Posted Date: March 12, 2009
Author: William Leith, Service Director, Program Management, Federal Student Aid
Subject: Operational Implementation Guidance - Implementation of 2009-2010 Federal Pell Grant Payment and Disbursement Schedules
In Dear Colleague Letter P-09-01, posted to the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site on February 20, 2009, we provided schools with the payment and disbursement schedules for determining Federal Pell Grant (Pell Grant) awards for the 2009-2010 Award Year.
As described in the Dear Colleague Letter, the maximum Expected Family Contribution (EFC) that a student may have to be eligible to receive a Pell Grant in 2009-2010 is 4617. For an explanation of how this figure was established, as well as information regarding the determination of the 2009-2010 maximum and minimum Pell Grant award amounts, please refer to Dear Colleague Letter P-09-01.
We have begun the work needed to modify our systems, Web and software products, technical documents, training materials, and publications to reflect the minimum and maximum Pell Grant amounts for the 2009-2010 Award Year. At this time, we want to provide schools with high-level information about the impact on the Central Processing System (CPS) and the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System and our anticipated implementation dates related to these systems.
Impact on the CPS
Because Congress had not established the 2009-2010 Pell Grant award amounts when we began processing Free Applications for Federal Student Aid (FAFSAs) for the 2009-2010 Award Year on January 2, 2009, we used the 2008-2009 maximum EFC of 4041 to establish Pell Grant eligibility for the 2009-2010 Award Year. Now that we have actual amounts for the 2009-2010 Award Year, we will update our systems to use the actual 2009-2010 maximum EFC of 4617.
We plan to implement the changes in the CPS on March 17, 2009. From that date forward we will process all new 2009-2010 applications, as well as corrections to applications that were filed earlier, using the actual Pell Grant amounts for the 2009-2010 Award Year.
After we implement the changes in the CPS we will need to reprocess 2009-2010 CPS records for students who applied before the changes were implemented and who, under earlier formulas were not designated as being "Pell Grant Eligible," but who are now eligible for a 2009-2010 Pell Grant. New 2009-2010 Student Aid Reports (SARs) and Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) will be generated for students impacted by this reprocessing.
We expect this reprocessing to take place by the end of March 2009 and estimate that approximately 113,000 student records will need to be reprocessed. We will communicate further details about the upcoming reprocessing through an electronic announcement on the IFAP Web site.
Note for EDExpress Users
EDExpress for Windows 2009-2010, Release 2.0, scheduled for release on March 30, 2009, will add Pell Grant, Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant, and William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) functionality for the 2009-2010 Award Year. The Pell module will include 2009-2010 origination and disbursement functionality for the Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant (National SMART Grant) programs. Release 2.0 will not include functionality needed to support the new Pell Grant payment and disbursement schedules. We are currently evaluating options for future software releases to update the appropriate modules of EDExpress with the new schedules and will communicate the details through forthcoming electronic announcements on the IFAP Web site.
EDExpress 2009-2010 Release 1.0 users should note the Packaging module's Package and Repackage processes use the 2008-2009 schedules to calculate Pell Grant awards. Until the Packaging module is updated with the new amounts through a future release, Packaging users who wish to manually add or adjust Pell Grant awards according to the new 2009-2010 Award Year limits must use the Pell Grant payment and disbursement schedules in Dear Colleague Letter P-09-01.
Note for ISIR Analysis Tool Users
The 2009-2010 ISIR Analysis Tool, which will be available through the FAA Main Menu of the FAA Access to CPS Online Web site in late May 2009, will reflect 2009-2010 maximum and minimum Pell Grant award amounts.
Impact on the COD System
During the period March 27-28, 2009, we plan to implement COD System functionality that supports processing for the 2009-2010 Award Year. We will implement the 2009-2010 Pell Grant payment and disbursement schedules in the COD System during this release. Detailed information about the March 27-28, 2009 COD System update will be provided in a forthcoming electronic announcement on the IFAP Web site.
Note: We will add the 2009-2010 Pell Grant payment and disbursement schedules to the 2009-2010 COD Technical Reference in a forthcoming update.
Contact Information
If you have questions regarding the reprocessing of applicable CPS records, EDExpress, or the upcoming 2009-2010 ISIR Analysis Tool, contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support at 800/330-5947 (TDD/TTY 800/511-5806) or by e-mail at CPSSAIG@ed.gov.
If you have questions regarding the implementation of the Pell Grant payment and disbursement schedules in the COD System, contact the COD School Relations Center at 800/474-7268 or by e-mail at CODSupport@acs-inc.com.