| DCLPublicationDate: 10/1/96 DCLID: P-96-4 AwardYear: Summary: Procedures for 1995-96 Federal Pell Grant account adjustments after the SEPTEMBER 30, 1996 submission deadline. OCTOBER 1996 P-96-4 SUMMARY: Procedures for 1995-96 Federal Pell Grant account adjustments after the SEPTEMBER 30, 1996 submission deadline. References: - October 1993 Recipient's Guide to the U.S. Department of Education Payment Management System (ED/PMS) - Chapter 4 of the 1995-96 Federal Student Financial Aid Handbook - Dear Colleague Letter GEN-94-14 dated April 1994 - Federal Register, dated April 29, 1994, Final Rule, Federal Pell Grant program - Federal Register, dated April 17, 1996, Notice of Deadline Dates for Receipt of Applications, Reports and other Documents for the 1995-96 Award Year - Federal Register, dated November 1, 1994, Final Rule, Federal Pell Grant program Dear Colleague: In this letter, you will find instructions for: 1. Reconciling your institution's actual 1995-96 Federal Pell Grant student payments with the payments accepted by the program, and 2. Using three methods to report post-deadline award adjustments. RECONCILING YOUR 1995-96 FEDERAL PELL GRANT PAYMENTS WITH PAYMENTS ACCEPTED BY THE PROGRAM YOUR FINAL 1995-96 PELL GRANT AUTHORIZATION CANNOT EXCEED THE TOTAL STUDENT PAYMENTS ACCEPTED BY THE PROGRAM FROM YOUR SUBMISSIONS THROUGH SEPTEMBER 30, 1996. You should reconcile your institutional records with the processed student payment data, and the accompanying IPS Batch Report, for EACH of your submissions during the school year. This ongoing reconciliation process will help you avoid, or greatly minimize, post-deadline adjustments. If you have submitted additional payment data since the date of your most recent Student Payment Summary (SPS), you may request an update by calling the Pell Grant Institutional Access System (IAS) at 1-800-4PGRANT (1-800-474-7268). You should use each SPS to confirm that we received AND ACCEPTED all of your Federal Pell Grant payments, or to correct your institutional records for payments we could NOT accept. Please refer to pp. 4-109 to 4-124 in the 1995-96 Federal Student Financial Aid Handbook for detailed instructions on using the SPS. To reconcile your institution's 1995-96 Federal Pell Grant Program records, look for the following conditions: 1. A recipient's payment data appears on your institution's records but does not appear on the SPS (NEW RECIPIENT); 2. A recipient's payment data appears on your institution's records for an award amount GREATER THAN the amount shown on the SPS (INCREASE AWARD ADJUSTMENT), and: 3. A recipient's payment data appears on your institution's records for an award amount LESS THAN the amount shown on the SPS (DECREASE AWARD ADJUSTMENT) If you complete your reconciliation process as of September 30, 1996 and find that you need to increase funding for previously reported students or for new students, you may meet the criteria for requesting Administrative Relief and/or Audit adjustments that are identified later in this letter. To report decreases, use the Decrease Award Report format that is explained below. Section V of the April 17, 1996 Federal Register notice also provides additional information on post-deadline adjustments. REPORTING DECREASE AWARD AMOUNTS If a student's Total Payment Amount (sum of Amount paid to date and Remaining amount to be paid) shown on your latest SPS, or in your processed student records from a submission after the last SPS, exceeds the actual amount you paid that student, OR if the student received an overpayment, you must report the decrease award amount in the format shown by the sample Decrease Award Report in Enclosure 1. For your convenience, we provided a facsimile you may use to report award decreases in Enclosure 2. You may use this format to decrease awards, or to report recoveries, for 1995-96 and any prior school year. You must submit SEPARATELY for each year. You can also use your normal reporting media. DO NOT SEND CHECKS to the U.S. Department of Education to return decrease award amounts. You may NOT use decrease award amounts to pay a NEW recipient, or to INCREASE another student's award. For further information concerning overawards and overpayments, please refer to pp. 4-85 through 4-89 of the 1995-96 Federal Student Financial Aid Handbook. The institutional administrator officially responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the Decrease Award Report must provide a HAND-WRITTEN, ORIGINAL signature. If we receive your Decrease Award Report without an original signature, we will return it UNPROCESSED. Print or type the name and title of the person whose signature appears on the Decrease Award Report. For Date Signed, print or type the date that the responsible official signed the Decrease Award Report. For numbers only, for example, enter November 10, 1996 as 11/10/96. Please send your Decrease Award Reports to the Herndon (or Reston), Virginia address provided below. For each 1995-96 Decrease Award Report that you submit, we will return Processed Payment Vouchers with an IPS Batch Report. We will also adjust your Federal Pell Grant authorization to reflect the decrease award amount and we will send you an updated 1995-96 Statement of Account (SOA). REGULAR MAIL U.S. Department of Education Application and Pell Processing Systems Division, PSS P.O. Box 10800 Herndon VA 20172-7009 COURIER SERVICE U.S. Department of Education Application and Pell Processing Systems Division, PSS c/o PRC, Inc. ATTN: G-T01 PGRFMS/DMS 12001 Sunrise Valley DR Reston VA 20191-3423 REQUESTING ADMINISTRATIVE RELIEF IF YOU FIND ANY INCREASE AWARD ADJUSTMENTS OR NEW RECIPIENT RECORDS, you may request administrative relief if: (a) the U.S. Department of Education or one of its contractors made an administrative or processing error which prevented you from meeting the September 30, 1996 deadline; or (b) an event, such as a natural disaster, prevented you from meeting the deadline. To request Administrative Relief, send a written statement describing the problem in detail (see 59 FR 146, April 17, 1996, pp. 39244-39245). We must RECEIVE your request for administrative relief no later than JANUARY 31, 1997 at the address below: U.S. Department of Education Institutional Financial Management Division, AFMS P.O. Box 23781 Washington DC 20026-0781 If we approve your request for Administrative Relief, we will notify you by letter. You may then submit the approved student data through your usual submission media (electronic, tape, diskette, or Payment Vouchers/Processed Payment Vouchers with an IPS) to the Herndon (or Reston) address. You must include a copy of our letter approving your request with your tape, diskette or paper submission. ADJUSTING AUTHORIZATIONS THROUGH AUDIT REPORTS IF YOU FIND ANY INCREASE AWARD ADJUSTMENTS AND/OR NEW RECIPIENT RECORDS AND DO NOT QUALIFY FOR ADMINISTRATIVE RELIEF, your institution may seek funding for such award adjustments when they are brought to the attention of the U.S. Department of Education in accordance with either 34 CFR 690.83 (c) or (e) of the Federal Pell Grant program regulations. For additional information and instructions concerning the audit process, please refer to the April 1994 Dear Colleague Letter GEN 94-14. Send questions concerning the audit authorization adjustment process to: U.S. Department of Education Audit Resolution Branch, IMD ATTN: Federal Pell Grant Authorization Adjustments P.O. Box 23800 Washington DC 20026-3800 You may call the Audit Resolution Branch on (202) 708-8208. DO NOT SUBMIT AUDIT REPORTS TO THE INSTITUTIONAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT DIVISION, AFMS. RECONCILING TO FEDERAL CASH TRANSACTIONS REPORTS (ED/PMS 272A) As a final reminder, please check with your business office to ensure that your institution's Federal Cash Transactions Report (ED/PMS 272A) accurately shows all of your 1995-96 Federal Pell Grant Expenditures. You can find the program expenditures from your institution's most recent ED/PMS 272A on your latest Statement of Account or Electronic Statement of Account. If the amount reported on your institution's final ED/PMS 272A is lower than your authorization, we will automatically reduce your authorization to the ED/PMS 272A level as part of ED's internal reconciliation process. If this happens, your institution's authorization may be reduced below your actual need. If you have any questions concerning these instructions, please refer to pages 1-34 of the 1995-96 Federal Student Financial Aid Handbook for a list of Financial Management Specialists and their telephone numbers. If you cannot reach the Specialist directly, you may call our central number (202) 708-9807 or contact us by fax at (202) 401-0387. Sincerely, Michele L. Selvage, Director Institutional Financial Management Division Accounting and Financial Management Service Enclosures (2) **[The enclosures, samples of Decrease Award Reports, are currently unavailable for viewing on the BBS. Please reference your paper letter for additional information, or follow the instructions, below, for downloading the WordPerfect for Windows version of the letter.]** |