NSF Publishes CyberCorps NPRM

Today, the National Science Foundation published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register (87 FR 42431-42437) for changes to “NSF Federal Cyber Scholarship-for-Service Program”. The rulemaking is “is proposing standards for how a  CyberCorps SFS scholarship would be repaid if a scholarship recipient fails to meet the program requirements, as well as the process to discharge the repayment obligation, in whole or in part, in certain circumstances.”

The preamble to the proposed rule discusses the problem with the current system if a scholarship recipient is required to repay a scholarship because of failure to:

• Satisfy the academic requirements of the program, or

• Complete the service obligation.

This NPRM is proposing a single, centralized process for NSF and the Department of Education to convert the repayments amounts to Direct Unsubsidized Loans for the benefit of individual scholars, institutions, and Federal agencies.  

NSF is proposing to add a new Part 620 to 45 CFR:

PART 620—CYBERCORPS® SCHOLARSHIP FOR SERVICE (SFS) PROGRAM

620.1  Scope and purpose.

620.2  Definitions.

620.3  Documenting the service obligation.

620.4  Deferral of obligation.

620.5  Discharge of agreement to serve or repay.

620.6  Obligation to repay the CyberCorps SFS scholarship.

620.7  Severability.

NSF is soliciting public comments on the rulemaking. Comments may be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.Regulations.gov). The Federal Register Notice does not provide the docket number necessary for submitting a comment, but a brief search shows that the appropriate docket number is “NSF_FRDOC_0001-2960”. Comments should be submitted by September 19^th, 2022.