Maintained for Historical Purposes

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

Institutional Eligibility and Administrative Requirements - Agreements Between Schools

AwardYear: 1995-1996
EnterChapterNo: 3
EnterChapterTitle: Institutional Eligibility and Administrative Requirements
SectionNumber: 6
SectionTitle: Agreements Between Schools
PageNumbers: 133-136


Two or more institutions may enter into a contractual or a
consortium agreement so that a student can continue to
receive SFA funds while studying at a school or
organization other than his or her "home" institution.
(The home school is the one that will grant the student's
degree or certificate.) The specific requirements for
such agreements are discussed below.


CONTRACTUAL AGREEMENT

A contractual agreement is between eligible and ineligible
schools*1* or organizations, as defined in Section One of this
Chapter. Under such an agreement, the ineligible school
provides, under written contract, a portion of the eligible
school's educational program.

[[Portion of program provided by ineligible school]]
There is a limit on the portion of the program that can be given
at the ineligible school. If both the home and ineligible schools
are owned or controlled by the same individual, partnership, or
corporation, no more than 25% of the educational program
can be provided by the ineligible school. If the two schools
are separately owned or controlled, the ineligible school can
provide up to 50% of the educational program. However, in
the case of separately owned schools, if the contracted portion
is more than 25% of the program, the home school's
accrediting agency or State agency (in the case of a public
postsecondary vocational institution) must determine AND
CONFIRM IN WRITING that the agreement meets its
standards for contracting out of education services.

[[Home school maintains all records]]
Under a contractual agreement, the eligible school is
always the home school. The home school performs
all the aid processing and delivery functions for its students
attending the ineligible school or organization. The home
school is responsible for maintaining all records necessary to
document student eligibility and receipt of aid. (See Section
Eight of this Chapter for record requirements.)

[[Coursework must be accepted as if
provided at the home school]]

The home school must give credit to the students in the
contracted portion of the program on the same basis (in
terms of instructional time) as if it provided that portion itself.
It cannot be treated differently in any way. The underlying
assumption of the contractual agreement is that the home
school has found the other school's or organization's
academic standards to be equivalent to its own, and a
completely acceptable substitution for its own instruction.
CREDITS EARNED THROUGH CONTRACTED
COURSEWORK MUST BE TREATED EXACTLY THE
SAME AS THOSE EARNED AT THE HOME SCHOOL.
For instance, those credits must be counted (exactly as they
were earned) when determining a student's completion of
credential or degree requirements.

[[Examples of contractual agreements]]
"Contracted portion of an educational program" covers
situations ranging from a "junior year abroad" program to a
portion of a cosmetology program given by an ineligible
cosmetology school under contract with an eligible community
college or vocational-technical school. In the traditional
academic community, a baccalaureate institution does not
jeopardize its eligible programs if no more than one academic
year is spent by students at an ineligible institution, such as a
foreign institution under the junior year abroad concept. At
schools that predominantly grant associate degrees, eligible
programs are not jeopardized if students spend no more than
one semester or one quarter studying under contract at an
ineligible school. (Of course, students may exceed these limits
and take up to 50% of the program at a separately owned
school if the school's accrediting agency has approved the
contractual agreement.)


CONSORTIUM AGREEMENT

A consortium agreement, which can exist between eligible
schools only, can apply to all the SFA programs. Under such
a written agreement, students may take courses at a school
other than the "home" institution (the school where the student
expects to receive a degree or certificate) and have those
courses count toward the degree or certificate at the home
school. The home school must give credit for the courses
taken at the other school(s) on the same basis as it would for
coursework taken at the home school; it cannot be treated
differently in any way. The underlying assumption of the
consortium agreement is that the home school has found the
other school's academic standards to be equivalent to its own
and a completely acceptable substitution for its own
instruction.

[[Elements of a consortium agreement]]
There is no limit on the portion of the eligible program that
may be provided by eligible schools other than the home
school. Agreement contents can vary widely and will depend
upon the interests of the schools involved and the accrediting
or State agency standards. The Department does not dictate
the format of the agreement (which can be executed by several
different offices) or where the agreement is kept. However,
certain information should be included in all agreements, such
as which school will grant the degree or certificate, what the
student's tuition, fees, and room and board costs are at each
school, and what the student's enrollment status will be at each
school. The agreement should also include procedures for
calculating awards, disbursing aid, monitoring satisfactory
progress and other student eligibility requirements, keeping
records, and distributing SFA refunds. The school paying the
student must return SFA funds if required. For details on how
agreements affect Federal Pell Grant calculations, see Chapter
Four of this Handbook.

[[Effective date of the agreement]]
The agreement becomes effective for the payment period in
which it is signed; however, it can be retroactive to a previous
payment period if the payment period is in the same award
year. Thus, if an agreement is signed in the middle of the
spring semester, the student can be paid for the entire award
year, including the preceding fall semester.


STUDY ABROAD OR DOMESTIC EXCHANGE PROGRAMS

Students usually participate in Study Abroad or domestic
exchange programs in one of two ways-

l. Through an out-of-State tuition waiver system that allows a
student to pay tuition and fees directly to the school the student
is temporarily attending, or

2. By paying tuition and fees at the home school, while taking
courses at another school

[[Study abroad students are SFA-eligible]]
Some students have had problems receiving SFA program
funds for Study Abroad or domestic exchange programs,
because neither the student's home school nor the school the
student is temporarily attending considers the student enrolled
in an eligible program of study. These circumstances have
caused otherwise eligible students to be denied financial
assistance at both schools.

The law states that a student participating in a Study Abroad
program is eligible for SFA funds, regardless of whether the
program is required for the student's regular, eligible program
of study, as long as the student is an eligible regular student
enrolled in an eligible program at the home school. The Study
Abroad program must be part of a written contractual
agreement between the two schools, and the program must be
accepted for credit by the home institution. (The program
does not have be required for the eligible program in which the
student is enrolled at the home institution for it to be accepted
for credit.) The law also includes this item in the Program
Participation Agreement.

*1* An eligible school may not contract with an ineligible
school that has been terminated from SFA participation or
has withdrawn from SFA participation while under a
termination, show-cause, suspension, or similar type
proceeding by a State licensing agency, accrediting
agency, SPRE, or the Department.