FA4956 FA Technical Tips and Tricks Kim Lowery Senior FA Consultant Datatel, Inc.

Objectives Terminology Processing Overview Award Letter Subroutine Built-in Troubleshooting Common Issues & Resolutions

Terminology COD ISIR FAFSA

Free Application for Federal Student Aid Collects student’s family financial information and situation to determine the family’s ability to pay for education. FAFSA Terminology FAFSA

Central Processing System The Dept. of Education’s system that processes all FAFSA applications and sends the information to the schools. FAFSA CPS Terminology CPS

Institutional Student Information Record The information generated by the student completing the FAFSA application. Sent as a flat file to schools. Contains all the FAFSA data & any calculated data, rejects, etc. Terminology ISIR

FAFSA CPS Terminology

Student Aid Internet Gateway “Mailbox” assigned to a school by the Dept. of Education. Schools send and retrieve their ISIR’s and COD information to and from this mailbox. Terminology SAIG

FAFSA SAIG ISIR SAIG ISIR CPS Terminology

Expected Family Contribution The information collected on the FAFSA application is used to determine the family’s ability to pay for education. The EFC is the dollar amount the family is expected to pay. FAFSA Terminology EFC

Common Origination and Disbursement Agency that handles specific Federal awards Schools inform this agency that they are going to give the awards to specific students and also the exact amounts distributed to the students. Information is communicated via XML files Terminology COD

NSLDS National Student Loan Data System Federal agency that tracks and maintains loan and COD award information over the lifetime of the student. Examples: Aggregate loan amounts, total Pell disbursed per year. Terminology NSLDS

FFELP Federal Family Education Loan Program FFELP vs. Direct Loans Utilizes non-Federal agencies: lenders & guarantors Terminology FFELP

Student Budget Cost of attendance, as determined by the Financial Aid Office. Not actual charges, rather the total amount of funds a student will need to attend the college that year. Includes transportation, personal expenses, room/board, books, etc. Terminology COA

Need Cost of Attendance – EFC = Need Amount of Financial Aid the student needs in order to attend the college for the academic year. Terminology Need

Processing Overview

Student files FAFSA FAFSA sent to CPS CPS sends ISIR’s to schools’ SAIG mailboxes School downloads and processes ISIR’s School sends out Missing Info Letters and students submit missing docs School verifies ISIR’s & makes corrections (send back to CPS) School awards the students and sends award letters School certifies or originates loans Money is transmitted to the students’ accounts If a student withdraws, school does an R2T4 calculation School completes FISAP report School notifies COD of disbursements made to students Processing Overview

Modifying the Award Letter Subroutine April 7, 2009 Daniel JonesSID: Some St. Year: Fairfax, VA Dear Daniel, We have completed the processing of your FAFSA. At this time you are eligible for the aid listed below: TotalFallSpring Dean’s10,0005,0005,000 Trustee 2,0001,0001,000 Total12,0006,0006,000 Contact the Financial Office if you have questions

Modifying the Award Letter Subroutine

Hint: Be sure to change the Release Status to “Releasable” once it has been copied (BGP) Modifying the Award Letter Subroutine

Change the Code (BPO) X.NAME.LEN = LEN(X.ADDR.NAME) X.DATE.LEN = LEN(X.TODAYS.DATE) X.FILLER = X.PAGE.WIDTH X.MARGIN - X.NAME.LEN X.FILLER2 = 11 - X.DATE.LEN X.PRINT.LINE = SPACE(12) : X.ADDR.NAME : SPACE(X.FILLER) : "DATE: " : SPACE(X.FILLER2) : X.TODAYS.DATE GOSUB XS.PRINT.LINE X.ADDR.LEN = LEN(X.ADDR.LINE1) X.ID.LEN = LEN(A.STUDENT) X.FILLER = X.PAGE.WIDTH X.MARGIN - X.ADDR.LEN X.FILLER2 = 11 - X.ID.LEN X.PRINT.LINE = SPACE(12) : X.ADDR.LINE1 : SPACE(X.FILLER) : "SID: " : SPACE(X.FILLER2) : A.STUDENT GOSUB XS.PRINT.LINE Modifying the Award Letter Subroutine BPO

Generate the Code (GEN) Modifying the Award Letter Subroutine Your Subroutine Name

Specify the New Subroutine (FALD) Name of your subroutine Modifying the Award Letter Subroutine Test! (ALTR) Test! (ALTR)

Built-in Troubleshooting

Built-in Troubleshooting (SBGT or SBRV)

Built-in Troubleshooting (SBGT) Pass or Fail? Student’s Actual Value

Built-in Troubleshooting (PKCR)

View every line of every rule!

Built-in Troubleshooting (VES)

Student’s Actual Value Compared to…

The Business Office requires a different GL # each year for Pell. Common Issues - #1 Override Default (AWD)

The bookstore or Business Office cannot see any pending aid! Common Issues - #2 View Pending Financial Aid FAAP: Enter the academic year in Pending Aid field AWD: Aid must be transmittable (1, 6, 7) AIDE: award must be in a “pending” status as defined on ACT 5529: PFAI vs. AWPV

Registered Credits Registered credits on AIDE are not showing or are different than what the Registrar has. AWPD: Be sure the award period is linked to the academic term(s) The census date may be in use (FRCP) thus locking-in credits Back-dating has occurred for an add or drop FA may be using a late-start rule (FRCP) Only specific credit types are included (FRCP) Section-level census date may be in affect (SRGD) Common Issues - #3

Transmittal Issue Aid keeps backing off the account when I run FATR/FATP Common Issues - #4 FATR may have been ran in “Force Transmit” mode Award priority order (AWD) needs adjusting Census date was not setup for the term (ACTM)

COD Issue I ran CODE and it didn’t send all the records to COD Always check the Batch Error Report Check CODD for document-level (batch) errors View the log file on VDLF Look out for password or connection problems The path to the JRE and SAIG password are pulled form the CODP form. CDMR  Use FRCP or RSND to resend records Common Issues - #5

COD Issue I corrected COD information on their website but don’t have the updated information in Colleague Common Issues - #6 Make corrections in Colleague  CODE  import the response Don’t make corrections on COD website!

Disbursement Dates Loans were awarded with the wrong disbursement date Change them individually FFELP: Mass-modify the dates of the loans PRIOR to doing any disbursing or importing of disbursement rosters. Search AnswerNet for assistance (AnswerNet 6048). Direct Loans: No problem as long as you want to disburse after the anticipated date or no more than 10 days prior to the anticipated dates Common Issues - #7

ACG or SMART Disbursement When I run CODE, ACG/SMART awards aren’t on the report Verify the category is correct (ACG1, ACG2, SMRT3, SMRT4, SMRT5) on AWD Review your CODE batch error report Check information on CODG (detail from AIDE) Reason Code/CIP Code Year in College ISIR Transaction Number Common Issues - #8

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