| PublicationDate: 2/25/97 Summary: FASFA on the Web Author: CPS - Central Processing System (CPS) February 25, 1997 The U.S. Department of Education is developing a Web site where students will be able to complete a FAFSA online and transmit it to the Central Processing System (CPS) via the Internet. FAFSA on the Web, as it will be called, will be available to students on June 30, 1997 and will work much like FAFSA Express. The FAFSA on the Web project is being developed in a phased approach with each new phase offering additional functionality. In the first phase of the project, the phase starting up on June 30, 1997, students will need to print and mail a paper signature page or will have their FAFSA processed with a signature reject (reject 16) that can only be rectified by signing a SAR that is subsequently processed by the CPS. In the second phase of the project, which will come online in January 1998, FAFSA on the Web will offer a Renewal Application option as well as the online FAFSA application. In this phase of the project, the U.S. Department of Education will continue to rely on the paper signature page/reject 16 mechanism since there has yet to be developed a trusted digital signature standard. Since the Department is collecting Privacy Act information that will be used to determine an individual's eligibility for an entitlement program, considerable emphasis has been placed on the ability to protect and authenticate information provided by applicants. Protection of application information is being handled by Secure Socket Layer (SSL) 3.0 encryption, which means that students will only be able to access this application with a web browser that utilizes this encryption protocol. The good news is that students can use FAFSA on the Web regardless of the type of computer system they are using (i.e., Windows 3.1, Windows 95, or MacIntosh) as long as they are equipped with a web browser that supports this encryption protocol. |