Student Financial Aid Year 2000 Project Status

SFA Information for Financial Aid Professionals
U.S. Department of Education

PublicationDate: 5/13/99 Summary: Student Financial Aid Year 2000 Project Status Author: Student Financial Aid Year 2000 Project Status As of 7 May, 1999 The office of Student Financial Assistance Programs (OSFAP) is proud to announce that OSFAP systems, which deliver and administer student assistance, are Year 2000 ready. However, this achievement alone does not assure the delivery of student aid. Trading exchange testing with our large population of OSFAP customers will further reduce the risk of a Year 2000 failure in the delivery of student assistance. OSFAP encourages each institution (school or agency) to test their data exchanges with the following systems during the windows of opportunity listed below. Testing plans and test cases can be found at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OCIO/year/b2a.html. Scheduled Dates for Institution Testing NSLDS CPS DLOS Pell Origination Pell Disbursement (ESOA & Data Request April 12 – May 21 May 31 – July 12 April 12 – May 21 May 17 – June 25 July 12 – Aug 20 Aug 9 – Sep 20 July 12 – Aug 20 July 12 – Aug 20 The preliminary Year 2000 Student Financial Assistance Business Continuity and Contingency Planning is another milestone accomplishment OSFAP has completed. Our plan can be found at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OCIO/year/reports.html. This plan provides OSFAP business continuity should any portion of the student financial assistance business process fail for a Year 2000 problem. The plan identifies eight core business processes and numerous key sub-processes, normal and emergency levels of performance, potential failure scenarios, and a variety of risk mitigation strategies and contingency plans addressing potential failures. Review by the Office of Management and Budget is in process. This plan will be posted to the Web site for community review and input. OSFAP encourages institutions and agencies to review our plan and develop similar plans to ensure their ability to continue student financial assistance delivery and other core business functions associated with their mission. OSFAP is conducting outreach to our financial aid community partners on Y2K assessment, testing, and contingency planning. OSFAP held a focus group in Puerto Rico, and four others are scheduled through July. In conclusion, OSFAP wants to ensure that the student financial assistance community will not be disrupted on account of the Year 2000 problem. The SFA Year 2000 project team may be reached via email at: .