David A. Bartlett | Dec U.S. Department of Education 2014 FSA Training Conference for Financial Aid Professionals Foreign Schools: Reconciliation Session 53

Foreign Schools Reconciliation Agenda Reconciliation Defined Internal Reconciliation External Reconciliation Regulatory Requirements COD Reconciliation Tools Program Year Closeout Resources 2

Terminology Records First Disbursement Booked Loans Accepted Origination Record Accepted Master Promissory Note Accepted First Disbursement Record Direct Loans that must be reconciled Subsidized Unsubsidized Parent Loans (PLUS) Graduate PLUS loans Substantiated 3

Reconciliation – General Definition The process by which records from one system are compared to records from another, and any discrepancies are identified and resolved Example: Balancing a bank account / checkbook 4

Direct Loan Reconciliation The process by which the Direct Loan Cash Balance recorded on the Department of Education system is reviewed and compared with a school’s internal records on a monthly basis The school must: identify and resolve discrepancies, and document reasons for their Ending Cash Balance 5

Direct Loan Reconciliation Internal Reconciliation between offices at the institution Awarding Office (financial aid office) Accounting/Business Office (drawing funds from G5) External Reconciliation Between Institution and COD (including G5 data) Business Office Financial Aid Office COD G G 5 6

Direct Loan Recon Flowchart - SAS School Receives SAS Match ? Resolve Issues Compare Cash Detail Compare Loan Detail NO YES Resolved ? Compare Cash Summary DONE NO (Documentation) 7

Direct Loan Reconciliation Flowchart 8

Internal vs. External Reconciliation Between business/bursar/comptroller office records and financial aid system origination and disbursement records Internal Reconciliation Between school records and the U.S. Department of Education records External Reconciliation 9

Internal Reconciliation 10

Internal Process 11

Internal Reconciliation Ensure that What is posted to student accounts (i.e. amount and date) matches exactly the data in the school’s financial aid software Net Drawdowns (ND) = Net accepted and posted disbursements (NAPD) Cash is not held beyond cash management requirements Internal cash transactions (drawdowns, refunds of cash, and adjustments) match school bank statements 12

External Reconciliation 13

External Comparison with ED’s records 14

External Reconciliation Disbursement transactions Internal school disbursement records (both business office and financial aid office) match exactly to disbursement records in FSA’s COD system Cash transactions Drawdowns, drawdown adjustments, and refunds of cash transactions in school internal records match exactly with transactions in COD and G5 15

System Relationships Financial Aid Office enters/sends records to COD Business/Accounts Office requests/draws funds from G5 G5 provides funds to designated bank account and notifies COD Institution sends Disbursement records to COD Business Office Financial Aid Office COD G G 5 16

Regulatory Requirements 17

Requirements Monthly reconciliation REQUIRED for Direct Loans What are the related regulatory requirements? Direct Loan - 34 CFR (b) - monthly reconciliation required 18

Requirements: Cash Management Timelines Cash Management Regulations: 34 CFR Key Concepts: Immediate need – 3 business days Excess Cash 19

Requirements Disbursement Reporting Deadlines: Foreign Schools are records first, so this applies more to making adjustments Title IV Aid disbursement/adjustment reporting requirement published annually in the Federal Register Award Year reporting deadlines are included in Federal Register Notice dated July 8, 2013: Disbursements/adjustments going forward must be reported within 15 days of the actual disbursement date or date adjustment occurred 20

Requirements 34 CFR Financial records that reflect each HEA, Title IV program transaction Documentation that reflects each student/parent eligibility for any Title IV funds Documentation that reflects the payment period/loan period, date, and amount of each Title IV program transaction 21

COD Reconciliation Tools 22

Tips for Internal Reconciliation Daily/weekly check between Business Office and Financial Aid Office Do disbursements reported match disbursements posted? Do draws and returns of funds match disbursements? Does the school banking information match G5 data? 23

Tips for Internal Reconciliation Return funds appropriately to the correct program and year Refunds of Cash should be made electronically Adjustments should only be used to correct errors Time frame for returning unclaimed funds (stale dated checks) no later than 240 days from the date check issued 34 CFR (h) FSA Blue Book Volume 5 page 27 FSA Handbook Volume 4 page 48 24

Returning Funds Return of funds through G5 should be made electronically Set up a bank account through G5 for refunds ( ) If funds are being returned through G5 for regulatory reasons schools MUST send downward disbursement adjustments for Direct Loan Programs If returning funds from an audit or program review liability Follow directions per the Final Audit or Program Review Determination letter DL 120 day rule does not apply when returning funds due to regulatory/statutory requirements 34 CFR (c)(4)(i) 25

Tips for External Reconciliation Pay attention to IFAP announcements and COD updates regarding funding reductions Once you have confirmed that Business Office and Financial Aid Office records match (internal reconciliation) then… 26

Tips for External Reconciliation Begin the regular external reconciliation with Department systems (COD/G5) Daily/weekly monitor edit code rejects Rejected disbursements and adjustments COD and G5 web screens COD and G5 reports 27

Edit Code Rejects/Warnings Warnings are there to alert you of a potential problem Edit code rejects - do not build on the COD system Monitor your batch import results or view rejects by batch on the COD website If you aren’t using the batch processing features of COD, you can still search using the batch screens 28

Edit Code Rejects/Warnings Set aside time to resolve edit code rejects as needed Rejected Direct Loan records can lead to unsubstantiated cash for advance funded schools Rejected Direct Loan school records will not increase available funds in G5 29

COD Tools Actual Disbursement List (SAIG and Web) School Account Statement (SAS)* - (SAIG) SAS Disbursement Detail on Demand* - (SAIG) Direct Loan Tools software - for DL SAS reconciliation assistance COD Action Queue (Web) COD Reconciliation Coordinators School Summary Financial Information Screen Cash Activity Screen * Report Readers are available on the COD website 30

Direct Loan COD Reports 31

Direct Loan Actual Disbursement List Direct Loan Actual Disbursement List (SAIG and COD web) Assists in monitoring if actual accepted disbursements and amounts match what was posted to student accounts on a weekly basis Provides actual disbursements posted in COD for reported week (Saturday – Friday) Available via SAIG in Comma-Delimited format (DLAD14OP) and COD Newsbox 32

School Account Statement Provides the Department’s official monthly Ending Cash Balance and detailed cash and disbursements (SAIG only) Generated the first full weekend of the month and reflects data up to the end of the previous month (YTD or month to date depending on your settings) 33

School Account Statement You MUST reconcile monthly to the balances reflected on the SAS and must document that you have done so Composed of four Sections Cash summary Cash detail Disbursement Summary by loan type (DL SAS Only) Loan detail, loan level, or detail disbursement activity level 34

Requested via COD website Delivered via the SAIG Mailbox Available for DL program – SAS Reader if using SAIG Format options similar to regular monthly SAS files DL – Fixed Length, Comma-Delimited with or without Headers, Pipe Delimited Month-to-date, Year-to-date, Date Range options Contains Disbursement Activity Level detail only Assists in reconciliation of disbursement-level detail between regularly scheduled SAS generation cycles 35 SAS Disbursement Detail on Demand

Additional COD Web Screens School menu/School Summary Information School menu/School Funding Information School menu/School Summary Financial Information Batch menu/Action queue 36

Monthly Reconciliation is complete when… …all discrepancies have been identified and resolved …timing issues are tracked for reconciliation in next month’s SAS …reasons for any Ending Cash Balance have been identified …all monthly reconciliation efforts have been documented 37

Program Year Closeout (PYCO) 38

Final Reconciliation and Closeout The process by which schools complete processing at the end of an award year. This process should: Be an extension of regular reconciliation cycle (one final monthly reconciliation) Result in a $0 ending cash balance (Net Drawdowns = Net Accepted and Posted Disbursements) in ALL systems Occur shortly after final disbursements are made for a program and award year Ensure that all cash management and disbursement reporting requirements have been met 39

Program Year Closeout Deadline Closeout / Reconciliation Deadlines Direct Loan - July 31st of the year following the end of the award year closeout deadline was July 31, closeout deadline will be July 31, 2015 Monitor for the closeout deadline remindershttp://ifap.ed.gov Don’t wait until the deadline to start your closeout process! 40

What Happens after Closeout Date? After the PYCO deadline date COD will Reduce your funding to net drawdowns Reject award year specific submissions of awards and/or disbursements Discontinue award year specific reports Generate your final SAS and a PYCO letter –PYCO remaining balance letter –PYCO zero balance letter 41

Resources 42

Resources – Reconciliation FSA Handbook - Volume 4 COD technical reference Implementation guide, edit code rejects, reports Blue Book - updated version published 2013 IFAP announcements - you must monitor IFAP to be considered administratively capable Detailed recorded training materials available COD reconciliation team Federal Loan School Support Team (FLSST) 43

Resource – Contact Information Foreign Schools Participation Division Phone: (+1) Fax: (+1) Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) or Information for Financial Aid Professionals for Foreign Schools Federal Loan School Support Team (FLSST) 44

QUESTIONS? 45