Summary: Central Processing System (CPS) Updates Resulting from Changes to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Match

Publication Date: December 23, 2004

Author: General Manager, FSA Application, School Eligibility and Delivery Services

Summary: Central Processing System (CPS) Updates Resulting from Changes to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Match

Posted on 12-23-2004

The Department of Education is making several changes to the database match that the CPS performs with the VA. These changes will apply to both the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 application processing years and will be implemented on January 3, 2005 when the CPS begins processing for the 2005-06 year. The changes affect students for whom the VA is unable to confirm veteran status, including students who have recently returned from active duty in Iraq.

Currently, when the VA is unable to confirm that a student is a qualifying veteran or cannot find the student in its database the CPS assumes a value of "No" to the veteran status question on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Applicants who did not answer "Yes" to one of the other dependency status questions are treated by the CPS as dependent students and are rejected if parent data has not been provided on the application. The changes described below are designed to minimize disruption to returning soldiers in this situation and to assist with a speedy resolution.

**Summary of VA Match Changes**

The following is a summary of the changes we are implementing to the VA match process beginning on January 3, 2005:

1) Records returned from VA with match flag values of 2 (not a qualifying veteran) and 3 (not on VA database) will no longer have an assumed value of "No" to the veteran status question. This will prevent the record from being rejected solely for lack of parental data.

2) Records with match flag values of 2, 3, and 4 (active duty) will receive a SAR/ISIR comment and a SAR C flag if their veteran status is the only reason they are independent. If they qualify as independent for other reasons (marriage, age, dependents, etc.), no comment or C flag will be set.

3) Comment text for flags 2, 3, and 4 has been updated to direct the student to contact their Financial Aid Administrator (FAA) and provide the necessary documentation of their status.

** Comment Code Changes **

Comment codes 162 (for match flag of 2), 173 (for match flag of 3), and 180 (for match flag of 4) will be updated to reflect these VA match changes. While the comment text for all three codes is the same, you can use the codes to determine the specific match flag result the student received. Or, you can use the match flag values themselves.

Comment codes 162, 173, and 180 will now read as follows (with appropriate cycle dates): "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) did not confirm that you are or will be a qualifying veteran for purposes of receiving federal student aid for the 2005-2006 school year. If you believe you are or will be a qualifying veteran, contact your Financial Aid Administrator (FAA) and provide them with a copy of your DD214 (military separation form). If you are currently on active duty but will be separated from the military during the school year, provide your FAA with a letter from your commanding officer indicating that you will be separated from the military prior to June 30, 2006. If you are not and will not be a veteran, you must change the answer to Item 54 from "Yes" to "No" and provide parental information, including the signature of at least one of your parents."

To reflect these recent changes, we are issuing updated pages for the 2005-2006 ISIR Guide and 2005-2006 SAR/ISIR Comment Codes and Text, both of which were recently published on the Department's Federal Student Aid Download (FSAdownload) Web site (located at http://fsadownload.ed.gov). A separate announcement will be sent when these change pages are available for download.

NOTE: The EDExpress for Windows 2004-2005 software will not be updated to reflect these comment code text changes. Please be aware of this when printing ISIRs from the EDExpress software. The EDExpress for Windows 2005-2006 software, due for release in January 2005, will contain the correct comment code text.

If you have any questions regarding this message, please contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support at 800/330-5947 or via e-mail at CPSSAIG@ed.gov.