Session #5 Operational Update: ACG and National SMART Grant Sue O’Flaherty Kathleen Wicks

2 ACG, National SMART Grant History School, Student Eligibility Overview Funding Updates Operational Concerns Resources Session Agenda

3 Higher Education Reconciliation Act (2005) ACG, National SMART Grant History PellACGSMART

4 Program Similarities Student Eligibility U.S. Citizen Only – Eligible Non-Citizens Do Not Qualify Pell Grant Recipient During Same Award Year Full-time Enrollment for Payment Period Enrolled in Degree Program Progression by Student Academic Year Only One Scheduled Award for Each Academic Year Level

5 Program Differences ACG National SMART Grant 1 st & 2 nd academic years of a two or four-year degree program 3 rd & 4 th academic years of a four-year degree program Requires completion of rigorous secondary school program of study Requires student to be in a eligible major 1 st Academic Year - $ nd Academic Year - $1,300 3 rd Academic Year - $4,000 4 th Academic Year - $4,000 GPA of at least 3.0 as of the end of 1 st academic year only GPA of at least 3.0 at each disbursement

6 ACG: Eligibility Reason Code ACG Reason Code : HS Programs 119,306 (38.8%) 38,327 (37.9%) 02: AP/IB 13,370 (4.4%) 4,725 (4.7%) 03: Coursework 174,509 (56.7%) 58,030 (57.4%) Totals 307,545101,082

7 ACG: Year in School Year in School ,782 (42.8%) 50,966 (50.4%) ,341 (33.3%) 26,431 (26.1%) 02 73,422 (23.9%) 23,685 (23.4%) Total 307,545101,082

8 National SMART Statistics CIP Agriculture1,6111, – Computer Science10,2935, Engineering13,6008, Technology3,1041, – Foreign Language – Life Sciences22,78214, Mathematics4,3342, – Military Technologies11 30 – Multi/Interdisciplinary1, – Physical Science6,2013, – Science technologies – Natural Resources & 42 – Psychology

9 National SMART: Year in School Year in school ,281 (44.3%) 7,338 (42.6%) 04 35,612 (55.7%) 9,901 (57.4%) Total63,89317,239

10 ACG, National SMART Grant History Institution & Student Eligibility Funding Eligibility Updates Operational Issues Resources Session Agenda

11 Institutional Participation All schools that participate in Pell Grants and offer an eligible educational program must participate in ACG and National SMART Grants No new Program Participation Agreement (PPA) Must review self-identified applicants

12 ACG Self-Identification results from the CPS are sent to school on the student’s financial record. A special flat file is sent to the schools containing ACG self-identification responses. Student Specific information is available using FAA Access. Institutional Participation Reviewing Self-Identified Applicants

13 Institutional Eligibility For : –Approximately 5400 schools participate in Pell –3350 Are eligible for ACG 2603 Have reported to COD

14 Institutional Eligibility For are eligible for both ACG and National SMART Have reported to COD

15 Institutional Eligibility Offers a 2 or 4 year degree program Program length in COD System –5,6,7,8 for ACG –6,7,8 for National SMART See School Information, “General” page at COD Web site (cod.ed.gov)

16 Institutional Eligibility Based on school program information as reported in the Application for Approval to Participate in Federal Student Financial Aid Programs (See eligcert.ed.gov) COD Edit 48 “School is Ineligible” returned on student disbursement if school is ineligible No edit on student program length

17 Student may not receive ACG or National SMART Grant concurrently from more than one school. Student must receive ACG (or National SMART Grant) and Pell Grant from the same award year For ACG: –HS graduation after 1/1/06 (ACG Level 1) –HS graduation after 1/1/05 (ACG Level 2) Student Eligibility Additional Criteria

18 Transfer Student Eligibility ACG/National SMART Programs require award information from previously attended schools to properly award transfer students. –Calculation for eligibility used –Where to obtain necessary information

19 Beginning in March 2008, Eligibility Used (EU) and Total Eligibility Used (TEU) will be calculated differently for ACG and National SMART Grant Award Year for Pell Academic Year Level for ACG and National SMART Determining Transfer Eligibility Eligibility Used, Total Eligibility Used

20 Determining Transfer Eligibility Eligibility Used, Total Eligibility Used EU% = 100% × Sum of Actual Disbursements of Award ÷ Scheduled Award Amount* TEU% = Sum of all EU%’s at each applicable Academic Year Level** Across Award Years and Schools * Scheduled Award Amount is the maximum award amount by Academic Year Level and Award Year ** The COD System considers Academic Year Levels 0 and 1 to be the same when calculating TEU %

21 Eligibility Used, Total Eligibility Used Example 1 A student in Academic Year Level 3 is awarded an SMART grant for $3000, $1250 in actual disbursements. EU% = 100% × ($1250 ÷ $4000) = % Grade Level Award Year Award Amount Anticipated Disb Amount Actual Disb Amount Scheduled Award Amt Eligibility Used % Total Eligibility Used (Sum of all EU's) – Academic Year Level %

22 Eligibility Used, Total Eligibility Used Example 2 A Student in Academic Year Level 4 is awarded an SMART grant. However the student’s second disbursement would have caused his actual disbursements to exceed his award amount so the disbursement is rejected with Edit 137. Award Number Disb Number Academic Year Level Award Year Award Amount Actual Disb Amount Scheduled Award Amt Eligibility Used % N/A Total Eligibility Used (Sum of all EU's) – Academic Year Level % The student’s second disbursement would cause EU to equal EU% = 100% × [($ $3000) ÷ $4000] = %

23 Eligibility Used, Total Eligibility Used Example 3 A student has 4 ACG Awards for Academic Year Levels 1 and 2 in the and Award Years. Suppose the Scheduled Grant Amount for ACG is increased 50% from $750 to $1125 for Academic Year Level 1 and from $1300 to $1950 for Academic Year Level 2. Award Attende d School Academic Year Level Award Year Award Amount Disbursement Amount Scheduled Award Amt Eligibility Used 1A % 2A % 3B % 4B % Total Eligibility Used (Sum of all EU's) – Academic Year Level % Total Eligibility Used (Sum of all EU's) – Academic Year Level %

24 Determining Transfer Eligibility Now that you know the calculation….. Where can you obtain the information you need? –ISIR –COD to NSLDS –COD

25 Determining Transfer Eligibility ISIR Record NSLDS Data Elements added/changed for ACG and National SMART Grant Scheduled Award % Eligibility Used by Scheduled Award Total % Eligibility Used by Academic Year Level Award Year “School Year” label changed to “Academic Year Level”

26 Determining Transfer Eligibility – COD to NSLDS Award Year OPEID Transaction Number Award Amount Amount Paid to Date Date Posted to COD Academic Year Level Award ID

27 Determining Transfer Eligibility – COD to NSLDS ACG Eligible Payment Reason Code ACG High School Program Code Major CIP Code Scheduled Award Percent Eligibility Used Total Eligibility Used

28 Determining Transfer Eligibility NSLDS

29 Transfer Student Monitoring NSLDS will monitor changes made by other institutions to ACG/National SMART Grants and alert the informing school. Monitoring is across award years Changes made to any one of the following will trigger an alert: Award Amount Amount Paid to date (Disbursement Amount) Latest Disbursement Date

30 Transfer Student Monitoring The alert process continues to send schools an alert notification and the alert data via Web only or Web and Batch. Schools designate the alert method on the School Transfer Profile page setup.

31 Determining Transfer Eligibility COD Website

32 COD Web: Person Information Webpage Total Percent Eligibility Used (Across all Schools, Award Years) Percent Eligibility Used Scheduled Award Amount Academic Year Level

33 ACG, National SMART Grant History School, Student Eligibility Overview Funding Updates Operational Concerns Resources Session Agenda

34 Total Amount Disbursed As of October 26, 2007 Funding: ACG$ 242,075,172 SMART$ 205,583,662

35 Funding Authorization ACG & National SMART Grant – NO initial authorization – Funding driven by student disbursement records When to submit ACG & National SMART Grant records: –7 Days in advance of disbursement date –7 days before COD sends funding transaction to GAPS No Just-In-Time or Pushed Cash methods

36 Reconciliation & Closeout For Award Year , Schools SHOULD be reconciled by September 30, 2008 Must closeout within… –Pell: Five Years –ACG, SMART: Four Years

37 Post-Deadline Processing For Award Year : –Occurs After September 30, 2008 Schools request on the Web Request only when you are ready to submit Granted only for unusual circumstances

38 Underlying Pell Grant Requirement If student has an ACG or National SMART Grant and is not a Pell recipient, the student will lose the ACG/National SMART Grant A special deobligation job will be run beginning in Spring 2008

39 ACG, National SMART Grant History School, Student Eligibility Overview Funding Updates Operational Concerns Resources Session Agenda

40 For : Rigorous Secondary Programs of Study, and Eligible Majors Beginning March 2008: Eligibility Used, Total Eligibility Used for ACG, National SMART Grant Reports Operational Updates

41 New High School Program Codes: ProgramStateCode High Schools That Work Award of Educational Achievement KentuckyKY0003 Minnesota Dual Credit ProgramMinnesotaMN0002 Missouri Show Me ScholarsMissouriMO6001 New Hampshire Granite State ScholarsNew HampshireNH6001 South Carolina Dual Enrollment ProgramSouth CarolinaSC0004 South Dakota ScholarsSouth DakotaSD6001 Wyoming State ScholarsWyomingWY6001

42 New Eligible Majors: Food Science Food Technology and Processing Environmental Science Fishing and Fisheries Sciences and Management Forest Sciences and Biology Wood Science and Wood Products/Pulp and Paper Technology Wildlife and Wildlands Science and Management Biopsychology Nutrition Sciences Physiological Psychology/Psychobiology

43 Eligibility Used, Total Eligibility Used Beginning March 2008, COD will calculate EU and TEU (for all award years). For ACG and National SMART Grant programs, COD will send, via daily outbound NSLDS file: Percent Eligibility Used at this School Total Percent of Eligibility Used Scheduled Award Amount CODNSLDSCPSISIR

44 Reporting Impacts Changes in field names and record lengths will impact the following reports for ACG & National SMART Grant: –Multiple Reporting Records –Year-To-Date (Origination) –Year-To-Date (Disbursement) Field position details can be found in the COD Technical Reference

45 ACG, National SMART Grant History School, Student Eligibility Overview Funding Updates Operational Concerns Resources Session Agenda

46 Citizenship The inclusion of a Citizenship Status Code in the Person Block is optional –If no Citizenship Status Code is provided in the Person Block, COD will pull the value from CPS Documentation –Citizenship Status Code must be included if it differs from the value on CPS. For example, if school has accepted documentation that student is a U.S. Citizen AND the CPS contains a different code, school must report a code of “1” in the citizenship status field.

47 Grade Level Edits Pulling Grade Level from FAFSA Must deliberately report grade level! ProgramGrade Level ACG0, 1, 2 National SMART Grant3, 4

48 Edit Statistics: : Both Programs EditError MessageACG HitsSMART Hits 014Citizenship Status is not eligible for this award8,5133, Changed Award Amount Is Less Than Total Disbursements 1,6901, School is Ineligible5,1721, Disbursement Date With Payment Trigger Set to True Outside of Allowable Window 3, Incorrect Student Level for ACG/National SMART Grant Awards 7,7449, Missing Value29,1418,843 Total Error Messages for Program for ,445,855382,274 Data accurate as of 9/11/2007.

49 Edits 56, 58 Preventable - for the most part! EditBlockMessage Award Type Affected 056DisbursementSequence Number Not In Sequential OrderAll 058DisbursementDuplicate Disbursement Information On FileAll

50 Edits 56, 58

51 ACG Edit Statistics: EditError MessageACG Hits 127Missing Rigorous High School Program Code16, Invalid Rigorous High School Program Code7, Award Amount Exceeds Maximum Scheduled Award for ACG20, Disbursement exceeds scheduled award for ACG at your school7,273 Total Error Messages for Program for ,445,855 Data accurate as of 9/11/2007.

52 SMART Edit Statistics: Data accurate as of 9/11/2007. EditError MessageSMART Hits 131Incorrect CIP Value10, Award Amount Exceeds Maximum Scheduled Award for National SMART grant 5, Disbursement exceeds scheduled award for National SMART grant at your school 6,496 Total Error Messages for Program for ,274

53 Edit Statistics POP Edits for EditMessageHits 134Disbursement exceeds scheduled award at all schools for ACG during the same or multiple award years Disbursement exceeds scheduled award at all schools for National SMART Grant during the same or multiple award years 136

54 Award ID Field Name SSNAward Type Award Year Pell ID Award Number Example A Valid Values 9 digits A for ACG T for SMART 2 digits6 digits3 digits A

55 ACG, National SMART Grant History School, Student Eligibility Overview Funding Updates Operational Concerns Resources Session Agenda

56 Resources COD Technical Reference echRef.html echRef.html Webinars CPresentationsYearPag.jsp?p1=Additio nal+FSA+Presentations&p2=c CPresentationsYearPag.jsp?p1=Additio nal+FSA+Presentations&p2=c COD Computer-Based Training Now available!

57 Related COD Sessions

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59 Contact Information Sue O’Flaherty Senior Advisor, Program Operations Channel (202) Kathleen Wicks Director, Grant Operations (202)