Maintained for Historical Purposes

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

Campus-Based Programs - Introduction

AwardYear: 1995-1996
EnterChapterNo: 5
EnterChapterTitle: Campus-Based Programs
SectionNumber:
SectionTitle: Introduction
PageNumbers: 1-6


The Federal Perkins Loan Program, Federal Supplemental
Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) Program, and Federal
Work-Study (FWS) Program are called "campus-based" programs
because each school is responsible for administering them on its own
campus. A school applies for and receives program funds directly
from the U.S. Department of Education by submitting an application,
the Fiscal Operations Report and Application to Participate (FISAP),
each award year (see page 5-4). The school's financial aid
administrator is responsible for ensuring that eligible students at the
school receive program funds in accordance with the provisions of
the law, the regulations, the Program Participation Agreement signed
by the Secretary of Education and the school's chief administrative
officer, and other criteria ED may establish.

[[The chart on page 5-1 is currently unavailable for viewing. Please
reference your paper document for additional information.]]

This chapter covers provisions common to the Federal Perkins Loan,
FWS, and FSEOG programs. Chapters Six through Eight discuss
these programs individually. The Federal Perkins Loan Program
provides low-interest, long-term loans to help needy undergraduate
and graduate students. The FWS Program gives undergraduate and
graduate students the chance to work part-time and encourages
community service employment. The FSEOG Program provides
grants to undergraduates who demonstrate exceptional financial
need. A school may use part of its FWS funds for the Job Location
and Development (JLD) Program to locate and develop jobs,
including community service jobs, for currently enrolled students.
JLD is discussed in Chapter Seven, Section Six. An eligible school
that meets the definition of "work-college" may also use its FWS
and/or Perkins Loan allocation to meet the cost of a Work-Colleges
Program, which is discussed in the Introduction to Chapter Seven.

Final Rule, November 30, 1994

[[Final Rule 11-30-94]]
A Final Rule amending the campus-based programs regulations was
published in the Federal Register on November 30, 1994 and is
effective July 1, 1995. The Final Rule incorporates the provisions of
the Higher Education Amendments of 1992 (P.L. 102-325) and the
Higher Education Technical Amendments of 1993 (P.L. 103-208).
The Final Rule also incorporates provisions of the National and
Community Service Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-610), the Crime Control
Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-647), the Improving America's Schools Act of
1994 (P.L. 103-382), and the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1994 (P.L.
103-394). The preamble to the November 30, 1994 Final Rule
includes a discussion of the substantive changes to the Proposed Rule
published on June 22, 1994, as well as regulatory interpretations
necessary to implement the new statutory provisions.

Many of the statutory provisions were self-implementing and
superseded the regulations that were in effect at the time of the
passage of the various statutes referenced above. Information and
guidance were provided to schools on those self-implementing
statutory provisions in various "Dear Colleague" letters and other
policy documents.

The requirements in the Final Rule that affect only one campus-
based program are discussed in the appropriate chapters of this
Handbook. The requirements that affect more than one campus-
based program and were self-implementing statutory provisions
already in effect are discussed later in the appropriate sections of this
chapter. The new requirements that are effective only with the Final
Rule and apply to more than one campus-based program are as
follows:

- Under certain conditions, a student who drops out before
receiving his or her Perkins Loan or FSEOG funds can receive a
payment. The conditions for making a late disbursement are
described in Sections 674.16 and 676.16 of the November 30,
1994 Final Rule and in Section One of this chapter.

[[New overward thresholds]]
- Statutory provisions under the Higher Education Amendments
of 1992 provided for a $300 overaward threshold only for FWS.
The Perkins Loan and FSEOG thresholds were $200 each. In
order to reduce the administrative burden for schools, ED now
provides a uniform $300 overaward threshold for each campus-
based programs when a student receives additional resources
after campus-based aid has been awarded. The new uniform
$300 overaward threshold is described in Sections 674.14,
675.14, and 676.14 of the Final Rule and in Section Two of this
chapter.

Final Rule, December 1, 1994

[[Cash management regulations]]
[[Final Rule 12-1-94]]
The General Provisions Final Rule published in the Federal Register
on December 1, 1994 provides uniform cash management rules for
all SFA programs. The provisions of the Final Rule, as they affect all
SFA programs, are discussed in this handbook in Chapter Three,
Section Three. The following provisions affect the campus-based
programs and are effective beginning July 1, 1995:

[[Notification of expected SFA award]]
- A school must notify a student or parent of the amount of funds
the student can expect to receive from SFA programs and of
how and when those funds will be paid.

[[EFT transfer]]
- A school may choose to pay a student by electronic funds
transfer (EFT) to the bank account designated by the student or
parent, as applicable; however, the school must obtain an
authorization from the student or parent to disburse by EFT.

[[Early payment of a Perkins Loan or FSEOG]]
- The earliest a school may PAY DIRECTLY OR CREDIT THE
ACCOUNT of an enrolled student is 10 DAYS before the first
day of a payment period or period of enrollment; this provision
is included in Section 668.165(c). A school may no longer credit
the account of an enrolled student up to 3 weeks before the first
day of classes.

[[Allowable charges when crediting a student's account]]
- When a school disburses SFA funds by crediting a student's
account, the school may assess only the following "allowable
charges": (1) charges for tuition and fees; (2) charges for room
and/or board if the student contracts with the school for room
and/or board; (3) if the school obtains the permission of the
student or parent, other cost-of-attendance charges included in
the HEA (refer to the discussion in Chapter Three, Section
Three).

[[Rules for maintaining SFA program funds]]
- The Final Rule also includes new provisions that apply to bank
accounts containing SFA funds, such as the criteria for
determining whether a school must keep SFA program funds in
an interest-bearing account, and the criteria for requiring some
schools to keep SFA funds in a separate bank account that
contains no other funds. A detailed discussion of the new
provisions is in Chapter Three, Section Three.

Program Participation Agreement

[[School must sign agreement with ED]]
A school that wants to participate in any SFA program must sign a
Program Participation Agreement with the Secretary. (For more
information on this Agreement, see Chapter Three, Section Two.)
The Agreement must be signed by the school official legally
authorized to assume, on the school's behalf, the Agreement's
obligations.

For all of the programs, the Agreement provides that the school must
use the funds it receives solely for the purposes specified in the
regulations for each program and must administer each program in
accordance with the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, and
the Student Assistance General Provisions regulations. Requirements
under the General Provisions regulations are discussed in Chapter
Three of this Handbook. Each one of the campus-based programs has
additional requirements under the Program Participation Agreement
that are specific to the individual program; these requirements are
found in Sections 674.8, 675.8, and 676.8 of the regulations for the
campus-based programs and in the Higher Education Act of 1965, as
amended. Requirements that are specific to each program are
discussed in the chapter for that program.

Application for Funds

[[School must apply annually]]
[[Electronic FISAP is a requirement]]
To receive funds from the U.S. Department of Education for one or
more of the campus-based programs, a school must submit an
application (Fiscal Operations Report and Application to Participate-
- FISAP) for each award year. All schools are required to file the
FISAP data through the electronic FISAP process (i.e., by mailing
diskettes, transmitting data by modem, or mailing a magnetic tape).
ED no longer provides or accepts paper FISAP forms. This means
that a school must use the electronic FISAP process to be eligible to
participate (i.e., request/receive a funding allocation) in the campus-
based programs.

[[July---FISAP's are sent to schools]]
[[October 1 --- deadline for returning FISAP]]
In July each year, ED distributes the electronic FISAP packages and
instructions for schools to use in applying for funds for the
subsequent award year. The information reported must be accurate
and verifiable. ED distributed the materials essential for the
preparation and submission of the 1993-94 Fiscal Operations Report
and 1995-96 Application to Participate to schools in "Dear
Colleague" letter CB-94-15, dated July 1994. The deadline for
submitting (mailing or transmitting) the completed FISAP to ED by
means of one of the electronic procedures listed above was October
1, 1994.

Electronic FISAP packages to apply for 1996-97 campus-based
funds--1994-95 Fiscal Operations Report and 1996-97 Application to
Participate--will be distributed to schools in July 1995. Proposed new
data collection requirements for the 1996-97 Application to
Participate were discussed in the "Dear Colleague" letter CB-95-2
dated January 1995.

[[Questions about FISAP]]
Questions concerning the preparation of the FISAP should be
referred to ED's Student Financial Assistance Programs, Institutional
Accounting and Financial Management Service, Institutional
Financial Management Division, to the appropriate campus-based
state representative. The representatives and their telephone
numbers are listed in Chapter One, Section One, of this Handbook.
Technical questions about the data entry or submission of a FISAP
should be referred to an Electronic FISAP Administrator on (301)
565-0032 or (202) 708-6726.

Allocation of Funds

[[Allocations determined by statutory formulas]]
ED allocates funds directly to schools according to the statutory
formulas. The allocation (or authorization) for each program is the
amount of funding the school is authorized to receive from ED for an
award year. This amount is based on the allocation formulas in the
law, as well as on the funds appropriated by Congress for the
program. However, a school will not receive an allocation that is in
excess of its request.

[[Notice of final allocation in March]]
ED notifies schools of their final allocation for each campus-based
program in late March each year by sending "The Official Notice of
Funding." Later in the year, schools release any unexpended funds
(a "Dear Colleague" letter will be issued in June 1995 about the
release of unexpended 1994-95 allocations).

[[Penalty for returning more than 10% of funds]]
If a school returns more than 10 percent of its allocated funds for a
given award year under any one of the three campus-based
programs, ED will reduce the school's allocation for the second
succeeding award year by the dollar amount returned unless this
provision is waived by ED. For example, if the school returned more
than 10 percent of its 1993-94 allocation, its 1995-96 allocation was
reduced by the dollar amount returned for 1993-94. This provision is
in Sections 674.4, 675.4, and 676.4 of the Final Rule published in the
Federal Register on November 30, 1994.

[[ED may waive the penalty]]
ED may waive this provision for a specific school if it finds that
enforcement would be contrary to the interests of the program. ED
considers enforcement to be contrary to the interest of the program
only if the school returned more than 10 percent of its allocation due
to circumstances that are beyond the school's control and are not
expected to recur.

[[School must request waiver in writing]]
To request a waiver, a school must submit a written explanation of
the circumstances along with supporting documentation. The request
for a waiver for the 1995-96 award year had to be postmarked by
February 21, 1995 (see "Dear Colleague" Letter CB-95-1, January
1995).

[[ED reallocates unexpended funds]]
After schools release their unexpended allocations, ED reallocates
the funds to schools that have met the criteria for receiving a
supplemental allocation. Criteria for the distribution of these funds
for each program are established in accordance with the Higher
Education Act of 1965, as amended, as well as the regulations
published December 1, 1987, as amended by the November 30, 1994
Final Rule (Sections 674.4, 675.4, and 676.4).

Certifications a School Must Submit to ED

Included in the FISAP package distributed to schools in July 1994
was ED Form 80-0013, "Certifications Regarding Lobbying;
Debarment, Suspension, and Other Responsibility Matters; and
Drug-Free Workplace Requirements" and Standard Form - LLL,
"Disclosure of Lobbying Activities." To participate in the campus-
based programs for the 1995-96 award year, a school's Chief
Executive Officer, or another person who had the authority to sign
on behalf of the entire school, was required to complete, sign, date,
and submit (mail or transmit) to ED the above certification forms
with the school's completed FISAP by October 1, 1994.

A detailed discussion of the certification requirements is in Chapter
Three, Section Two of this Handbook.