Education Dept. Seeks Nominations for Panel on Aid and Program Integrity

The U.S. Department of Education is seeking nominations for members of a negotiated rule-making committee that it plans to convene to propose regulations related to federal student-aid programs and program-integrity matters, according to a notice set to appear in Wednesday’s Federal Register.

The notice states that the rule-making panel is likely to cover a range of topics, including the use of debit cards for disbursing aid money, state-authorization requirements for programs enrolling students online, and the definition of credit standards for PLUS-loan borrowers. The committee’s first negotiating session is expected to take place in February, the notice says.

Negotiations over the department’s controversial gainful-employment rule are set to end on Wednesday, and the department announced in September that it would also convene a rule-making panel for carrying out campus-crime-reporting requirements that were included in this year’s reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.