| PublicationDate: 3/22/96 Summary: 1996-97 FAFSA Processing - Announcement #16 Author: ODAS - Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary - SFA Announcement # 16 -- March 22, 1996 This is announcement number 16 in a series for financial aid administrators. For information on individual applications, parents and students should contact 319-337-5665. 1996-97 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Processing Status Report A. Status of Applications as of March 22, 1996. TOTAL PAPER APPLICATIONS Total Number of Paper Applications Received 3,258,594 Total Number of Paper Applications Completed 1,210,378 Percentage of Paper Applications Completed 38% Expected Completion Date for All Paper Applications Received through March 31 April 15 PAPER APPLICATIONS RECEIVED JAN. 1 - JAN. 31 Number of Paper Applications Received 437,727 Number of Paper Applications Completed As of 3/22/96 414,730 Percentage of Paper Applications Completed 95% Expected Completion Date for All Paper Applications with these Receipt Dates: March 25 PAPER APPLICATIONS RECEIVED FEB. 1 - FEB. 15 Number of Paper Applications Received 697,961 Number of Paper Applications Completed As of 3/22/96 572,935 Percentage of Paper Applications Completed 82% Expected Completion Date for All Paper Applications with these Receipt Dates: no later than March 31 PAPER APPLICATIONS RECEIVED FEB. 16 - FEB. 29 Number of Paper Applications Received 870,131 Number of Paper Applications Completed As of 3/22/96 140,368 Percentage of Paper Applications Completed 17% Expected Completion Date for All Paper Applications with these Receipt Dates: no later than March 31 PAPER APPLICATIONS RECEIVED MAR. 1 - MAR. 15 Number of Paper Applications Received 1,017,180 Number of Paper Applications Completed As of 3/22/96 82,345 Percentage of Paper Applications Completed 8% Expected Completion Date for All Paper Applications with these Receipt Dates: no later than April 15 PAPER APPLICATIONS RECEIVED MAR. 16 - MAR. 31 Number of Paper Applications Received 235,595 B. How to obtain information from OPEnet The Department has received several requests about how to get information from OPEnet. Please note that OPEnet is available to Title IV WAN users only. In order to become a Title IV WAN user, institutions should see Dear Colleague Letter GEN-95-53 and state agencies should see Dear Colleague Letter SG-95-4 for enrollment procedures. Once enrolled, users will receive an OPEnet User's Guide that will explain in detail how to obtain information from the OPEnet. C. Duplicate Records Due to a system error, American College Testing (ACT) transmitted approximately 15,000 1996-97 FAFSA application and Renewal FAFSA records that had already been processed by the Central Processing System (CPS). This has resulted in students receiving an additional Student Aid Report (SAR) for this duplicate transaction. These SARs will contain comment 40 indicating that the SAR is as a result of receiving a subsequent original application. Comment 40 states: "This Student Aid Report (SAR) is in response to the student aid application you submitted. You had already sent an application that is on file. This SAR contains the same information as the SAR you received from your previous application. If you need to make changes to your information, you should make them to this SAR by following the instructions at the top of Part 2 and in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) instruction booklet. For additional help with your SAR, contact your Financial Aid Administrator (FAA)." These records will not be rejected, but the data received will be identical on both SARs. Students should be advised to ignore the second SAR, other than to ensure that their institution has received at least one of the records. D. Additional clarification regarding SSA citizenship and INS matches The Department has received several requests to provide additional clarification regarding the Social Security Administration (SSA) citizenship and Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) matches. Please note that individuals who are sent to the INS match to confirm their eligibility status will continue to receive match flags from the Social Security Administration that resulted from our match with them. However, the Central Processing System (CPS) will suppress any comments and SAR C codes associated with SSA citizenship match flags if the student has also gone to INS for matching. No resolution is required if students receive confirmation from the INS match that they are eligible non-citizens even if their SSA Citizenship Status indicates that they are not U.S. citizens. Thank you for your continued patience and suggestions. |