Publication Date: November 25, 2003
Author: General Manager: FSA Application - School Eligibility and Delivery Services
Summary: Additional COD Functionality
Posted on 11-25-2003
TO: All Destination Points
FROM: Common Origination and Disbursement (COD)
RE: COD System Update for the 2003-2004 Processing Year – November 2003
Since April 2002, Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) has been the financial aid delivery system for the Federal Pell Grant and Direct Loan programs. This announcement contains important information on key features available for the Fall 2003, 2.2 release of the COD System.
New functionality has been added to the COD System specific to the Federal Pell Grant program. These changes are described in detail below.
· The SSN/Name/ DOB Change Record Report has been created for the Pell Grant Program for the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 Award Years. This report can be used to view any changes made to a student’s information. This is also a useful tool in reviewing a student’s demographic records. The report will be created daily (when a change is made) and will be delivered to schools in their SAIG mailbox. The report will also available on the COD web site in the Pell Reports section under the Services tab. The report will be made available on the Web once FSA has validated it is working properly.
· The Pell Year-To-Date (YTD) report has been revised to allow Full Participant schools (including schools using 2003-2004 EDExpress version 9.2) to use the file for recreating their database. The following fields have been added to the disbursement section of the record layout for Full Participant schools. These fields are blank for Phase-In schools.
o Disbursement Process Date
o Common School Identifier
o Financial Award Year
o Attended Campus Pell ID
o Student’s Last Name, Student’s First Name, Student's Middle Initial, Student's Current SSN, Student's Date of Birth.
o Disbursement Sequence Number
o Disbursement Release Indicator and Previous Disbursement Sequence Number
These enhancements are retroactive to include the 2002-2003 Award Year. They are not effective for the 1999-2000, 2000-2001, or 2001-2002 Award Years. Schools are able to request the Pell YTD report by sending a batch data request to COD or via the COD web site Pell Data Requests link.
Note: EDExpress users should refer to the upcoming posting ”Availability of 2003-2004 EDExpress version 9.2 for further information regarding the enhanced YTD report. Version 9.2 will be available approximately December 1. Do not request 2003-3004 YTD reports until version 9.2 is installed.
· The Administrative Cost Allowance (ACA) payment history is now available as a link on the school’s Funding Information Screen. This link is only available if there is more than one ACA payment received for an award year. The ACA Payment History screen displays the date of the ACA payment, total number of recipients, and the total amount of ACA payments received by award year.
· The COD System now captures, processes, and displays student payments made to the Debt Collection Service (DCS) for a return of Pell Grant funds for the 2003-2004 year and beyond. The Pell Award Detail Information screen displays four new fields. These fields are:
o Pell Collection Status Indicator.
o Pell Collection Referral Amount.
o Pell Collection Amount Collected
o Eligibility Used
The field definitions are available by clicking on the "Help" link in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
New functionality has been added to the COD System specifically for the Direct Loan program. These are described in detail below.
· A new web screen has been added that allows users to view discharge information and payments received at the Direct Loan Servicing System (DLSS). A link for “DL Additional Eligibility” will appear under the person tab for those students that have a discharge or payment at DLSS. After clicking on the link, the Person Direct Loan Additional Eligibility Information screen will display. This screen displays the discharge information and/or the payment information. All users except School User 1 and Third Party 1 are able to view this screen.
Functionality that affects both the Pell Grant and Direct Loan has also been added. This includes:
· A new warning edit has been implemented, COD Edit 116 (Person SSN, Date of Birth and/or Last Name have NOT been updated in the COD System). This edit is for all Full Participants and Pell Grant Phase-In participants. This edit is triggered when a school submits a change to a student identifier and:
o the award year submitted on the change record is lower than the highest award year for that student, or
o the CPS transaction number on the change record is lower than the highest transaction number for that award year for that student.
In these cases, COD Edit 012 is now bypassed. The identifier change is not accepted in the COD System, but the record is processed.
· Printing capability on the COD web site has been expanded. Users can now print multiple web pages of batch detail information up to 1000 lines with one request.
The next release of the COD System, release 3.0, is expected in March 2004. More information will be provided closer to that time. As always, if you have any questions about COD, please contact the COD School Relations Center at: 1-800-4PGRANT for Pell Grants, or 1-800-848-0978 for Direct Loans. You may also email COD Customer Service at: CODSupport@acs-inc.com. Thank you for your continued support of the COD System.