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(COD System) Subject: Additional COD System Implementation for 2010-2011 Award Year

Posted Date:October 1, 2010

Author: William Leith, Service Director, Program Management, Federal Student Aid

Subject: Additional COD System Implementation for 2010-2011 Award Year

As explained in a March 2010 Electronic Announcement on the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site, we implemented Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System functionality to support 2010-2011 Award Year processing. During the period October 8-9, 2010, we plan to implement additional COD System functionality for the 2010-2011 Award Year.

In this announcement, we provide the following important information related to the implementation:

  • COD Batch Processing Suspension and Web Site Outage Information
  • COD System Processing Function Enhancements and Modifications Effective October 9, 2010
  • Contact Information

We appreciate your patience and understanding as we complete this important activity.

COD Batch Processing Suspension and Web Site Outage Information

In order to install the additional COD System functionality, we will suspend COD batch processing beginning at 8:00 P.M. (ET) on Friday, October 8, 2010. Records submitted after this time will be held and processed after 8:00 P.M. (ET) on Saturday, October 9, 2010.

Note: All actual disbursements with a disbursement date from October 8, 2010 through October 9, 2010 must be received by the COD System no later than 9:00 AM (ET) on Friday, October 8, 2010, and subsequently accepted by the COD System, in order for them to be included in the drawdown prior to the outage. Disbursements submitted by the deadline but not subsequently accepted, disbursements submitted after the deadline, and disbursements with a disbursement date after October 9, 2010 will be processed and funded after the outage.

In addition, between 8:00 P.M. (ET) on Friday, October 8, 2010 and 8:00 P.M. on Saturday, October 9, 2010—

  • Users will not be able to submit or retrieve data via the COD Web site.

  • Users will not be able to access the COD Reports area of the COD Web site.

  • An individual will not be able to complete online Direct Loan Entrance Counseling, complete a new Master Promissory Note (MPN) electronically, complete a Direct PLUS Loan Request electronically, endorse a Direct PLUS Loan electronically, or view loan correspondence via the StudentLoans.gov Web site.

  • An individual will not be able to complete TEACH Grant Initial and Subsequent Counseling, complete a new TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve (ATS), or retrieve an existing ATS via the TEACH Grant Web site.

Note: The COD System will undergo routine maintenance on Sunday, October 10, 2010 from 5:00 A.M. until 11:00 A.M. (ET). During this period, batch processing and Web site availability will again be impacted. In addition, due to the Columbus Day federal holiday, the COD System will accept and process data from schools and send back responses/acknowledgments on Monday, October 11, 2010, but schools will not be able to receive any federal funds on that day. Requests for changes in funding levels and for funds will not be processed until Tuesday, October 12, 2010.

COD System Processing Function Enhancements and Modifications Effective October 9, 2010

The following changes will be included with the COD System implementation on October 8-9, 2010. Additional information about these changes will be added to the 2010-2011 COD Technical Reference with the next scheduled update later this month.

Additional Electronic Correspondence for Direct Loan Awards

Beginning October 9, 2010, the COD System will send additional correspondence electronically via e-mail to borrowers attending a school that has the COD System print and send MPNs (Pnote Print Option = “Y”). With this release, the COD System will send:

  • Borrower Credit Acceptance Notice – The COD System will send an e-mail to the borrower indicating that his or her loan request was approved.
  • Direct Subsidized and Direct Unsubsidized MPN Notice – The COD System will send an e-mail requesting the borrower to visit the StudentLoans.gov Web site and complete his or her Direct Subsidized and Direct Unsubsidized MPN.
  • 15-day Reminder Notice – If MPN is not completed after 15 days, the COD System will send a follow-up reminder e-mail.

The COD System will continue to mail the borrower a paper 30-day reminder letter and a paper 60-day reminder letter (assuming the MPN is not completed by the allotted time).

Note: If no e-mail address is on file, the COD System will continue to mail paper notices to the borrower.

If the borrower contacts the school to say that he or she prefers to sign a paper MPN, the school may override the e-mail notices and request a paper MPN to be printed and sent to the borrower. A school does this by sending the appropriate print code within an origination or change record.

Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants

Beginning October 9, 2010, the COD System will implement functionality to support the processing of Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants. Students who are not Pell-eligible and had a parent or guardian who died as a result of service in Iraq or Afghanistan after September 11, 2001 may be eligible for an Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant equivalent to the maximum Federal Pell Grant. The 2010-2011 ISIRs of eligible students will include the new “DoD Match Flag,” associated comment code 298, and the parent or guardian’s date of death. The DoD Match Flag will print with the other ISIR match flag information and can be used by schools to identify affected students. A school should continue to refer to previous communications for operational guidance regarding student eligibility for the Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant.

Beginning October 9, 2010, all 2010-2011 Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants must be submitted via the COD Web site; batch processing for these grants will not be available. To process an Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant award successfully, a school must –

  • submit Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant awards through the “Create Award/Pell” screen,
  • select the CPS transaction number that contains the DoD Match Flag = Y and the Pell-Eligible Flag = N, and
  • select the Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant Indicator

Note: A student cannot have both a Pell Grant award and an Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant from the same school in the same award year.

Because of its similarity to the Pell Grant Program, the Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant will use much of the same COD System functionality established for the Pell Grant Program. For example, the rules for reporting cents, the required data elements for awards, the options for ‘correcting’ and ‘rejecting’ data are the same as those for Pell Grants. Detailed information about Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants can be tailed information about Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants can be techref/1011CODTechRef.html">2010-2011 COD Technical Reference.

Due to the very small number of Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant-eligible students at this time, no designated reports have been developed for this program.

Funding for Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants

As noted above, beginning October 9, 2010, a school will be able to submit 2010-2011 Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant awards via the COD Web site. However, all disbursements for these grants must be submitted as anticipated disbursements (Disbursement Release Indicator (DRI) = “false”). Any 2010-2011 Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant disbursements submitted with DRI = “true” will be rejected with COD Reject Edit 194. Accordingly, funding for the Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant for the 2010-2011 Award Year will continue to be an exception-based process and based on anticipated disbursements (DRI = “false”).

A school will be able to draw funds after it has submitted the Iraq and Afghanistan Grant award. We will adjust the school’s Current Funding Level (CFL) based on the amount of the accepted anticipated disbursements (DRI = “false”) of the award and send a Statement of Account (SOA) via e-mail to the school. Once the SOA is received, the school can log in to G5 and draw down its 2010-2011 Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant funds. The funds will be posted under the G5 Award Number P408A10#### where the last four digits are the school's existing G5 Award Number for the Pell Grant Program. A school can expect to receive the SOA and be able to draw the funds within 3 business days of submitting the award.

Note: Further enhancements for Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant processing are being developed for the 2011-2012 Award Year and planned for implementation in June 2011.

Contact Information

If you have questions about this announcement, contact the COD School Relations Center at 800/474-7268 for Grants or 800/848-0978 for Direct Loans. You may also e-mail CODSupport@acs-inc.com.