Recommendation: To help college financial aid administrators more effectively implement eligibility rules for unaccompanied homeless youth, the Secretary of Education should make available an optional worksheet or form that college financial aid administrators can voluntarily use to document unaccompanied homeless youth status or encourage the use of existing forms that are available.

Agency: Department of Education
Status: Open

Comments: Education agreed that it would be helpful to make forms developed by outside organizations knowledgeable about homelessness issues available for financial aid administrators to use for documenting the status of unaccompanied homeless youth. Education also said that it plans to highlight the availability of these forms and provide guidance at its annual conference and in updates to the Federal Student Aid Handbook. Education noted that it will not endorse the use of a specific form but that it will highlight forms that already exist that may be useful to financial aid administrators. In July 2020, Education reported that it planned to update the Federal Student Aid Handbook by the spring of 2021 to inform financial aid administrators about the availability of such forms that have been developed by outside entities. We will close this recommendation when Education provides GAO with the updated handbook.

Recommendation: To help ensure that Income-Based Repayment, Pay As You Earn, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness serve their intended beneficiaries to the greatest extent possible, the Secretary of Education should take steps to consistently and regularly notify all borrowers who have entered repayment of income-driven repayment plan options, including Income-Based Repayment and Pay As You Earn.

Agency: Department of Education
Status: Open

Comments: The Department of Education generally concurred with our recommendation, stating that it is committed to ensuring that federal student loan borrowers have the information they need to manage their debt, including details regarding income-driven repayment plans and loan forgiveness programs. However, Education stated that it is not clear that providing information on repayment options to all borrowers is the most efficient or effective way to achieve this goal. Beginning in 2015, Education directed its loan servicers to start sending detailed income-driven repayment information, such as projected monthly payment amounts and total amounts paid over the life of the loan under each plan, on a quarterly basis to all borrowers who are in school or in the 6-month grace period after leaving school. Education reported that in 2016 its loan servicers also began sending an email to borrowers in the fifth month of their grace period with information about applying for income-driven repayment plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Education also reported that in December 2016 it began sending emails about the Revised Pay As You Earn plan directly to certain groups of borrowers, including those who expressed interest in income-driven plans during exit counseling, were less than 227 days delinquent, or had Federal Family Education Loans. In August 2018, Education indicated that borrowers are notified about income-driven repayment through information posted on websites; billing statements and forbearance and deferment notices; and during various points of delinquency. We acknowledged these efforts in our 2015 report and discussed their limitations. For example, while Education provides detailed information about income-driven repayment on its website, borrowers must actively seek out this information. In addition, we reviewed recent sample billing statements for each of the Department's loan servicers and found the information on income-driven repayment limited to the names of the specific repayment plans. The statements did not include information about how the plans work or eligibility requirements. Additionally, Education reported that in June 2019 it began sending emails about income-driven repayment plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness directly to certain groups of borrowers, including those in the Standard repayment plan who were 31 to 270 days delinquent or in a discretionary forbearance. While a positive step, these emails were only sent to select groups of borrowers. We maintain that borrowers need sufficient and timely information to ensure they are aware of and can make informed decisions about repayment options. To fully implement this recommendation, Education should consistently and regularly notify all borrowers who have entered repayment about income-driven repayment options, including borrowers who have not been contacted by Education through its targeted notification efforts.

Recommendation: To reduce the cost of the crop insurance program and achieve budgetary savings for deficit reduction or other purposes, Congress should consider reducing premium subsidies for the highest income participants.

Agency: Congress
Status: Open

Comments: As of May 2020, Congress has not acted on this matter.

Recommendation: To establish full-risk rates for properties with previously subsidized rates that reflect their risk for flooding, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) should direct the FEMA Administrator to develop and implement a plan, including a timeline, to obtain needed elevation information as soon as practicable.

Agency: Department of Homeland Security
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: As of January 2020, FEMA continues its multi-year effort to redesign its risk rating system to reflect industry best practices, such as providing credible, understandable rates based on graduated risk. As part of this redesign, FEMA plans to obtain multiple sources of data and information about a property's risk of flooding--from which it may be able to derive elevation information on some properties--to develop the insurance rate. FEMA has delayed implementation of the new risk rating system until 2021, pending further analysis. In addition, FEMA issued a Request for Information on obtaining structural elevation information from third party sources and is reviewing responses from potential vendors. The agency also encourages subsidized policyholders who seek to ensure the appropriateness of their NFIP rates to voluntarily submit elevation documentation. We will continue to monitor the extent to which FEMA is able to produce elevation information for all currently subsidized properties.

Recommendation: In order to better assess whether changes are needed in the way IRS administers activities not engaged in for profit provisions, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue should take steps to estimate the extent of activities not engaged in for profit noncompliance from its ongoing research programs.

Agency: Department of the Treasury: Internal Revenue Service
Status: Open

Comments: IRS agreed to research sole proprietor noncompliance, as GAO recommended in September 2009. It is focusing on those who improperly claim business losses (i.e., not profits). IRS's Office of Research, Analysis and Statistics is using the reporting compliance study of Form 1040 filers to gather the data on such noncompliant business losses. This research covered sampled tax returns filed for tax years 2009, 2010, and 2011 and used audits of the sampled tax returns that are filed for each tax year. In November 2016, IRS research officials provided the initial rough estimates of the percentage of disallowed losses and associated dollar amounts for all 3 tax years but as of December 2019, they had not yet indicated how these estimates helped IRS to understand the nature of the tax noncompliance. The officials cautioned that their ability to develop the estimates depends on the number of observations that can be applied from each tax year. This research, when completed, could help IRS to identify noncompliant sole proprietor issues and take action to reduce losses.

Recommendation: To strengthen formal collaboration efforts, the Secretary of Transportation should direct the Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development should direct the appropriate program offices, to develop a plan to ensure that data collected on the various programs of the agencies related to affordable housing and transit are sufficient to measure the agencies' performance toward goals and outcomes established in the HUD-FTA action plan and the Partnership for Sustainable Communities.

Agency: Department of Housing and Urban Development
Status: Open

Comments: On November 30, 2009, we received a response from HUD stating that actions were planned or underway to address this and the other recommendation in this report. As of July 2019, we are reviewing additional documentation provided by DOT and HUD on actions they have taken.

Recommendation: To strengthen formal collaboration efforts, the Secretary of Transportation should direct the Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development should direct the appropriate program offices, to develop a plan to ensure that data collected on the various programs of the agencies related to affordable housing and transit are sufficient to measure the agencies' performance toward goals and outcomes established in the HUD-FTA action plan and the Partnership for Sustainable Communities.

Agency: Department of Transportation: Federal Transit Administration
Status: Open

Comments: On November 30, 2009, we received a response from HUD stating that actions were planned or underway to address this and the other recommendation in this report. As of July 2019, we are reviewing additional documentation provided by DOT and HUD on actions they have taken.