Publication Date: December 15, 2000
Author: General Manager: SFA Student Channel
Summary: 2001-2002 Federal Pell Grant Program Schedule Delay and Anticipated Impact
Posted on December 15, 2000
TO: All Destination Points
FROM: U.S. Department of Education
RE: 2001-2002 Federal Pell Grant Program Schedule Delay and Anticipated Impact
The 2001-2002 Federal Pell Grant Program Payment and Disbursement Schedules have not been determined yet because the appropriations bill that includes funding for the Title IV programs has not been finalized. Without a legislative determination regarding this matter, the 2001-2002 Federal Pell Grant Program Payment and Disbursement Schedules cannot be issued at this time.
Nevertheless, it is important to note that the Department is required to comply with the Master Calendar dates prescribed by section 482 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended. Consequently, we will issue the 2001-2002 Federal Pell Grant Program Payment and Disbursement Schedules no later than February 1, 2001.
CPS Processing Impact: CPS uses the maximum Pell EFC amount to set certain ISIR comment codes and the Pell Eligibility Flag on a student's processed ISIR. If the 2001-2002 maximum Pell EFC is not determined before January 2, 2001, CPS will begin processing 2001-2002 FAFSA data using the 2000-2001 Federal Pell Grant Program Schedules.
When the 2001-2002 Federal Pell Grant Program Payment and Disbursement Schedules have been determined and approved, the CPS will reprocess student transactions which received any incorrect ISIR comment codes and/or an incorrect Pell Eligibility Flag. An additional network message will be sent at that time advising schools how to identify these reprocessed records.
EDExpress Impact: This delay will also impact the Federal Pell Grant Program schedules included in 2001-2002 EDExpress Version 7.0, which is due for release to schools in late December 2000. Version 7.0 will be shipped using the 2000-2001 Federal Pell Grant Program schedules.
We anticipate that an EDExpress service release (Version 7.0.1) will be developed to update the EDExpress database with the finalized 2001-2002 Federal Pell Grant Program schedules. This release will be made available to schools as soon as the schedules are finalized. However, timing issues could delay the database update until the next full release of EDExpress, Version 7.1, since it is due for release to schools in late February 2001.
Schools should remain alert to this delay and how it impacts the various functionality of EDExpress Version 7.0. For example, ISIRs printed prior to the CPS reprocessing might not reflect an accurate Pell Eligibility Flag. Also, EDExpress Packaging users awarding Pell may want to refrain from packaging student records until Version 7.0.1 or Version 7.1 is released, or plan to repackage records once Version 7.0.1 or Version 7.1 is successfully installed.
Impact to other ED Programs/Software: FAFSA Express, FAFSA on the Web, Renewal on the Web, and Corrections on the Web are not affected by the late determination of the maximum Pell EFC.
If you have questions regarding the EDExpress software, please contact CPS Customer Service at 800/330-5947 or via email at CPS@NCS.COM.
All other questions regarding this delay should be directed to the SFA Customer Service Call Center at 800/433-7327 or via email at SFA_Customer_Support@ed.gov.