2024-18856. National Resource Centers Program and Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships Program

Table 1—Small Institutions Under Enrollment-Based Definition

Level	Type	Small	Total	Percent
2-year	Public	328	1,182	27.75
2-year	Private	182	199	91.46
2-year	Proprietary	1,777	1,952	91.03
4-year	Public	56	747	7.50
4-year	Private	789	1,602	49.25
4-year	Proprietary	249	331	75.23
Total		3,381	6,013	56.23
Source: 2018-19 data reported to the Department.

As the table indicates, these final regulations will affect IHEs that meet the definition of small entities. They will not have a significant economic impact on these entities, however, because they will not impose excessive regulatory burdens or require unnecessary Federal supervision. The final regulations impose minimal requirements to ensure the proper expenditure of program funds.

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, the Department provides the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and continuing collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). This helps ensure that the public understands the Department's collection instructions, respondents can provide the requested data in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the Department can properly assess the impact of collection requirements on respondents.

Sections 656.21, 656.22, 656.23, and 657.21 of the regulations contain information collection requirements. Under the PRA, the Department has submitted a copy of these sections to OMB for its review. A Federal agency may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless OMB approves the collection under the PRA and the corresponding information collection instrument displays a currently valid OMB control number. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person is required to comply with, or is subject to penalty for failure to comply with, a collection of information if the collection instrument does not display a currently valid OMB control number. In these final regulations, we provide the control number assigned by OMB to any information collection requirements proposed in this NPRM and adopted in the final regulations.

The information collection that is impacted by these regulatory changes is the current Application for the NRC and FLAS Fellowships Programs (1840-0807). This information collection includes application instructions and forms for the NRC Program (ALN Number 84.015A) and the FLAS Fellowships Program (ALN Number ( print page 68755) 84.015B), authorized under title VI of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (20 U.S.C. 1122).

The NRC Program provides grants to IHEs or consortia of IHEs to establish, strengthen, and operate comprehensive and undergraduate foreign language and area or international studies centers. These centers serve as centers of excellence for world language training and teaching, research, and instruction in fields needed to provide full understanding of areas, regions, or countries where the languages are commonly used. The FLAS Fellowships Program awards allocations of fellowships, through IHEs or consortia of IHEs, to meritorious students enrolled in programs that offer instruction in world languages in combination with area studies, international studies, or the international aspects of professional studies.

Together, these programs respond to the ongoing national need for individuals with expertise and competence in world languages and area or international studies; advance national security by developing a pipeline of highly proficient linguists and experts in critical world regions; and contribute to developing a globally competent workforce able to engage with a multilingual/multicultural clientele at home and abroad.

Eligible IHEs use the information collection to submit applications to the Department to request funding in response to the competition announcement. After grant applications are submitted, the Department determines the budget and staff resources it needs to conduct the peer review of applications and post award activities. External review panels use the information to evaluate grant applications and to identify high-quality applications. When developing funding slates, Department program officials consider the evaluations from the expert review panels, in conjunction with the NRC and FLAS legislative purposes and any Administration priorities. Department program officials also use the collection to inform strategic planning; to establish goals, performance measures and objectives; to develop monitoring plans; or to align program assessment standards with Department performance goals and initiatives.

Over many grant cycles, administering the NRC and FLAS grant competitions using the current selection criteria has been unwieldy and burdensome for both applicants and peer reviewers. The Secretary revised the selection criteria to clarify selection criteria, eliminate redundant criteria, reduce the burden on applicants and peer reviewers, and improve alignment with the statute, particularly with regard to comprehensive and undergraduate Centers. The Secretary reduced the comprehensive NRC selection criteria from 10 criteria with 27 sub-criteria to six criteria with 23 sub-criteria; the undergraduate NRC selection criteria from 10 criteria with 26 sub-criteria to six criteria with 23 sub-criteria; and the FLAS selection criteria from nine criteria with 22 sub-criteria to six criteria with 22 sub-criteria. The proposed criteria include some new criteria for the NRC Program, including a “quality of existing academic programs” criterion, and also for FLAS, including “project design and rationale” and “project planning and budget” criteria.

ED's Office of Postsecondary Education, International and Foreign Language Education (OPE-IFLE) has used the information received for the current collection to develop technical assistance materials for grantees, such as program administration manuals and technical assistance webinars, to inform the performance reporting requirements for these programs, and to demonstrate the impact of these programs. Competitions for these grants occur once every four years. The data in the table is an estimate of the time it takes for respondents to complete official forms, develop the application narrative and budget, and submit completed applications through the Grants.gov system.

The NRC application (1840-0807) is affected by the changes to the NRC selection criteria (§§ 656.21, 656.22, and 656.23), which require changes on the application package and technical review forms. This information collection no longer addresses aspects of the FLAS program. The changes to the NRC selection criteria clarify interpretations of statutory language and redesign the selection criteria. The final regulations remove ambiguity and redundancy in the selection criteria and definitions of key terms, improve the application process, and align the administration of the programs with the developments in modern foreign languages and area studies education.

The FLAS application (1840-0867) is affected by the changes to the FLAS selection criteria (§§ 657.21), which require changes on the application package and technical review forms. This new information collection reflects the separation of the applications for the NRC and FLAS programs. The changes to the FLAS selection criteria clarify interpretations of statutory language and redesign the selection criteria. The regulations remove ambiguity and redundancy in the selection criteria and definitions of key terms, improve the application process, and align the administration of the programs with the developments in modern foreign languages and area studies education.

Previously, both applications were combined into one information collection for the Application for the NRC and FLAS Fellowships Programs (1840-0807). These regulations necessitate fully separating the information collection into two distinct information collections. The NRC and FLAS Fellowships Programs' application had previously been estimated to have 27 burden hours. Based on a commenter's assertion that our previous calculations severely underestimated the burden hours and costs of this collection, the application now is estimated to have a burden of 420 hours. When multiplied by 165 respondents, this results in Total Annual Burden hours of 69,300. The Total Annual Costs for the application are determined to be $2,286,900 when the burden hours are multiplied by the commenter's recommended hourly wage of $33.

The NRC Program and FLAS Fellowships Program compete only once every four years. The application packages are cleared with OMB once every three years. For every three-year clearance period, the competitions are run once. Because of the separation of the two information collections, the Total Annual Burden Hours and Total Annual Costs are halved, as demonstrated in the tables below. For both the NRC Program and the FLAS Fellowships Program, 420 hours to complete both applications is reduced to 210 hours each. When multiplied by 165 respondents this yields Total Annual Burden Hours of 34,650 and Total Annual Costs of $1,143,450. Averaged over three years, the Total Annual Burden Hours are 11,550 and the Total Annual Costs are $381,150 for each program. ( print page 68756)

NRC Program (1840-0807)

Affected type	Number of respondents	Number of responses	Average burden hours per response	Estimated respondent average hourly wage	Total annual burden hours	Total annual costs
Institutions, private or non-profit	165	165	210	$33	11,550	$381,150

FLAS Fellowships Program (1840-0867)

Affected type	Number of respondents	Number of responses	Average burden hours per response	Estimated respondent average hourly wage	Total annual burden hours	Total annual costs
Institutions, private or non-profit	165	165	210	$33	11,550	$381,150

The NRC application (1840-0807) is affected by the changes to the NRC selection criteria (§§ 656.21, 656.22, and 656.23), which will require changes on the application package and technical review forms. The calculation of burden hours is not affected by the regulatory changes, but we agreed with a commenter's assertion that our previous calculations severely underestimated the burden hours and costs of this collection.

Regulatory section	Information collection	OMB Control No. and estimated burden
§§ 656.21, 656.22, and 656.23	These proposed regulatory provisions would require changing the application package and technical review forms to reflect the modified selection criteria for this program	1840-0807. The number of respondents would remain constant at 165. The number of total burden hours for the application is 11,550 when averaged over three years. The averaged total cost is $381,150.

The FLAS application (1840-0867) is affected by the changes to the FLAS selection criteria (§ 657.21), which require changes to the application package and technical review forms. The calculation of burden hours is not affected by the regulatory changes, but by the commenter's assertion that our previous calculations severely underestimated the burden hours and costs of this collection.

Regulatory section	Information collection	OMB Control No. and estimated burden
§ 657.21	These regulatory changes require changing the application package and technical review forms to reflect the modified selection criteria for this program	1840-0867. The number of respondents will remain constant at 165. The number of total burden hours for the application is 11,550 when averaged over three years. The averaged total cost is $381,150.