| PublicationDate: 3/26/98 Summary: 1998-99 Processing Status Update # 11 Author: ODAS - Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary - SFA Posted March 26, 1998 TO : Financial Aid Administrators FROM : Diane Rogers Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary Student Financial Assistance Programs SUBJECT : 1998-99 Processing Status Update # 11 I am pleased to present you with my eleventh message on the processing of the 1998-99 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). During the week of March 16-20, we processed 449,640 applications for the 1998-99 cycle, bringing our year-to-date total to 2,371,230 applications. As always, this number is the number of applications which have been processed through the Central Processing System (CPS), the final stage in the process. Our Multiple Data Entry (MDE) contractors have further expanded their processing capacity. Last week, they processed about 110,000 more forms than they did previous week, a 30 percent increase. The difference between the number of FAFSAs processed and the number received reflects the number of applications in process. Throughout the academic year, there will always be applications in process; this number will not be zero until the end of the academic year in June 1999. Of the roughly 900,000 forms our contractors had received but not yet processed as of last Friday, our MDE contractors had completed processing 269,000 (or 30 percent of these) applications and sent their data on to the CPS. The CPS typically processes the data it receives from the Department's MDE contractors within 72 hours. Schools typically receive their Institutional Student Information Reports (ISIRs) within hours after they are completed by the CPS. Roughly 300,000 (or 33 percent) of those 900,000 applications had been at the Department's MDE contractors for longer than seven business days. We expect this number to continue to decrease. While we do not yet have final numbers for the week in progress, we believe that they will show our contractors' substantial progress in processing these applications when they are released next week. As always, students who would like their FAFSAs to be processed more quickly may apply electronically, including via FAFSA on the Web. Electronic FAFSAs are faster and easier for students to file and for the Department to process. The following statistics are through Friday, March 20: FAFSA and Renewal Applications RECEIPTS PROCESSED YEAR TO DATE--GRAND TOTAL 3,273,564 2,371,230 I. Paper 3,100,936 2,198,602 II. Electronic 172,628 172,622 |