Posted Date:May 5, 2010
Author: | William Leith, Service Director, Program Management, Federal Student Aid |
Subject: Operational Implementation Guidance - Implementation of REVISED 2010-2011 Federal Pell Grant Payment and Disbursement Schedules
In Dear Colleague Letter P-10-03, posted to the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site on April 8, 2010, we provided schools with revised payment and disbursement schedules for determining Federal Pell Grant (Pell Grant) awards for the 2010-2011 Award Year. These schedules replace the schedules that were published on January 13, 2010 and must be used for all 2010-2011 Pell Grant award calculations, including those for students who may have already been awarded based on the January 13, 2010 schedules.
We have begun the work needed to modify our systems, Web and software products, technical documents, training materials, and publications to reflect the revised Pell Grant payment and disbursement schedules for the 2010-2011 Award Year. At this time, we want to provide schools with high-level information about the impact on the Central Processing System (CPS), the ISIR Analysis Tool, the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System, and the EDExpress for Windows software and the anticipated completion dates for the system modifications.
We present this information in the following order:
- Impact on the CPS
- Impact on the ISIR Analysis Tool
- Impact on the COD System
- Impact on EDExpress
Impact on the CPS
Beginning with the May 6, 2010 compute, the CPS will use the revised Pell Grant payment and disbursement schedules for 2010-2011 to calculate Pell Grant eligibility and estimated Pell Grant Scheduled Award amounts for all new 2010-2011 Free Applications for Federal Student Aid (FAFSAs), as well as for corrections to FAFSAs filed earlier than May 6, 2010.
As part of the CPS system update, we will also update our Student Aid Report (SAR) print operations and FAFSA on the Web confirmation page functionality to display estimated Pell Grant Scheduled Award amounts based on the revised schedules.
After we implement the changes in the CPS, we will need to reprocess records for students who applied for 2010-2011 before the May 6, 2010 compute and who were not, based upon the old schedules, eligible for a 2010-2011 Pell Grant but who are now eligible. This reprocessing will take place on May 18, 2010 and we estimate that fewer than 250,000 students will be affected.
The May 18, 2010 reprocessing will create a new transaction for any record with an Expected Family Contribution (EFC) between 4618 (the outdated schedule's maximum EFC) and 5273 (the revised schedule's maximum EFC) to be "Pell-eligible." New 2010-2011 SARs and Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) will be generated for students impacted by this reprocessing.
Note: As discussed in Dear Colleague Letter P-10-03, the revised Pell Grant payment and disbursement schedules may result in a lower Scheduled Award for some students who were previously identified as Pell-eligible, depending on the student's cost of attendance, including those who enroll less than one-half time. The May 18, 2010 CPS reprocessing will not result in a new transaction or SAR/ISIR for these students, since they remain Pell Grant eligible.
As we get closer to the date of reprocessing, we will communicate further details about the reprocessing through an electronic announcement on the IFAP Web site. This announcement will provide details about how to identify the reprocessed records, including message class information.
Impact on the ISIR Analysis Tool
The 2010-2011 ISIR Analysis Tool, which will be available through the FAA Main Menu of the FAA Access to CPS Online Web site in mid-May 2010, will reflect 2010-2011 Pell Grant awards based on the revised schedules.
Impact on the COD System
On May 25, 2010 we will implement the revised 2010-2011 Pell Grant payment and disbursement schedules in the COD System, with full implementation in place by May 26, 2010. Schools that have already awarded students based on the January 13, 2010 Pell Grant schedules must re-evaluate how the revised Pell Grant schedule may impact those awards. This is particularly important for students who have a Pell Grant Cost of Attendance (COA) less than $5,550 or attend school less than full-time.
Important Note: The COD System cannot accept updates to 2010-2011 Pell Grant awards using the revised schedules before May 26, 2010. Records sent to the COD System before May 26, 2010 will be evaluated by the COD System using the January 13, 2010 Pell Grant schedules, and will need to be corrected on or after May 26, 2010. We encourage schools to submit revised Pell Grant records to the COD System on or after May 26, 2010.
Submitting Records to the COD System On or After May 26, 2010 for Newly Pell-Eligible Students
For students that are newly Pell-eligible for a 2010-2011 Pell Grant award based on the revised Pell Grant schedules, schools must send a Pell Grant origination record to the COD System referencing the new, Pell-eligible, CPS transaction number that results from the CPS reprocessing described above. This is true even if the student's EFC on the reprocessed transaction is the same as on the previous transaction. Otherwise, the COD System will reject the Pell Grant origination record.
Submitting Records to the COD System On or After May 26, 2010 for Students With Decreased Awards
For Pell-eligible students that already have a 2010-2011 Pell Grant award in the COD System but whose Pell Grant award amount decreased due to the revised 2010-2011 Pell Grant schedules, schools must take one of the following actions:
Submit the decreased Pell Grant award amount based on the new schedules. As noted above in the "Impact on the CPS" section, we will not reprocess students who were already Pell-eligible, so the CPS transaction number corresponding to the award will not change.
OR
-
Let the current award stand without changes. When the 2010-2011 disbursement record is submitted, the COD System will correct the disbursement amount to match the revised 2010-2011 Pell Grant schedule amount. Note: This option only applies when submitting a disbursement record reflective of the Full-Time Pell Grant schedule.
Pell Grant Funding and Disbursements
We will provide information regarding 2010-2011 Pell Grant funding and actual disbursement submissions in a forthcoming electronic announcement on the IFAP Web site.
Impact on EDExpress
EDExpress 2010-2011 Release 1.0 and Release 2.0 users should note the Packaging and Pell Grant modules use the outdated 2010-2011 schedules established in Dear Colleague Letter P-10-01 to calculate Pell Grant awards. Release 3.0, scheduled for release on May 28, 2010, will update the Packaging and Pell Grant modules to use the new 2010-2011 schedules when packaging records or calculating Pell Grant award amounts.
EDExpress Packaging users who want to manually add or adjust Pell Grant awards according to the revised schedules before Release 3.0 is available must use the Pell Grant payment and disbursement schedules in Dear Colleague Letter P-10-03. Note that EDExpress users will not be able to import increased Pell Grant awards from Packaging records into the Pell module until Release 3.0 is installed.
After Release 3.0 is available, EDExpress users who already packaged students using Release 1.0 or Release 2.0 should repackage those students using Release 3.0 to ensure an accurate Pell award.
Contact Information
If you have questions regarding the updates to the CPS, the ISIR Analysis Tool, or EDExpress, 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 revised 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.