| DCLPublicationDate: 10/1/95 DCLID: GEN-95-45 AwardYear: 1996-1997 Summary: This letter gives information and schedules for the1996-97 Renewal Free Application for Federal Student Aid (Renewal FAFSA), which institutions may request through the Department's Electronic Data Exchange (EDE), beginning October 9 through November 10, 1995. OCTOBER 1995 1996-97 ACTION LETTER #1 GEN-95-45 SUMMARY: This letter gives information and schedules for the 1996-97 Renewal Free Application for Federal Student Aid (Renewal FAFSA), which institutions may request through the Department's Electronic Data Exchange (EDE), beginning October 9 through November 10, 1995. Dear Colleague: In the 1996-97 school year, your institution may request Renewal FAFSAs (Renewal Applications) through the Electronic Data Exchange (EDE) using procedures similar to those used in the 1995-96 school year. Your institution may: 1. Request that records be sent to the institution to be printed by the institution, or 2. Request that records be printed by the Department and mailed in bulk to the institution for distribution. Your institution will also receive an electronic file of all the Renewal Application records you request. See Enclosure A for the schedule of all important dates for the Renewal Application process. Enclosure B gives information on exact procedures for submitting your requests through the network, and Enclosure C answers some frequently-asked questions about the process. In 1996-97, we are also pleased to offer more options that allow you to request Renewal Applications by specific categories; to receive bulk mailings of paper Renewal Applications in different sort orders; and to choose the time for bulk mailings to arrive at your institution. One important change from last year is that all Renewal Applications will be printed and mailed by the Central Processing System (CPS) rather than by the FAFSA Processors. The complete student package again will include a printed Renewal Application, an instruction book, and a return envelope that the student may use to send the application to a FAFSA Processor for data entry. The Department will assign a FAFSA Processor's return address to each Renewal Application. Any FAFSA Processor, however, will handle Renewal Applications for any other FAFSA Processor so you need not be concerned about which return address is assigned. REQUESTING RENEWAL APPLICATIONS THROUGH EDE. Institutions that can send and receive Renewal Applications electronically will be able to make requests through EDE. Institutions that draw down and print their own electronic Renewal Applications must give them to the students, and transmit data submitted on these applications. If your institution does not meet this obligation, it may result in suspension of your ability to participate in the Renewal Application process. RENEWAL APPLICATION REQUEST DEADLINES. Institutions may begin requesting Renewal Applications through EDE on October 9, 1995, and may continue to transmit requests through November 10, 1995. Renewal Application records not selected by institutions during this period will automatically be printed by the CPS and will be mailed directly to the students between November 27 and January 12, 1996. Your institution may continue to request electronic Renewal Applications after November 10, although not for the bulk mailing option; however, the CPS will have printed a paper Renewal Application for eligible students who were not selected before that date. ADDITIONAL OPTIONS FOR REQUESTING STUDENT RECORDS. Previously, student records were sorted by Social Security Number (SSN) only, but in response to your requests, we have added options that allow you to receive the bulk-mailed Renewal Applications in alphabetical order or in ZIP code order You may request students individually, or you may request categories of students by grade level, by program completion date, and so forth. DELIVERY OF BULK-MAILED RENEWAL APPLICATIONS. Also in response to your requests, we added a choice of delivery times for bulk mailings. Schools may request bulk mailings of paper Renewal Applications to be delivered either prior to December 1, 1995, or after January 12, 1996. You must request a particular delivery time when you transmit your request for student records. See the schedule in Enclosure A. RENEWAL APPLICATION ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA. The eligibility criteria for including students in the Renewal Application database are the same as those used in 1995-96. However, we will not automatically print Renewal Applications for certain students unless they are requested by an institution. These are students who indicated on their 1995-96 applications that 1) their grade level in college was 5th year or beyond, and 2) that they expected to complete their program by August of 1995. CREATION OF THE RENEWAL APPLICATION FILE. We plan to create the renewal applicant database twice, once on October 30, and again on February 1, 1996. The second database will add students who applied after the October 30 cutoff, or whose status changed from rejected (no EFC was calculated) to nonrejected (where an EFC was calculated) during that time. For these students, the CPS will not print paper applications, either individually or via a bulk mailing request, but the renewal applicant records in the second database will be available through the EDE process for an institution to draw down and print. We hope that the enhancements to the 1996-97 Renewal Application process will make this option more attractive and accessible for both institutions and students. Since the paper Renewal Application was introduced in 1994-95, approximately 36% of total financial aid applicants have chosen to use this streamlined method of re-applying for student financial aid, rather than by filing a regular FAFSA. If you have questions about the Renewal Application process, please call CPS customer service at (319) 339-6642. Sincerely, Leo Kornfeld Senior Adviser to the Secretary Attachment A Attachment B Attachment C |