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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 112 / Monday, June 14, 2021 / Rules and Regulations usage loan limit restriction and makes other technical changes.
DATES:

Effective date: August 13, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Tamy Abernathy, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 2C129, Washington, DC
20202. Telephone: 202 4535970.
Email: Tamy.Abernathy@ed.gov.
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf TDD or a text telephone TTY, call the Federal Relay Service FRS, toll free, at 1800877
8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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Background Section 705b of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 authorizes the Secretary to implement the repeal of section 455q of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, before, but not later than, July 1, 2023. The Act further provides that the Secretary shall specify on what date and for which award years the implementation of such repeal will be effective prior to July 1, 2023. The Secretary specifies that the implementation of the repeal will be effective as of July 1, 2021 and will apply beginning with the 20132014
award year.
Through this regulatory action, the Secretary removes 34 CFR
685.200a2iA and B and f and 685.304a6xvi and b4xii to reflect changes to section 455q of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended HEA, which established the subsidized usage loan limit. The subsidized usage loan limit was repealed by section 705a of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.
Under these regulations, the subsidized usage loan limit will not apply to any borrower that receives a Federal Direct Stafford Subsidized Loan first disbursed on or after July 1, 2021, regardless of the award year associated with the loan. In addition, in the case of a borrower who has a Federal Direct Subsidized Stafford Loan which is outstanding as of July 1, 2021 and on which the borrower has been responsible for interest because the borrower exceeded the subsidized usage loan limit, the Department of Education Department will adjust the borrowers account to remove the interest that accrued and reapply the borrowers payments accordingly. Any borrower who has subsidized loan eligibility may receive additional subsidized loans and will not be subject to the subsidized usage limit.

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Summary of the Major Provisions of This Regulatory Action In these final regulations we remove 34 CFR 685.200a2iA and B and f and 685.304a6xvi and b4xii to reflect the repeal of section 455q of the HEA. In addition, we amend 685.200a2i introductory text and redesignate 685.304b4xiii and xiv.
Borrower Eligibility 685.200
We remove a reference to eligibility requirements for first-time borrowers from 685.200a2iA and B.
Provisions specifying the limitations on a borrowers eligibility for Direct Subsidized Loans and the borrowers responsibility for accruing interest in 685.200f are removed.
Entrance Counseling 685.304a6xvi We remove the requirement that entrance counseling include information on the limitation on eligibility of Federal Direct Stafford Subsidized Loans based on the borrowers subsidized usage period.
Exit Counseling 685.304b4xii We remove the requirement that exit counseling include the following information on the limitation on eligibility for Federal Direct Subsidized Loans based on the borrowers subsidized period:
a How the borrowers maximum eligibility period, remaining eligibility period, and subsidized usage period are determined;
b The sum of the borrowers subsidized usage periods at the time of the exit counseling;
c The consequences of continued borrowing or enrollment;
d The impact of the borrower becoming responsible for accruing interest on total student debt;
e That the Secretary will inform the student borrower of whether he or she is responsible for accruing interest on his or her Direct Subsidized Loans; and f That the borrower can access the National Student Loan Data System NSLDS to determine whether he or she is responsible for accruing interest on any Direct Subsidized Loans.
Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking Under the Administrative Procedure Act 5 U.S.C. 553 APA, the Department generally offers interested parties the opportunity to comment on proposed regulations. However, the APA provides that an agency is not required to conduct notice-andcomment rulemaking when the agency, for good cause, finds that the
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requirement is impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest 5 U.S.C. 553bB and d3.
There is good cause to waive rulemaking in this case because this final regulatory action removes regulations for which the statutory authority has been repealed. This regulatory action adopts no new regulations and does not establish or affect substantive policy. Furthermore, section 705b of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 authorizes the Secretary to implement the repeal of section 455q of the HEA before, but not later than, July 1, 2023. The statute further provides that the Secretary shall specify in a designation on what date and for which award years the implementation of such repeal will be effective prior to July 1, 2023. The repeal of section 455q of the HEA
under section 705 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 reverses the impact of SULA for affected borrowers and acknowledges that SULA was first authorized to be a temporary and costsaving measure to the Federal Government. To fully implement the repeal, the Secretary has specified that the implementation of the repeal will be effective beginning with the 20132014
award year, which was the first year that SULA was implemented. Implementing otherwise would allow for the regulations to continue to apply to current students. Accordingly, we are rescinding regulations that are not valid because we no longer have statutory authority to implement and doing so in the manner that fully effectuates the repeal i.e., the repeal will be effective beginning with the 20132014 award year. Notice-and-comment rulemaking is unnecessary in that the Department does not have discretion to retain these regulatory provisions or implement in a different manner, regardless of public opinion and input.
While we do have discretion as to the effective date of the rule as opposed to the award yearas long as it is before July 1, 2023there is no significant substantive impact of the effective date of the rule, as, regardless of the effective date provided, the rule would have to apply to all award years since SULA
was implemented to fully effectuate the statute. Thus, with regard to all substantive aspects of the rule, we do not have discretion to implement in an alternative manner based on public input. Therefore, under 5 U.S.C.
553bB, the Secretary has determined that proposed regulations are unnecessary, and, thus, waives noticeand-comment rulemaking.
In addition, under section 492 of the HEA 20 U.S.C. 1098a, all regulations
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