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(General) Subject: G5 System Outage Scheduled for April 18-23, 2012 - Impact to Federal Student Aid Processing and on Funds Availability for Title IV Programs

Posted Date:March 30, 2012

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

Subject: G5 System Outage Scheduled for April 18-23, 2012 - Impact to Federal Student Aid Processing and on Funds Availability for Title IV Programs

During the period of April 18-23, 2012, the Department of Education (the Department) will upgrade the database that supports G5. This was explained earlier in aMarch 2, 2012 letter March 2, 2012 letter that was mailed and e-mailed to all grantees and payees from the Department's Office of the Chief Information Officer. There will be no change to the functionality in G5; however, the system outage associated with the G5 database upgrade will impact school users in a number of ways.

Please review the following information to determine how processing at your school will be affected.

G5 System Outage

From 7:00 P.M. (ET) on Wednesday, April 18, 2012 through 6:00 A.M. (ET) on Monday, April 23, 2012, the G5 Web site will not be available. Schools will not be able to draw down funds during this period for the following Title IV Programs:

  • Federal Pell Grant (Pell Grant)
  • Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)
  • Federal Work Study (FWS)
  • Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant
  • Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education Grant (TEACH Grant)
  • William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan)

COD System Processing Impact

From 7:00 P.M. (ET) on Wednesday, April 18, 2012 through 6:00 A.M. (ET) on Monday, April 23, 2012, the COD System will accept Pell Grant, Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant, TEACH Grant, and Direct Loan records. However, after 2:00 P.M. (ET) on Wednesday, April 18, 2012, CFL changes (as a result of actual disbursements), and for Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant (pending disbursements), and funding will not be processed by G5 until April 23, 2012.

All actual disbursements with a disbursement date from April 18, 2012 through April 23, 2012 must be received by the COD System no later than 9:00 A.M. (ET) on Wednesday, April 18, 2012, and subsequently accepted by the COD System, for them to be included in the funds available for drawdown prior to the shutdown. Disbursements submitted by the deadline but not subsequently accepted, disbursements submitted after the deadline, and disbursements with a disbursement date on or after April 23, 2012 will be funded after G5 re-opens on April 23, 2012.

We expect financial processing to be caught up by Friday, April 27, 2012.

Traditional Direct Consolidation Loan Processing Impact

From 7:00 P.M. (ET) on Wednesday, April 18, 2012 through 6:00 A.M. (ET) on Monday, April 23, 2012, the Direct Loan Consolidation Center will accept loan consolidation applications for traditional Direct Consolidation Loans. However, beginning on Wednesday, April 18, 2012, the funding and booking of traditional consolidation applications will be on hold until after G5 re-opens on April 23, 2012.

We expect the funding and booking of pending traditional consolidation applications to be caught up by Friday, April 27, 2012.

Note: There will be no impact to the funding process for Special Direct Consolidation Loans.

Contact Information

We appreciate your patience and understanding as we complete the required activities during the upcoming period. If you have any questions about this announcement, contact one of the following help desks:

  • For questions related to G5, contact the G5 Hotline at 888/336-8930. You may also e-mail edcaps.user@ed.gov.
  • For questions related to the Campus-Based programs, contact the Campus-Based Call Center at 877/801-7168. You may also e-mail CBFOB@ed.gov.
  • For questions related to the COD System, 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.
  • For questions related to Direct Loan Consolidation, contact the Direct Loan Consolidation Center at 800/557-7392.