Publication Date: November 2000
DCL ID: GEN-00-22
Summary: This action letter provides information about changes and enhancements to the 2001-2002 Application Processing System, including changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the Student Aid Report (SAR), the Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR), Central Processing System edits, and database matches.
** See Enclosure Below **
Student Financial Assistance 2001-2002 Action Letter
Action Letter #4
November 2000
GEN-00-22
SUMMARY:This action letter provides information about changes and enhancements to the 2001-2002 Application Processing System, including changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the Student Aid Report (SAR), the Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR), Central Processing System edits, and database matches.
Dear Partner:
We are pleased to announce the changes and enhancements we have made to the 2001-2002 application processing system. Many of these enhancements were made based on suggestions from you and your colleagues, as well as from students and parents. As we continue our efforts to improve the application process, and respond to the needs of the financial aid community, we encourage you to share with us your ideas and suggestions for further enhancements.
Why You Should Read This Action Letter
This letter describes the changes we are making for the 2001-2002 award year to the: Paper FAFSA and paper Renewal FAFSA Student Aid Report (SAR) and Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) Central Processing System (CPS), including edits and database matches
These changes may require you to modify some of your systems, operations, and office procedures.
Look for Upcoming Action Letters
This is the second in a series of three Action Letters explaining changes we have made to the application delivery system for the 2001-2002 award year.
The first Delivery System Action Letter (Action Letter #3) in the series was posted to the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) web site in early November 2000 and covered changes to our EDSuite/EDExpress software.
The third Action Letter in this series (Action Letter #5) will be posted to IFAP in December 2000 and will describe the changes we are making to FAFSA on the Web, Renewal FAFSA on the Web, Corrections on the Web, PINs, and FAFSA Express.
(Note: Action Letters #1 and #2 were about the 2001-2002 Renewal Application Process.)
What This Action Letter Contains
To help you plan for the upcoming year, we have included several enclosures with this letter. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these documents.
Enclosure A | Summary of 2001-2002 FAFSA Changes |
Enclosure B | Summary of Changes to the 2001-2002 Application Processing System |
Enclosure C | 2001-2002 FAFSA and FAFSA Instructions |
Enclosure D | 2001-2002 Renewal FAFSA and Renewal FAFSA Instructions |
Enclosure E | 2001-2002 Student Aid Report (SAR), SAR Acknowledgement, and draft ISIR Record Layout |
If You Need Further Information
Visit other areas of our Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) web site (http://www.ifap.ed.gov). IFAP contains the latest information on federal student aid, including Dear Partner/Colleague Letters, Announcements, training information, Department of Education (ED) publications, technical publications, and other useful documents.
Call our customer service staff to get answers to your questions about software installation, software problem resolution, software functionality, and other technical assistance. You can reach us Monday - Friday, 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. (Central Time), at 1-(800)-330-5947. You can also e-mail inquiries, comments, or suggestions 24 hours a day to cps@ncs.com.
You can also subscribe to SFATECH, our e-mail listserve for ED software and systems. If you have a question about one of our SFA systems, mainframe, or PC products, write it up in an email and post it to the listserve. We will research your question and post our response to the list so that everyone benefits from the information. Instructions for subscribing to and using SFATECH can be found on-line at (http://www.ed.gov/sfatech/listserv.html).
We thank you for all of your helpful suggestions and your feedback about our financial aid products.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Douglas
Acting General Manager for Students
Student Financial Assistance
U.S. Department of Education
2001-2002 FAFSA and FAFSA Instructions
2001-2002 Renewal FAFSA and Renewal FAFSA Instructions
2001-2002 Student Aid Report (SAR), SAR Acknowledgement, and ISIR Record Layout