| PublicationDate: 1/13/97 Summary: 1997-98 Application Processing Start-up Author: OPE - Office of the Assistant Secretary for OPE Date : January 13, 1997 TO : Financial Aid Administrators FROM : Betsy Hicks Deputy Assistant Secretary, SFAP SUBJECT: 1997-98 Application Processing Start-up Happy New Year! I am pleased to announce that the 1997-98 application processing system started on time, Friday, January 10, 1997. Both Multiple Data Entry (MDE) processors transmitted their first live batches of 1997-98 applications (approximately 2,000 records) to the Central Processing System (CPS) on Friday. The CPS will process these records plus any FAFSA Express records transmitted after January 1 and received to date. All records will be sent to the various matches and will be processed through compute on January 13, 1997. The CPS will transmit the first Institutional Student Information Reports ISIRs no later than January 14 and will begin printing and mailing Student Aid Reports simultaneously. A third data entry processor has also been approved and is ready for production. The Department is in the final stages of testing Version 3.1 of the 1997-98 EDExpress software, which allows institutions to receive and print ISIRs and to transmit applications and history corrections. We are confident that ED will sign off on this software by January 17 and that we will begin distribution by January 20. Version 3.2 of EDExpress, which updates the Packaging and Direct Loans components, is scheduled to be signed off on March 7, with distribution to begin during the week of March 10. Student Entry and SSCR functions will be distributed at a later date. Beginning this week, we will provide weekly updates to keep you apprised of our status and processing volumes. Thank you for your support during the past year. We look forward to a successful processing cycle in 1997-98. |