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Summary: Letter to Business Officers Concerning Negative Balances in the Pell and Campus Based Programs

Publication Date: June 19, 2002

Author: Office of The Chief Financial Officer

Summary: Letter to Business Officers Concerning Negative Balances in the Pell and Campus Based Programs

 

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

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June 13, 2002

Business Officer

BOSTON, MA 02115

Award Number(s)

P063P98XXXXÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â -50983.00Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

P063P00XXXXÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â -7291.00

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Dear Business Officer:

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Over the past few years, the Department of Education has been working closely with our recipients to reconcile award balances. As part of this effort, we are now working to resolve awards that carry a negative balance or Unprocessed Deobligation. You are receiving this letter because our records show that your organization has one or more federal student aid awards with an Unprocessed Deobligation for one or more award years.

For Pell Awards, Unprocessed Deobligations are generally created when you submit decreases in student disbursement records to the Pell Grant system. The decreases in student disbursements reduce the award amount below the amount of cash that you have drawn from the Grant and Administrative Payment System (GAPS). For Campus-Based Programs an Unprocessed Deobligation occurs when the net amount of funds drawn through GAPS for that program and year exceeds the total expenditures reported on the school’s FISAP. Your school needs to take action to resolve the Unprocessed Deobligation so that your Pell and/or Campus Based accounts and GAPS are reconciled. (You can view the transactions at the GAPS Website.)

You should take one of the following actions as appropriate:

1.       For Pell awards, submit disbursement records that cover the amount of the Unprocessed Deobligation. For Campus-Based awards, submit a revised FISAP expenditure report that has program expenditures equal to the net drawdown amount.

2.       Refund the amount of the Unprocessed Deobligation within 60 days by either: (1) mailing a check to the lockbox or (2) initiating an electronic refund payment through GAPS.  We recommend that you use the electronic refund process. (More detailed instructions on how to return funds in GAPS are enclosed.), or

3.       Perform a drawdown adjustment in GAPS. This adjustment will move the drawdown to the appropriate award(s), thereby eliminating the Unprocessed Deobligation.

In order for Department of Education personnel to assist you in researching and resolving your Unprocessed Deobligation, you must first determine if the Unprocessed Deobligation exists because of insufficient authorization. If you have a discrepancy with one or more GAPS authorizations, please contact the Program Office(s) for the award(s) in question. Grant Award Notifications contain the name and telephone numbers of Program Office contacts. You can also call the GAPS Payee Hotline (888-336-8930) to identify a Program Office contact.

Failure to resolve Unprocessed Deobligations may require us to place a stop pay on all awards for your school.Â

If you have questions, please contact the Department of Education. A list of the Department of Education contacts is enclosed.

Thank you for your assistance in resolving these Unprocessed Deobligations.

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                                                                                   Sincerely,

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                                                                                   Mark Carney

                                                                                   Deputy Chief Financial Officer

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Enclosures