Maintained for Historical Purposes

This resource is being maintained for historical purposes only and is not currently applicable.

(General) Subject: Upcoming SAIG Message Class File Update

Posted Date:July 15, 2011

Author: Pamela Eliadis, Service Director, System Operations & Aid Delivery Management, Federal Student Aid

Subject: Upcoming SAIG Message Class File Update

On July 22, 2011, we will send the message class "MESSAGTB" via the Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) to all user mailboxes. The EDconnect transmission software will automatically request, download, and import this new message class table with a user’s next connection to the SAIG network. Once the MESSAGTB file has been imported, the new message class table will be used from that point forward.

Message Classes

We will add message classes for the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS).

NSLDS Message Classes

We will add new non-cyclical message classes for the NSLDS to the message class table. These message classes will be used for reports associated with exit counseling for Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) and William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) borrowers, exit counseling for Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant recipients, and gainful employment.

FFEL and Direct Loan Exit Counseling - Exit counseling for FFEL and Direct Loan borrowers is currently available via the NSLDS Student Access Web site. The following message classes are related to enhancements to the loan exit counseling reporting process which will be available later this year. Please monitor the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site for forthcoming communications about the availability of these enhancements.

The message classes for loan exit counseling summary reports are as follows:

Message Class
Description
EXSMFFOP Loan Exit Counseling Summary Rpt Fixed Length
EXSMCMOP Loan Exit Counseling Summary Rpt Comma Delim
EXSMFMOP Loan Exit Counseling Summary Rpt Pre-Format

TEACH Grant Exit Counseling - Exit counseling for TEACH Grant recipients will be available after the implementation planned for the end of July 2011. Please monitor the IFAP Web site for forthcoming communications about the availability of this new exit counseling product.

The message classes for TEACH Grant exit counseling reports are as follows:

Message Class
Description
EXTHFFOP TEACH Grant Exit Rpt DL Format Fixed Length
EXTHCMOP TEACH Grant Exit Rpt DL Format Comma Delimit
EXTHFMOP TEACH Grant Exit Report Pre-Formatted
EXNTFFOP TEACH Grant Exit Rpt NSLDS Fixed Length
EXNTCMOP TEACH Grant Exit Rpt NSLDS Comma Delimited
EXTSFFOP TEACH Grant Exit Summary Rpt Fixed Length
EXTSCMOP TEACH Grant Exit Summary Rpt Comma Delimited
EXTSFMOP TEACH Grant Exit Summary Rpt Pre-Formatted

Note: In a March 12, 2010 Electronic Announcement on the IFAP Web site, we announced the availability of message classes EXTHFFOP, EXTHCMOP, and EXTHFMOP for TEACH Grant exit counseling reports. These message classes have now been updated with new descriptions.

Gainful Employment - In a May 23, 2011 Electronic Announcement on the IFAP Web site, we announced the availability of an NSLDS Gainful Employment User Guide. In that communication, we listed the SAIG message classes that would be used in the reporting process for gainful employment and explained that we would inform the community of their addition to the message class table.

Complete information about gainful employment is available on the IFAP Web site’s Gainful Employment Information page.

The message classes for gainful employment reports are as follows:

Message Class
Description
GESFLEIN Gainful Employment Submittal - Fixed width
GESCDEIN Gainful Employment Submittal - Comma Separated Value (CSV)
GERFLEOP Gainful Employment Response - Fixed width
GERCDEOP Gainful Employment Response - Comma Separated Value (CSV)

Note: In the May 23rd Electronic Announcement we included message classes for reports in XML format. In a subsequent June 3, 2011 Electronic Announcement, we explained that we are not able to offer the XML format as an option for the initial year of gainful employment reporting. Accordingly, we removed the XML record layout from the user guide, and the message classes will not be added to the message class table at this time.

Update, Import, and Installation Information

The message class table update will be transparent to users except for an Import dialog box, which will appear on a user’s screen and display the progress of the import as the file is importing.

The new message class table file will also be available on the Federal Student Aid Download (FSAdownload) Web site in the "Software and Associated Documents" section.

Using Multiple Networked PCs

If a user has performed a network installation of EDconnect, the new message class table will import into the EDconnect database on the user’s network drive. Individual workstations will all have access to the new message class table after it has been imported.

Using Multiple Stand-Alone PCs

If using the current version of EDconnect (version 7.2), the message class table will automatically download and update EDconnect on each PC that initiates a transmission.

Contact Information

If you have any questions about the information contained in this document, contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support at 800/330-5947 (TDD/TTY 800/511-5806), or by e-mail at CPSSAIG@ed.gov.