Posted Date:April 1, 2010
Author: | William Leith, Service Director, Program Management, Federal Student Aid |
Subject: Instructions for Rosters of Students Affected by FAFSA Technical Website Error
This is a follow up to our March 25, 2010 electronic announcement posted to the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site, describing the identification and resolution of a technical error on the 2010-2011 FAFSA on the Web site that misdirected a limited number of 2010-2011 applicants to the 2009-2010 FAFSA on the Web application. We have notified potentially affected applicants and advised them to contact our Federal Student Aid Information Center (FSAIC) at 800-4-FED-AID.
We plan to send to postsecondary institutions and to state grant agencies rosters of students who called FSAIC in response to the notifications. Schools will receive information about students who contacted FSAIC and listed the school’s federal school code on their 2009-2010 FAFSA on the Web application. States will receive rosters that include information about their students. Schools and states can use the information to follow up with affected students and provide deadline flexibility.
The remainder of this message provides technical guidance for schools and state agencies on accessing the electronic rosters of their affected students who contacted FSAIC.
Production of Roster Files of Students
We will send an initial roster file of students to the school’s or state agency’s Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) mailbox on Monday, April 5, 2010, and then send subsequent rosters on a weekly basis, beginning Monday, April 12, 2010. The roster files will include students who were notified of being potentially affected by the website error and who subsequently contacted FSAIC for assistance.
The weekly rosters will be generated every Monday evening following the daily Central Processing System (CPS) compute. Each successive roster will contain only those students who were affected by the error and who contacted FSAIC since the school or agency’s last roster was generated.
Schools and state agencies may receive one or more roster files depending on when students contacted FSAIC. Note: State agency rosters will be generated using the same logic (i.e., residents, non-residents, or both) used to distribute the agency’s Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) files.
Roster File Message Class and Record Layout
Roster files will be sent in the ED-initiated message class ED2211OP (Misdirected Apps - Actual). Each student record will include the following fields from the applicant’s 2009-2010 FAFSA, unless otherwise noted:
- Student’s Social Security Number (SSN) in positions 1-9
- Student’s Name ID in positions 10-11
- Transaction Number in positions 12-13
- Student’s Last Name in positions 14-29
- Student’s First Name in positions 30-41
- Student’ Date of Birth (DOB) in positions 42-49
- 2009-2010 Application Receipt Date in positions 50-57
- 2009-2010 Transaction Processed Date in positions 58-65
- Federal School Code in positions 66-71*
- 2010-2011 Transaction Processed Date in positions 72-79 (if the student has filed a 2010-2011 FAFSA; otherwise, this field will be blank)
- Applicant Affected Flag in position 80 (see next section for discussion of the values for this field)
* Note: The Federal School Code field will be blank in roster files sent to state agencies.
The Applicant Affected Flag is unique to these rosters and indicates the student’s particular situation as conveyed to a FSAIC customer service representative. Valid values are:
- 0 – Applicant was not affected by the error and has not filed a 2010-2011 application.
- 1 – Applicant was affected by the error and stated he or she will file a 2010-2011 FAFSA on the Web application.
- 2 – Applicant was affected by the error and filed a 2010-2011 application using FAFSA on the Phone (FOTP).
- 3 – Applicant was affected by the error, plans to file a 2010-2011 application using FOTP, but needs to call back later with information needed to complete the form.
- 4 – Applicant was affected by the error, but, as of the date of the call has a 2010-2011 application on file.
- 5 – Applicant was not affected and has already filed a 2010-2011 application.
Instructions for Downloading and Viewing the Roster
Before you will be able to download any roster file sent to you, the ED2211OP message class must be added to your EDconnect message class database. We will send a message class “MESSAGTB” via the SAIG to all user mailboxes to add the ED2211OP message class for this file distribution. The EDconnect transmission software will automatically request, download, and import this new message class table during your next connection to the SAIG network. Once the MESSAGTB file has been imported, the new message class table will be used from that point forward.
Once the message class update is complete, you have three options for downloading an ED2211OP file using EDconnect:
- If you normally download all your files at the same time, the ED2211OP file will download with your other files. You do not need to do anything unique to retrieve it.
- If you want to download the ED2211OP file by itself, put a checkmark in the Transmit column, select Request in the Activity column, and select ED2211OP from the list in the Message Class column. The remaining columns fill in automatically. Perform a transmission by selecting Transmission, then Now from the menu bar.
- If you prefer to download files individually using Mailbox Query, perform a transmission with nothing in the Transmission Queue, close the transmission results screen, then select File, New, Mailbox Query. Locate the ED2211OP file and put a checkmark to the left of the ED2211OP message class in the Move to TQ column. Perform a transmission by selecting Transmission, then Now from the menu bar.
After you have downloaded a ED2211OP file from your SAIG mailbox, you can use any text editor or word processing program to view the student data in the file. Open your text editor or word processing program, browse to the location of the ED2211OP file, and open it. Double-clicking the file name in the EDconnect activity log should open the file in Windows Notepad. If Windows asks you what program to use to open the file, choose Notepad. Set the font in Notepad to Lucida Console and the type size to 10 points to have each student record print on a separate line. Using other fonts or type sizes may cause each record to print on multiple lines.
If you prefer, you can use EDExpress for Windows 2010-2011 to import and print the student data in the file. If you use EDExpress, you must first define the ED2211OP message class by performing the following steps:
1) Select Tools, Setup, Global from the menu bar.
2) Click ED Initiated Imports.
3) Click Add.
4) Click the down arrow for the Message Class field and select the ED2211OP message class.
5) Type “Misdirected Apps - Actual” for the Import Report Name.
6) Click OK, then Yes to save your changes.
After defining the ED2211OP message class in EDExpress Global setup, you can import and print the file:
1) Select File, Import, Global from the menu bar.
2) Click the down arrow on the Import Type box, scroll down, and select the “Misdirected Apps - Actual (ED22)” message class you created in the previous steps.
3) Click the File button in the Import From box to locate the file to be imported. Select the ED2211OP file and click OK. EDExpress enters the file name in the box automatically.
4) Click Printer, File, or Screen as the output destination.
5) Click OK to import the file and send the report to the destination you chose.
Note: Data sent in the ED2211OP message class is not stored in the EDExpress 2010-2011 database following import. If you want to reprint the data, you must re-import the ED2211OP file into EDExpress.
Remember, if you do not use EDExpress 2010-2011, you can open, view, and print the ED2211OP file using a standard word processor or text editor, such as WordPad or Notepad. Adjust the font and type size until each student record displays and prints on a separate line.
Contact Information
If you need assistance with the roster files or EDExpress 2010-2011, contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support at 800-330-5947 (TDD/TTY 800-511-5806) or by e-mail at CPSSAIG@ed.gov. Foreign schools can contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support at 319-665-4762.
If you have questions about this issue in general, please contact our Research and Customer Care Center staff at 800-433-7327, Monday through Friday, from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. (ET). Calls received after-hours will be accepted by an automated voice response system and returned the next business day. You may also reach the Customer Care Center staff by fax at 202-275-5532, or by e-mail at fsa.customer.support@ed.gov.
If your students have questions regarding FAFSA on the Web or this particular issue, please ask them to contact the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 800-4-FED-AID (800-433-3243), Monday through Friday, from 8:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. (ET). Students may also e-mail the Federal Student Aid Information Center at FederalStudentAidCustomerService@ed.gov. TTY service is available for the hearing-impaired at 800-730-8913. Students calling from outside the United States should call 319-337-5665.