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 January 16, 2003.  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

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 January 2003 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.
 
 

Foreign Income for Economic Hardship Deferment
The Common Manual has been revised to clarify that a borrower may be eligible for an economic hardship deferment if documentation of the borrower's income is in foreign currency, provided that, after conversion to U.S. dollars, the borrower's income meets the deferment eligibility criteria applicable to poverty guidelines for the last state in which the borrower resided.
 

Affected Sections:	7.10.P
Effective Date:	Retroactive to the implementation of the Common Manual.
Basis:	Economic Hardship Deferment Request Form, Section 6, Bullet 7.

 

Treatment of Payments after Total and Permanent Disability Claim Filing
The Common Manual is revised to standardize policy applicable to a lender's receipt of payments from or on behalf of a borrower after the lender has filed a total and permanent disability claim but before the lender receives the claim payment.  The policy specifies that, under these circumstances, the lender must hold the borrower payment.  After the lender receives the claim payment, the lender must forward the borrower payment to the guarantor and notify the borrower or other party who sent the payment that there is no obligation to make further payments, unless otherwise directed.
 

Affected Sections:	8.2.C, CCI 8.2.C
Effective Date:	Borrower payments received by the lender on or after April 1, 2003, unless implemented earlier by the guarantor.
Basis:	DCL GEN-02-03.

 

Mandatory Administrative Forbearance
The Common Manual has been updated to clarify that a lender must grant a mandatory administrative forbearance due to a local or national emergency, disaster, or military mobilization until the Department or guarantor notifies the lender that the forbearance period no longer applies.  For other situations requiring a mandatory administrative forbearance, the lender determines the ending date of the forbearance period.
 

Affected Sections:	7.11.D
Effective Date:	Retroactive to the implementation of the Common Manual.
Basis:	§682.211(i)(2)

 

Applying for a Stafford Loan
The Common Manual has been updated to align subsection 2.2.A with existing policy language that clarifies that the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the only application a student may use to apply for a Stafford loan.
 

Affected Sections:	2.2.A
Effective Date:	Retroactive to the implementation of the Master Promissory Note (MPN).
Basis:	HEA 432(m)(1)(c); §682.102(a); Federal Register dated November 1, 1999.

 

Deferment Eligibility for Consolidation Loans
A new footnote has been added to the Deferment Eligibility Chart to clarify that a borrower who obtains a Federal Consolidation loan that repaid a loan(s) made before July 1, 1987, for a period of enrollment beginning before July 1, 1987, is eligible for an in-school deferment only if the borrower is attending school full time.  In addition, this deferment eligibility requirement will be added to appendix H.
 

Affected Sections:	7.9
Effective Date:	Retroactive to the implementation of the Common Manual.
Basis:	§682.210(b)(7)