§ 600.21 - Updating application information.

§ 600.21 Updating application information.

Cross Reference

Link to an amendment published at 88 FR 70185, Oct. 10, 2023.

(a) Reporting requirements. Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, an eligible institution must report to the Secretary, in a manner prescribed by the Secretary and no later than 10 days after the change occurs, any change in the following:

(1) Its name, the name of a branch, or the name of a previously reported location.

(2) Its address, the address of a branch, or the address of a previously reported location.

(3) Its establishment of an accredited and licensed additional location at which it offers or will offer 50 percent or more of an educational program if the institution wants to disburse title IV, HEA program funds to students enrolled at that location, under the provisions in paragraph (d) of this section.

(4) Except as provided in 34 CFR 668.10, the way it measures program length (e.g., from clock hours to credit hours, or from semester hours to quarter hours).

(5) A decrease in the level of program offering (e.g. the institution drops its graduate programs).

(6)

(i) Changes in ownership.

(A) Any change in the ownership of the institution, whereby a natural person or entity acquires at least a 5 percent ownership interest (direct or indirect) of the institution but that does not result in a change of control as described in § 600.31.

(B) Changes representing at least 5 percent but under 25 percent (either on a single or combined basis) must be reported quarterly (instead of within 10 days) based on the institution's fiscal year. However, when an institution plans to undergo a change in ownership, all unreported ownership changes of 5 percent or more in the existing ownership must be reported prior to submission of the 90-day notice required by § 600.20. Thereafter, any changes of 5 percent or more in the existing ownership must be reported within the 10-day deadline, up through the date of the change in ownership.

(ii) Changes in control. A natural person or legal entity's ability to affect substantially the actions of the institution if that natural person or legal entity did not previously have this ability. The Secretary considers a natural person or legal entity to have this ability if—

(A) The natural person acquires, alone or together with another member or members of their family, at least a 25 percent ownership interest (as defined in § 600.31(b)) in the institution;

(B) The entity acquires, alone or together with an affiliated natural person or entity, at least a 25 percent ownership interest (as defined in § 600.31(b)) in the institution;

(C) The natural person or entity acquires, alone or together with another natural person or entity, under a voting trust, power of attorney, proxy, or similar agreement, at least a 25 percent ownership interest (as defined in § 600.31(b)) in the institution;

(D) The natural person becomes a general partner, managing member, chief executive officer, trustee or co-trustee of a trust, chief financial officer, director, or other officer of the institution or of an entity that has at least a 25 percent ownership interest (as defined in § 600.31(b)) in the institution; or

(E) The entity becomes a general partner or managing member of an entity that has at least a 25 percent ownership interest (as defined in § 600.31(b)) in the institution.

(7) The individual the institution designates under 34 CFR 668.16(b)(1) as its title IV, HEA Program administrator.

(8) The closure of a branch campus or additional location that the institution was required to report to the Secretary.

(9) The governance of a public institution.

(10) For a freestanding foreign graduate medical school, or a foreign institution that includes a foreign graduate medical school, the school adds a location that offers all or a portion of the school's clinical rotations that are not required, except for those that are included in the accreditation of a medical program accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) or the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), or that are not used regularly, but instead are chosen by individual students who take no more than two electives at the location for no more than a total of eight weeks.

(11) For any program that is required to provide training that prepares a student for gainful employment in a recognized occupation—

(i) Establishing the eligibility or reestablishing the eligibility of the program;

(ii) Discontinuing the program's eligibility;

(iii) Ceasing to provide the program for at least 12 consecutive months;

(iv) Losing program eligibility under § 600.40; or

(v) Changing the program's name, classification of instructional program (CIP) code, or credential level; or

(vi) Updating the certification pursuant to 34 CFR 668.604(b).

(12) Its addition of a second or subsequent direct assessment program.

(13) Its establishment of a written arrangement for an ineligible institution or organization to provide more than 25 percent of a program pursuant to 34 CFR 668.5(c).

(14) Its establishment or addition of an eligible prison education program at an additional location as defined under § 600.2 at a Federal, State, or local penitentiary, prison, jail, reformatory, work farm, juvenile justice facility, or other similar correctional institution that was not previously included in the institution's application for approval as described under § 600.10.

(15) Any change in the ownership of the institution that does not result in a change of control as described in § 600.31 and is not addressed under paragraph (a)(6) of this section, including the addition or elimination of any entities in the ownership structure, a change of entity from one type of business structure to another, and any excluded transactions under § 600.31(e).

(b) Additional reporting from institutions owned by publicly traded corporations. An institution that is owned by a publicly traded corporation must report to the Secretary any change in the information described in paragraph (a)(6) or (15) of this section when it notifies its accrediting agency, but no later than 10 days after the institution learns of the change.

(c) Secretary's response to reporting. The Secretary notifies an institution if any reported changes affects the institution's eligibility, and the effective date of that change.

(d) Disbursement rules related to additional locations. When an institution must report to the Secretary about an additional location under paragraph (a)(3) of this section, the institution may not disburse title IV, HEA funds to students at that location before it reports to the Secretary about that location. Unless it is an institution that must apply to the Secretary under § 600.20(c)(1), once it reports to the Secretary about that location, the institution may disburse those funds to those students if that location is licensed and accredited.

(e) Consequence of failure to report. An institution's failure to inform the Secretary of a change described in paragraph (a) of this section within the time period stated in that paragraph may result in adverse action against the institution.

(f) Definition. A family member includes a person's—

(1) Parent or stepparent, sibling or step-sibling, spouse, child or stepchild, or grandchild or step-grandchild;

(2) Spouse's parent or stepparent, sibling or step-sibling, child or stepchild, or grandchild or step-grandchild;

(3) Child's spouse; and

(4) Sibling's spouse.

(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 1845-0012)

[65 FR 65673, Nov. 1, 2000, as amended at 67 FR 67070, Nov. 1, 2002; 71 FR 45692, Aug. 9, 2006; 75 FR 67193, Nov. 1, 2010; 79 FR 65006, Oct. 31, 2014; 84 FR 31452, July 1, 2019; 85 FR 54812, Sept. 2, 2020; 87 FR 65488, Oct. 28, 2022; 88 FR 70185, Oct. 10, 2023]