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(P-99-05) (P-99-05) Procedures for 1998-99 Federal Pell Grant account adjustments after the September 30, 1999 submission deadline.

DCLPublicationDate: 8/1/99
DCLID: P-99-5
AwardYear:
Summary: Procedures for 1998-99 Federal Pell Grant account adjustments after the September 30, 1999 submission deadline.


August 24, 1999

P-99-5


SUMMARY: Procedures for 1998-99 Federal Pell Grant account adjustments after the September 30, 1999 submission deadline.

The following references can be found on the Department's Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) web site, www.ifap.ed.gov:
U.S. Department of Education's Grant Administration and Payment System (GAPS) User's Guide.
Chapter 4 of the 1998-99 Federal Student Financial Aid Handbook.
Dear Colleague Letter P-97-2 dated June 1997.
Compilation of Student Financial Aid Regulations, 12/31/98, 34 CFR- Part 690- Federal Pell Grant Program.
Federal Register dated June 26, 1998, Notice of Deadline Dates for Receipt of Applications, Reports and other Documents for the 1998-99 Award Year.
Dear Colleague:

In this letter, you will find instructions for:
1. Reconciling your institution's actual 1998-99 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 1998-99 FEDERAL PELL GRANT PAYMENTS WITH PAYMENTS ACCEPTED BY THE PROGRAM

Your final 1998-99 Pell Grant authorization cannot exceed the total student payments accepted by the program from your submissions through September 30, 1999.
You should reconcile your institutional records with the processed payment data 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 electronically through the Pell Payment software or 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 pages 4-101 to 4-112 in the 1998-99 Federal Student Financial Aid Handbook for detailed instructions on using the SPS.

To reconcile your institution's 1998-99 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, 1999 and find that you need to decrease funding for previously reported students, submit a decrease award report. If you find that you need to increase funding for previously reported students or for new students, you may have two options: requesting Administrative Relief or requesting an Audit Adjustment.

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. You should continue to submit the approved student data through your usual submission media (electronic, tape, or diskette).

If you can no longer submit through your usual media, you may submit the data 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.

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 example, enter November 10, 1999 as 11/10/99.
Please send your Decrease Award Reports to the address provided below. We will also adjust your Federal Pell Grant authorization to reflect the decrease award amount and we will send you an updated 1998-99 Electronic Statement of Account (ESOA).

REGULAR MAIL
U.S. Department of Education
Student Aid Origination Team, PSS
P.O. Box 6565
Rockville, MD 20850-6565

COURIER SERVICE
U.S. Department of Education
Student Aid Origination Team, PSS
C/O Computer Data Systems, Inc.
RFMS, Federal Pell Grant Program
Mail Stop 3250, One Curie Court
Rockville, MD 20850-4389


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, 1999 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. Please be sure to include your six-digit Pell institution number in the letter. We must RECEIVE your request for Administrative Relief no later than JANUARY 31, 2000 at the address below:

ATTN: Administrative Relief Coordinator
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, or diskette) to the Rockville address. You must include a copy of our letter approving your request with your tape or diskette.

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 June 1997 Dear Colleague Letter P-97-2.

Send questions concerning the audit authorization adjustment process to:
U.S. Department of Education
Data Management and Analysis Division
ATTN: Federal Pell Grant Authorization Adjustments
P.O. Box 44805
Washington, DC 20026-3800

You may also call the Data Management and Analysis Division on (202) 708-8208. Do not submit Audit Reports to the Institutional Financial Management Division, AFMS.

If you have any questions concerning these instructions, please contact the Pell Grant Hotline at 1-800-4PGRANT (1-800-474-7268) or send an email to #pell_systems@ed.gov.


Sincerely,



Michele L. Selvage, Director
Institutional Financial Management Division
Accounting and Financial Management Service


Attachment A

Attachment B