Summary: Continuing Resolution's Impact on the 2007-2008 Award Year

Publication Date: December 29, 2006

Author: G. Kay Jacks, General Manager, Application, Operations and Delivery Services, Federal Student Aid

Summary: Continuing Resolution’s Impact on the 2007-2008 Award Year

Posted on 12-29-2006

At this time, the Department's Fiscal Year 2007 appropriations bill has not been approved by Congress and we are currently operating under a Continuing Resolution through February 15, 2007. Until the Fiscal Year 2007 appropriations bill has been signed by the President, the final 2007-2008 Award Year minimum and maximum Federal Pell Grant award amounts cannot be established and we cannot finalize the 2007-2008 Award Year Federal Pell Grant Program Payment and Disbursement Schedules. Similarly, until we have a Fiscal Year 2007 appropriations we cannot make 2007-2008 Final Awards for the Campus-Based Programs.

Impact on the Central Processing System (CPS)

When the CPS begins processing for the 2007-2008 Award Year on January 3, 2007, we will use the current maximum Expected Family Contribution (EFC) of 3850 to establish Federal Pell Grant eligibility, and our systems will assume the current maximum Federal Pell Grant award amount of $4,050 and current minimum award amount of $400. After the Department's Fiscal Year 2007 appropriations bill is signed by the President, we will, if necessary, reprocess any CPS records for any students who may then become eligible or ineligible for a Federal Pell Grant. New 2007-2008 Student Aid Reports (SARs) and Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) will also be generated for students impacted by any reprocessing that may occur.

Note for EDExpress Packaging Users

Users of the EDExpress Packaging module should note that EDExpress for Windows 2007-2008, Release 1.0, will use the 2006-2007 Award Year Federal Pell Grant Payment and Disbursement Schedules that reflect a maximum Federal Pell Grant award amount of $4,050 and a minimum award amount of $400. After the Department's Fiscal Year 2007 appropriations legislation is finalized, we will, if necessary, update the Federal Pell Grant Program Payment and Disbursement Schedules in EDExpress through a future release of the EDExpress software.

For packaging purposes, until we have issued the 2007-2008 Federal Pell Grant Program Payment and Disbursement Schedules you may want to use the 2006-2007 Federal Pell Grant Program Payment and Disbursement Schedules to estimate a student's Federal Pell Grant award for the 2007-2008 Award Year.

Impact on the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System

At this time, the COD System will remain unchanged. After the Department's Fiscal Year 2007 appropriations legislation is finalized, we will update the Federal Pell Grant Program Payment and Disbursement Schedules in the COD System for 2007-2008.

Impact on the Campus-Based Programs

We will base the 2007-2008 Campus-Based Tentative Award funding levels on the amounts contained in the Department's Fiscal Year 2006 appropriations legislation. Some portion of those amounts will be held in reserve to accommodate adjustments to the school FISAP database.

Contact Information

If you have questions, contact Federal Student Aid's Research and Customer Care Center (RCCC) at 800/433-7327, 202/275-5532 (fax), or by e-mail at fsa.customer.support@ed.gov.