Posted Date:September 15, 2009
Subject: The Draft 2010-2011 SAR and SAR Acknowledgement is Available for Public Comment
We are pleased to provide you with a draft of the 2010-2011 Student Aid Report (SAR) and SAR Acknowledgment.
The Department has made changes to the SAR to increase applicant’s aid eligibility awareness. Specific information about an applicant’s Federal Pell Grant (Pell Grant) eligibility, including the maximum Pell Grant award the student may be eligible to receive based on his or her Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Links to detailed information about federal grants and loans are provided to foster student awareness about federal grant and loan eligibility and a link to the Department’s College Navigator Website (http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator) is also included to provide students with information about the colleges that they have listed on their FAFSA. Also, for 2010-2011, every paper SAR will have a customer ID and calculated Check Digit generated and encoded within the bar code and printed directly below the bar code on each page of the paper SAR. This information will be used by the Image and Data Capture System to match the SAR with the original applicant record. Previously, the student’s SSN was encoded within the bar code and printed directly below the bar code on each page of the SAR. This change is being implemented to align with Federal Student Aid’s security mandate to protect an applicant’s Personal Identifying Information (PII).
As in 2009-2010, the SAR will be formatted to allow machine reading of data with imaging and scanning technology. The FAA Information section will continue to help Financial Aid Administrators find information about a student's eligibility in one place and the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) section will continue to display aggregate amounts with standard text regarding repayments.
The SAR will be printed on blue paper and will, as in previous years, be in a letter format to provide information about the student's eligibility status, verification requirements and information on how to correct any assumptions made during processing.
Comments on these draft documents may be sent by email to SAR.Comments@ed.gov on or before November 17, 2009.