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(COD System) Subject: Preliminary Information - COD System Implementation Plans for the 2012-2013 Award Year

Posted Date:February 28, 2012

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

Subject: Preliminary Information - COD System Implementation Plans for the 2012-2013 Award Year

We are aware of the community’s questions about the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System’s readiness for award processing for the 2012-2013 Award Year. In this announcement, we clarify our implementation plans for the COD System for the 2012-2013 Award Year.

We plan to add COD System functionality in three phases – the first system implementation will be in March 2012, the second system implementation will be in April 2012, and the third system implementation will be in July 2012. Prior to each system implementation, we will provide operational guidance and any outage information in an Electronic Announcement posted to the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site.

COD System Implementation Plans

March 9-10, 2012 – With this implementation, the COD System will begin to accept and process Direct Loan, Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant, Pell Grant, and TEACH Grant awards for the 2012-2013 Award Year. Full details about this implementation will be provided in an Electronic Announcement that will be posted by March 2, 2012.

April 13-14, 2012 – With this implementation, we will add functionality to support award processing changes to the Direct Loan Program related to the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011. Specifically, this implementation will address the elimination of the up-front interest rebate for all Direct Loan awards first disbursed on or after July 1, 2012. After this implementation, we will also begin sending reports related to the Pell Grant Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU) change as discussed in our February 17, 2012 Electronic Announcement.

July 6-7, 2012 – With this implementation, we will add functionality to no longer accept Direct Subsidized Loans for graduate or professional students with loan periods that begin on or after July 1, 2012. At this time, we will also add the editing functionality related to the Pell Grant LEU change as discussed in the February 17, 2012 Electronic Announcement.

Based on the COD System implementation schedule described above, while schools will be able to begin sending 2012-2013 awards for processing as early as March 10, 2012, they should wait until mid-April to submit Direct Loan awards, including those for the 2011-2012 Award Year, with a first disbursement date on or after July 1, 2012.

We will provide further operational guidance for these system implementations in forthcoming Electronic Announcements. Please monitor the IFAP Web site for these announcements.

Contact Information

If you have any 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 email CODSupport@acs-inc.com.