| PublicationDate: 10/1/96 Summary: FAFSA Order Letter Author: PTAS - Policy / Training / And Analysis Service October 1, 1996 Subject: FAFSA Order Letter As noted last week on FINAID-L, many postsecondary schools received the high school version of the order letter for 1997-98 FAFSAs by mistake. Based on the number of order letters printed, we estimate that between 1,200 to 2,000 colleges may have received the high school letter. Thanks to the quick response from many schools on the FINAID listserv, we concluded that the problem was not limited to any region of the country. Therefore, we have remailed the postsecondary FAFSA order letter to all postsecondary schools on our school code mailing list. Your copy should be arriving soon in the mail, but the text of the letter is enclosed in this e:mail, so that you may order right away. Please remember that postsecondary schools will not automatically receive shipments of the FAFSA and Student Guides. You must order copies by calling our automated ordering system at 1-800-284-2788 and providing your school code number (as printed in the Title IV School Code List, and on the address label on the order letter envelope). We have begun the printing process for the 1997-98 FAFSA by conducting a press inspection of the instructions that accompany the form. We anticipate a press inspection of the form itself within the next week. We will post further information when we begin the mailout of FAFSA orders in October. ................................................................................................................................... .......................... ANN-96-4 September 1996 Announcing a new way to order the 1997-98 version of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and the Student Guide ... 1-800-284-2788 Dear Colleague: This letter is your invitation to order bulk quantities of the following 1997-98 publications: the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the Spanish-language edition of the FAFSA, and the Student Guide. To expedite the ordering process, we have set up an automated Application Ordering System that can be reached through a toll-free telephone number. This system may be called at any time, 24 hours a day. ORDERING MADE EASY ... To order, simply call 1-800-284-2788 and follow the recorded instructions. First, you will be asked if you are checking a previous order or placing an order. Then you will select your institution type (postsecondary, rather than high school) and provide your school code number, which is printed in the upper left-hand corner of the address label on the envelope that enclosed this letter. Select the school year (1996-97 or 1997-98) and the publication that you would like to order, and enter the quantity as prompted. Finally, you will be asked to confirm that order. This process may be repeated to order other publications. The automated Application Ordering System has several advantages. It is accessible at all times, and orders can be placed instantly, without waiting for mail delivery and order entry. Since you enter and confirm the order yourself, you can be sure that the order has been placed accurately. You may call back at any time to check your order(s). WHEN TO CONTACT US ABOUT A DELIVERY PROBLEM ... We will begin mailing the 1997-98 FAFSA to schools in mid- October. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery by 4th-class mail. You can check the mailing date for your order by calling our automated phone system --we expect all FAFSA orders from colleges to have been mailed by early November. If you have not received your order within 6 weeks of your mailing date, please let us know and we will arrange for a replacement shipment.. You may advise us of delivery problems by calling our special customer service number, 1-800-394-7084, during working hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time, Monday-Friday). Please note that the Spanish-language FAFSA and Student Guide are printed after the FAFSA and are mailed separately. We do not yet have printing and shipping dates for the Spanish FAFSA or Student Guide. When we know the printing schedule, we will notify you by mail as to the time-frame for mailing and the quantities that will be shipped. A NOTE ABOUT STUDENT GUIDE ORDERS ... Please limit your orders of the Student Guide to no more than the total number of students who apply for financial aid at your school. We will print approximately 9 million Student Guides this year. Please bear in mind that this is a relatively expensive publication, and we cannot afford to provide unlimited quantities to postsecondary schools. A publication as detailed and extensive as the Student Guide should not be offered through general mailings that may be duplicated by other schools. We do not have a fixed order limit for the Guide, but we hope that each school will find the most efficient way to distribute the Guide to its students. For instance, at least one school that provides Internet access to its students have reduced its Guide order by publicizing the Web site for the Guide to enrolled students (the on-line Student Guide can be found at http://www.ed.gov/prog_info/SFA/StudentGuide/). Your incoming students will continue to have access to student aid information through several other sources. We will be distributing 4 million copies of Funding Your Education to high schools and libraries throughout the country. In addition, many students order individual copies of either the Guide or Funding your Education by calling the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FED AID (1-800-433-3243). The toll-free number operators can also provide information about the Student Financial Assistance Programs and assist students in completing the FAFSA. USING SCHOOL CODE ADDRESSES ... For the second year in a row, we will be using your school code address for bulk orders. Your school code address is the address that is printed in the Title IV School Code List publication. (As noted on the previous page, it also appears in the upper left corner of the envelope that enclosed this letter.) The use of the school code address list has helped us to reduce duplication in ordering and track bulk orders better. Please remember that your school code address may be different than the address at which you receive Dear Colleague letters, Federal Registers, and single-copy SFA publications. If your school has several branch campuses with their own school code numbers, please coordinate with those branches to make sure that your orders are not duplicative. SPECIAL REQUESTS ... There may be circumstances where you need to contact the ordering system staff for assistance. We have established a special customer service number for application orders. You may call this number, 1-800-394-7084, during working hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time, Monday-Friday) if you have special needs that are not addressed by the automated ordering system. For instance, for security reasons, the ordering system will not allow callers to change orders, and it only will accept one order for a particular product within a 30-day period. Should you decide to cancel an order, or if you decide you need to increase your original order before 30 days have elapsed, please contact the AOS customer service staff at 1-800-394-7084. We appreciate your assistance in making these materials available to students who may need financial aid to continue their education. Sincerely, William J. Ryan Director, Training and Program Information Division Student Financial Assistance Programs |