Common Manual Interim Policy Updates
The Common Manual Governing Board recently approved several policies that modify the Common Manual. These changes will be incorporated into the Common Manual when the next annual update is published in July 2003.
Attached are interim updates to the Common Manual which address policy revisions approved on November 21, 2002. Pay particular attention to the effective dates for these interim policy updates.
The Integrated Common Manual, which is the online version of your paper Common Manual, includes these updates. The Integrated Common Manual is available at www.uheaa.org under the links News for Financial Aid Administrators or Links to Financial Aid Sites.
Any questions related to the attached Common Manual
interim policy updates should be directed to the UHEAA Policy and Training
Department at 801.321.7166 or by e-mail at mjohnson@utahsbr.edu.
Attachment
Common Manual Interim Policy Updates
Policy Changes Approved November 21, 2002
The nation's guarantors provide the following summaries to inform schools,
lenders, and servicers of the latest Common Manual policy changes.
These changes will appear in the manual's next annual update in 2003.
These changes will also be incorporated into the November 2002 Integrated
Common Manual. The Integrated Common Manual is available
on NCHELP's website at www.NCHELP.org
in the e-library, and it is also available on several guarantor websites.
However, these changes are effective before the next update is scheduled
to be delivered.
Borrower Eligibility for Closed School and False Certification Loan
Discharges
The Common Manual has been updated to clarify that a borrower
may be eligible for closed school or false certification discharge of the
entire loan if the borrower (or the student for whom a parent obtained
a PLUS loan) received any part of the proceeds of a FFELP loan on or after
January 1, 1986.
| Affected Sections: | 8.2.G, 8.2.H, CCI8.2.G, CCI8.2.H |
| Effective Date: | Retroactive to the implementation of the Common Manual. |
| Basis: | §682.402(d)(3)(ii)(A) and §682.402(e)(3)(ii)(A) as updated in the April 29, 1994, Federal Register. |
PLUS Loan Limits
Common Manual policy has been revised to state that only Stafford
loans are subject to annual and aggregate loan limits.
| Affected Sections: | 5.8.A |
| Effective Date: | Retroactive to the implementation of the Common Manual. |
| Basis: | None. |
Third-Party Servicer Audits
The Common Manual has been revised to remove outdated information
in subsection 3.8.B that addressed the period to be covered in an initial
audit by a lender servicer. This dated information has been moved
to appendix H.
| Affected Sections: | 3.8.B |
| Effective Date: | Third-party servicer audits submitted on or after June 1, 1997. |
| Basis: | None. |
Exemptions from the Consequences of High Official Cohort Default
Rates
The Common Manual has been revised to remove redundant information
(Common Manual subsection 10.4.B, page 11, column 1, paragraphs
2 and 3) related to eligibility criteria and procedures for schools that
qualify for relief from the consequences of high official cohort default
rates. This information is being retained under the more appropriate
subheading "Exemptions from Consequences of High Official Cohort Default
Rates," in section 10.5.
| Affected Sections: | 10.4.B |
| Effective Date: | Cohort default rates calculated on or after July 1, 2001. |
| Basis: | §668.198. |
Three Year Rule
The Common Manual has been updated by deleting the term "Three
Year Rule" and its definition from appendix G because the term is not used
within the text of the manual.
| Affected Sections: | appendix G |
| Effective Date: | Retroactive to the implementation of the Common Manual. |
| Basis: | None. |