in the Executive order.
This final regulatory action will have an annual effect on the economy of more than $100 million. Therefore, this regulatory action is an economically significant regulatory action subject to review by OMB under section 3f1 of Executive Order 12866. Pursuant to the Congressional Review Act 5 U.S.C. 801
et seq., the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs designated this rule as a major rule, as defined by 5 U.S.C.
8042.
We have also reviewed this action under Executive Order 13563, which supplements and explicitly reaffirms the principles, structures, and definitions governing regulatory review established in Executive Order 12866. To the extent permitted by law, Executive Order 13563 requires that an agency 1 Propose or adopt regulations only upon a reasoned determination that their benefits justify their costs recognizing that some benefits and costs are difficult to quantify;
2 Tailor its regulations to impose the least burden on society, consistent with obtaining regulatory objectives and taking into accountamong other things and to the extent practicablethe costs of cumulative regulations;
3 In choosing among alternative regulatory approaches, select those approaches that maximize net benefits including potential economic, environmental, public health and safety, and other advantages; distributive impacts; and equity;
4 To the extent feasible, specify performance objectives rather than the behavior or manner of compliance a regulated entity must adopt; and 5 Identify and assess available alternatives to direct regulation, including economic incentivessuch as user fees or marketable permitsto encourage the desired behavior, or provide information that enables the public to make choices.
Executive Order 13563 also requires an agency to use the best available techniques to quantify anticipated present and future benefits and costs as accurately as possible. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of
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OMB has emphasized that these techniques may include identifying changing future compliance costs that might result from technological innovation or anticipated behavioral changes.
Need for Regulatory Action The Department is issuing this final rule to remove the requirement that a student must be eligible for title IV aid to receive financial assistance under the HEERF programs and clarify in the definition of student that any individual who is or was enrolled at an eligible institution on or after the date the national emergency was declared for COVID19 may qualify for assistance under the HEERF programs. The final rule also applies the revised definition of student to funds to be distributed under CRRSAA and ARP, as well as the CARES Act. This final rule is meant to provide flexibility and clarify administrative processes for institutions so the funds can be provided to eligible students as efficiently as possible, with an emphasis on providing funds to students with exceptional need as directed by the changes to the HEERF
programs made under the CRRSAA and the ARP. The final rule also describes the expansion of access to all students enrolled at institutions, not just title IV
eligible students. The financial aid grants under the HEERF programs are meant to assist students with expenses related to the pandemic to reduce disruption to their education, so this final rule revises the Departments interpretation of an eligible student so the funds can be disbursed in a timely manner and to those students with exceptional need. Adopting a broad and simple definition of a student allows the emergency grant funds for students to maximize their purpose and fully live up to Congressional intent in time to assist with the COVID19 related expenses the funds are intended to alleviate.
Costs and Benefits The emergency financial aid grants under section 18004 of the CARES Act are intended to assist eligible students with expenses related to the COVID19
pandemic to limit disruption of their educational activities. In accordance with OMB Circular A4 available at www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/
omb/assets/omb/circulars/a004/a4.pdf, we are evaluating the costs and benefits of the final rule compared to a pre-statutory baseline. The Department acknowledges that many of the emergency financial aid grants under section 18004 of the CARES Act have already been awarded to students under
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the previous definition of student.
However, there are still significant funds available for students under section 314 of CRRSAA and section 2003 of ARP, so students affected by the revised definition of student can benefit from those funds. Therefore, where applicable in this section, the Department discusses not only the costs and benefits of the final rule compared to a pre-statutory baseline, but also the costs and benefits relative to institutions having already made many emergency financial aid grant awards using the previous definition of student. This final rule revises which students are eligible for the grants but does not change the amount available or the allocation formulas for providing the funds to institutions. The dollar amount of transfers available to eligible students is a minimum of $6.25 billion and up to $12.5 billion from the initial HEERF
funding, depending on the amount institutions retain for institutional expenses. We have not discounted or annualized this amount because it is meant to be disbursed to students as efficiently as possible. Much of the initial HEERF funding for students from the CARES Act has been distributed, so the revised definition of student will not affect much of those funds. However, the additional funding provided by CRRSAA and ARP makes at least $6.46
billion and $18.37 billion, respectively, in transfers available to students and the benefits of those funds are available to all the students based on the revised definition.
As described in this preamble, the Department now agrees with the majority of commenters that aligning the eligibility requirements for the HEERF
grants to title IV is not the best policy to effectuate the goal of helping students and institutions respond to circumstances created by the current pandemic. As commenters noted, students excluded from receiving grants because of the eligibility requirements in the IFR would include some of those most affected by the COVID19
pandemic and the lack of emergency relief funds could significantly disrupt their educations and economic prospects. The emergency relief available under the CARES Act, CRRSAA, and ARP could help these students continue their educations. The Department now agrees that the funding should be distributed regardless of title IV eligibility, so the potential costs noted by the commenters are not applicable under this final rule. This final rule explains the expanded eligibility and allows students to know if they are eligible to receive such funds
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