1 Oklahoma Tuition Aid Grant Program (OTAG) OASFAA Conference April 6, 2006

2 Available Funding & Expenditures State Appropriations$18,927,327 Federal LEAP Allocation $ 404,88l Federal SLEAP Allocation$ 569,282 Total Available Funds$19,901,490 Expenditures as of $18,446,643 Unspent Funds$ 1,454,847

3 Additional Spring 2006 Awards Cutoff for Spring 2006 awards extended to students with FAFSA receipt dates through Pre-Populated Award Claim Forms to be delivered to all institutions by the end of the week Award Claim Forms will be processed and paid as long as funds remain available

4 Continued Review of OTAG Program Continued discussion of centralized vs. decentralized administration Serious need for earlier Award Claim Form submissions Unspent funds can lead to loss of federal LEAP/SLEAP funds Earlier awareness of funds utilization is necessary to ensure that as many students as possible are awarded as early as possible Review of simplified awarding and reporting processes implemented in – Questionnaire to be sent to institutions

5 Hints for Successful Award Claim Form Reporting The Award Claim Form serves as a “bill” for funds due Include only eligible students Exception reporting format – there is no need to report on students who should not be awarded Check SAP, OK residency, and overaward status before submitting award claim Include only students for whom you are requesting immediate disbursement of funds

6 Hints for Successful Award Claim Form Reporting (continued) Award Claim Forms will be rejected for further completion/correction if: Any required data fields are left blank Data other than allowable values are entered in the report columns. (examples: enter MI only; no punctuation; enter PT and not HT) SSN column formatting is changed from text to number resulting in lead zeroes being dropped (this can occur when the OTAG-formatted report is copied into a new worksheet)

7 Hints for Successful Award Claim Form Reporting (continued) Award claims for individual students will be declined if: Funds have already been claimed by another institution and have not been returned to OTAG EFC is greater than 1500 FAFSA receipt date is greater than awarding cutoff date Federal rejects are active on the ISIR transaction State of legal residence reported on FAFSA is not OK (FAFSA Question 18) OTAG does not receive FAFSA data if Question 18 is not answered OK

8 Changes for Reports -- Pick up and delivery of Excel Spreadsheets on secure website No need for password protection No change in delivery for FTP reports FAFSA – Deadline for Best Consideration Changed to April 15 Assess need for publishing final deadline of June 30

9 Changes for No Statutory Changes Bill that would have led to flat rate award amounts by type of institution and elimination of renewal priority was introduced in the House but was not heard Flat rate award amounts for each institution will be maintained in (one FT and one PT amount for all students awarded) OTAG will identify any renewal students who require priority in order to qualify (only 1 student benefited from renewal priority in ) Any affected institutions will be notified

10 Changes for State Regents’ Rules On track with APA process Should know by mid-April if legislators or Governor have objections Changes include: Award Eligibility Limited to Students Who Do Not Have Their First Bachelor’s Degree Eliminate 10 FTUG Disbursements Maximum Eliminate Pro-rated Awards

11 Undocumented Students Applications Received (compared with 22 in ) 36 Students Awarded (compared with 13 in ) 12 Institutions (compared with 5 in ) Applications Received as of Institutions

12 Undocumented Student Processes in Applications were mailed to all applicants OTAG will contact applicants to acknowledge application receipt and to provide general eligibility status information OTAG will send award notices to students once funding has been decided OTAG will provide lists of applicants to affected institutions for packaging purposes Separate funding requires separate Award Claim Forms and Disbursement Reports OTAG will provide pre-populated Award Claim Forms in Excel spreadsheet format

13 Undocumented Students Institutions Included as of Carl Albert State College East Central University Langston University Murray State College Northeastern State University Northern Oklahoma College Oklahoma City Community College Oklahoma City University Oklahoma Panhandle State University Oklahoma State University Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma City OSU Technical Branch, Okmulgee Oklahoma Wesleyan University Redlands Community College Rogers State University Southern Oklahoma Technology Center Southwestern Oklahoma State University Tulsa Community College University of Central Oklahoma University of Oklahoma

14 OTAG Contacts Send reports and general inquiries to Shiela Joyner Audrey Freeman Candice Amey