Summary: 2008-2009 ISIR Reprocessing on October 31, 2008 for DHS Match Issue Impacting ARNs Beginning With "06"

Publication Date: October 27, 2008

Author: William Leith, Acting General Manager, Application, Operations and Delivery Services, Federal Student Aid

Summary: 2008-2009 ISIR Reprocessing on October 31, 2008 for DHS Match Issue Impacting ARNs Beginning With "06"

Posted on 10-27-2008

On October 31, 2008, Federal Student Aid will reprocess 2008-2009 Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) for applicants impacted by a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) match issue. This DHS issue affects student records that contain an Alien Registration Number (ARN) beginning with "06."

The Central Processing System (CPS) conducts a match of applicant data with the DHS, a service of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), to confirm a student's citizenship status and eligibility for federal student aid. Currently, when a student's ARN begins with "06" the CPS does not send the student record to the DHS for matching because an ARN beginning with "06" was previously considered an invalid number. DHS has notified us that a valid ARN can now begin with "06" and should be sent to the DHS for a match. We are currently modifying the CPS so that ARNs beginning with "06" will automatically be sent to DHS as part of our normal matching process. This change will be in effect for any new records processed on or after October 31, 2008.

Records for students who are selected for the October 31, 2008 reprocessing will be sent to DHS for matching. Student records with ARNs beginning with "06" for whom corrections have been submitted and which have subsequently been resent to match with the DHS, based on a temporary workaround provided by CPS/SAIG Technical Support to schools who inquired about this issue, will not be reprocessed.

Several methods exist for identifying the records resulting from the October 31, 2008 reprocessing:

• SARs and ISIRs will include SAR comment code 172, which states "This SAR was produced because we have processed a change to your information based on information reported to us by another agency or as a result of a processing system change. Please review your SAR to see what effect, if any, this change has had on your application."
  
• ISIRs produced as a result of the October 31, 2008 reprocessing will include a value of "06" for the Reprocessed Reason Code (ISIR field #166). The Reprocessed Reason Code value of "06" will also be displayed on page 2 of the paper SAR, in the FAA Info section.

If You Have Questions

If you have any questions, contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support at 800/330-5947 (TDD/TTY 800/511-5806) or by e-mail at CPSSAIG@ed.gov.

If your students have any questions, ask them to contact the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 800/4-FEDAID (800/433-3243) or by e-mail at FederalStudentAidCustomerService@ed.gov. TDD/TTY service is also available at 800/730-8913.