No, it's not National Public Radio. It's time for Negotiated Proposed Rulemaking. What is that, you ask?
Well, in 2007, the Department of Education began reviewing policies and procedures for financial aid based on legislation and legislative actions. The Negotiated Proposed Rulemaking process is most commonly called "Negreg" among the financial aid community. Believe it or not, legislation is often vague in their rules regarding the execution of financial aid programs. Therefore, the Department of Education must interpret the legislation and devise standards and rules for these programs.
Negreg is important to financial aid administrators as well as students. The Department of Education assembles an advisory committee of 12 to 25 individuals who would be directly impacted by financial aid rules. This committee, which includes financial aid administrators and student representatives, reviews policies, procedures, and legislation to create and revise rules regarding financial aid programs. Sometimes, the committee must create new rules, as with the Academic Competitiveness Grant and SMART Grant (we'll review these in a future blog) which were introduced in the last two years.
The Negreg committee tries to come to a consensus on proposed rules that benefit students and make financial aid administrators' lives easier in implementing programs. This is the time when students can offer their input to financial aid administrators regarding financial aid programs. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), which is made up of financial aid personnel from all over the country, are a major force of input to the Department of Education. I would venture to guess that your school has at least one financial aid administrator involved in NASFAA. Once the Department of Education and committee has completed its negotiated rulemaking process, a public comment period is enacted. This is where all financial aid administrators can solicit their opinion.
The Negreg committee is strictly voluntary and their proposals do not have to be implemented, but historically the Department of Education has taken these proposals seriously. If the committee is unable to reach a consensus on rules, the Department can continue to perform as usual.
The hot topics for Negreg are the new TEACH grant and student loans. Because of the volume of issues involved with these programs, I won't go into detail for each, but I will say that negotiations are being considered for loan rules regarding military, Public Service Loan Forgiveness, and lender/school relationships, among others. I will keep you informed as new rules are established.