Posted Date:June 22, 2011
| Author: | William Leith, Service Director, Program Management, Federal Student Aid |
Subject: Processing Delay for Applications and Corrections Requiring VA Match Between June 24-29, 2011
We are alerting all schools that the Central Processing System (CPS) will temporarily suspend processing 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) records and corrections that require a match with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) between June 24, 2011 and June 29, 2011. This processing suspension is required to accommodate the renewal of the matching arrangement between the two federal agencies. We estimate that a maximum of 1,600 student records will potentially be affected.
Applications and corrections received between June 24-29, 2011 that require matching of Veterans Status field values will be placed on hold until June 30, 2011, at which time the records will be sent to the VA and processing will resume for both cycles under standard processing routines.
Applications and corrections received between June 24-29, 2011 that do not require a match with the VA will be processed normally during this period and are not impacted by the processing delay.
Student E-mail Communication
Any student whose 2010-2011 or 2011-2012 application or correction record is received between June 24-29, 2011 that requires a match with the VA will be alerted to the processing delay through an e-mail communication, which will be generated in English or Spanish depending on the application type submitted. The e-mail message will emphasize that we will preserve the original receipt date when processing resumes on June 30, 2011 in order to reassure students who may be concerned about the 2010-2011 application deadline or other pending deadlines.
Impact to Web Systems
Applications and corrections submitted through FAFSA on the Web or the FAA Access to CPS Online Web site that are impacted by the VA match delay will remain at a “processing” status until the VA match resumes on June 30, 2011. These records will display the following conditions and messages:
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On the FAFSA on the Web landing page, the Current Application Status field value will display as “Processing” and the associated text will read “Your application was submitted and is being processed. This usually takes up to three business days from the date submitted, so check back later. Once your application is processed, the colleges you entered will have access to your information and their financial aid offices will determine your student aid eligibility.”
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On the FAA Access to CPS Online Web site’s Application Status/Student Inquiry screens, the following text will display (with bracketed text updated as appropriate): “We received the student’s [application or correction] on [date application or correction completed] and it is currently being processed. We recommend you recheck the status in 3-4 business days to view the processed results.”
Contact Information
If you have 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 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.