Third-Party Servicer [Education] Law and Legal Definition
According to 34 CFR 668.2 (b) [Title 34 – Education; Subtitle B -- Regulations of the Offices of the Department of Education; Chapter VI -- Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education; Part 668 -- Student Assistance General Provisions; Subpart A – General], the term third-party servicer is “(1) An individual or a State, or a private, profit or nonprofit organization that enters into a contract with an eligible institution to administer, through either manual or automated processing, any aspect of the institution's participation in any Title IV, HEA program. The Secretary considers administration of participation in a Title IV, HEA program to --
(i) Include performing any function required by any statutory provision of or applicable to Title IV of the HEA, any regulatory provision prescribed under that statutory authority, or any applicable special arrangement, agreement, or limitation entered into under the authority of statutes applicable to Title IV of the HEA, such as, but not restricted to --
(A) Processing student financial aid applications;
(B) Performing need analysis;
(C) Determining student eligibility and related activities;
(D) Certifying loan applications;
(E) Processing output documents for payment to students;
(F) Receiving, disbursing, or delivering Title IV, HEA program funds, excluding lock-box processing of loan payments and normal bank electronic fund transfers;
(G) Conducting activities required by the provisions governing student consumer information services in subpart D of this part;
(H) Preparing and certifying requests for advance or reimbursement funding;
(I) Loan servicing and collection;
(J) Preparing and submitting notices and applications required under 34 CFR part 600 and subpart B of this part; and
(K) Preparing a Fiscal Operations Report and Application to Participate (FISAP);
(ii) Exclude the following functions --
(A) Publishing ability-to-benefit tests;
(B) Performing functions as a Multiple Data Entry Processor (MDE);
(C) Financial and compliance auditing;
(D) Mailing of documents prepared by the institution;
(E) Warehousing of records; and
(F) Providing computer services or software; and
(iii) Notwithstanding the exclusions referred to in paragraph (1)(ii) of this definition, include any activity comprised of any function described in paragraph (1)(i) of this definition.
(2) For purposes of this definition, an employee of an institution is not a third-party servicer. The Secretary considers an individual to be an employee if the individual --
(i) Works on a full-time, part-time, or temporary basis;
(ii) Performs all duties on site at the institution under the supervision of the institution;
(iii) Is paid directly by the institution;
(iv) Is not employed by or associated with a third-party servicer; and
(v) Is not a third-party servicer for any other institution.”
(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1088)
Legal Definition list
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