Request for Public Comment: 60-Day Proposed Information Collection: Application for Participation in the IHS Scholarship Program

In compliance with Section 3506 (c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 which requires 60-days advance opportunity for public comment on proposed information collection projects, the Indian Health Service (IHS) is publishing for comment a summary of a proposed information collection to be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. Proposed Collection: Title: 0917-0006, ``Application for Participation in the IHS Scholarship Program.'' Type of Information Collection Request: Three year extension of the currently approved information collection, 0917-0006, ``Application for Participation in the IHS Scholarship Program.'' Form Number(s): IHS-856-3, IHS-856-5 through 856-19, IHS-856-21 through 856-24, IHS-817, and IHS-818 are retained for use by the IHS Scholarship Program (IHSSP) as part of this current Information Collection Request. Reporting forms are found on the IHS Web site at www.ihs.gov/scholarship. Form Numbers: IHS-856, IHS-856-2, IHS-856-4, IHS-856-20, IHS-815, and IHS-816 have been deleted from the previous Information Collection Request in an effort to comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). Need and Use of Information Collection: The IHS Scholarship Branch needs this information for program administration and uses the information to: solicit, process, and award IHS Pre-graduate, Preparatory, and/or Health Professions Scholarship recipients; monitor the academic performance of recipients; and to place recipients at payback sites. The IHS Scholarship Program streamlined the application process by converting the IHS-856 to an electronic tool and reduced the number of required supplemental application and reporting forms to minimize the time needed by applicants and recipients to complete the application process and provide required information after receiving a scholarship from the IHSSP. The IHSSP application is electronically available on the internet at the IHS Web site at: http://www.ihs.gov/ scholarship/apply_now.cfm. Affected Public: Individuals, not-for-profit institutions and State, local or Tribal Governments. Type of Respondents: Students pursuing health care professions. The table below provides: Types of data collection instruments, Estimated number of respondents, Number of responses per respondent, Annual number of responses, Average burden hour per response, and Total annual burden hours.