Posted Date:June 2, 2016
| Author: | Sue O'Flaherty, Service Director, Program Management, Federal Student Aid |
Subject: TEACH Grant Closeout Information for 2015-2016 Award Year
The Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant closeout deadline for the 2015-2016 Award Year is Friday, September 30, 2016. This is the last processing day of the award year. All school data must be received and accepted by this date to be included in a school's final Ending Cash Balance for the year.
To be considered successfully closed out, the school must—
Reconcile to an Ending Cash Balance (Net Drawdowns – Total Net Booked Disbursements) of $0 and Total Net Unbooked Disbursements of $0, as reflected on its monthly TEACH Grant School Account Statement (SAS) and in the school’s internal records.
After the closeout deadline, schools will be billed for remaining balances owed to the Department of Education (the Department).
As a reminder, all cash management, disbursement/adjustment reporting, and monthly reconciliation regulatory requirements supersede the closeout deadline. If a school is meeting these regulatory requirements, it should be able to reach a zero ending cash balance and be fully reconciled within a month or two of its final scheduled disbursements for a given program and year. Schools should not wait until the closeout deadline to be fully reconciled to a zero ending cash balance.
To assist schools in achieving a successful closeout, we will send monthly Balance Notification e-mails to notify schools of their current Ending Cash Balance and to provide general information regarding the closeout process. These e-mails will be sent to the Financial Aid Administrator and President at each school.
A school must be aware of its closeout status even if its TEACH Grant processing is handled by a third party servicer. We encourage each school to communicate regularly with its third party servicer to ensure closeout is completed. It is the school's responsibility to ensure that it finishes processing and completes closeout on time.
A key factor to an easy reconciliation and closeout is staying on top of the process. We encourage schools to review the following information:
Complete monthly reconciliation. This should include:
Internal reconciliation - compare internal student accounts and Business Office/Bursar records with Financial Aid Office records.
External reconciliation - compare internal records to your TEACH Grant School Account Statement sent via your SAIG mailbox.
Resolution of any discrepancies and documentation of any outstanding timing issues.
Compare internal student accounts and Business Office/Bursar records with Financial Aid Office records and resolve any discrepancies.
Ensure that all drawdowns and refunds of cash are accounted for and applied to the correct program year.
Ensure that all batches have been sent to and accepted by the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System, all disbursements and adjustments are accurately reflected on the COD System, and all responses are imported into the school's system.
Resolve all outstanding rejected records.
Return all refunds of cash to the Department.
Request any remaining funds owed to the school based on actual disbursements accepted by the COD System.
There are numerous tools available to assist schools in reconciliation and closeout efforts. These tools are as follows:
TEACH Grant School Account Statement (SAS) – This report is automatically sent to your Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) mailbox each month.
School Account Statement (SAS) Disbursement Detail on Demand – These on demand reports can be requested on the COD Web site via the Report Requests page.
Pending Disbursement Listing
G5 Web Site and G5 Reports
COD Web site (particularly the School Summary Financial Information, Funding Information, Cash Activity, and Refunds of Cash, and Action Queue pages)
COD Customer Service Representative/COD Reconciliation Coordinator
Contact Information
We appreciate your cooperation as we work to close out the 2015-2016 TEACH Grant Award Year. If you have questions about this announcement or need assistance with closeout, contact the COD School Relations Center at 800/474-7268. You may also e-mail CODSupport@ed.gov.