Posted Date:April 17, 2015
| Author: | Pamela Eliadis, Service Director, System Operations & Aid Delivery Management, Federal Student Aid |
Subject: Availability of Service Release Update for EDExpress for Windows 2014-2015, Release 3.0
We are pleased to announce the posting of a service release update for EDExpress for Windows 2014-2015, Release 3.0, on the Department’s Federal Student Aid Download (FSAdownload) Web site, located at https://www.fsadownload.ed.gov.
This service release implements several enhancements to the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) module for the 2014-2015 award cycle, including the ability to print an import edit report for the new Credit Status Response (CRCS15OP) for Direct PLUS and Grad PLUS loans and revisions to data edits for adjustments to Disbursement Date, Payment Period Start Date, and Loan Period Start/End Date values.
Note: If you do not process Direct Loan records using EDExpress 2014-2015, you do not need to install this service release.
See the sections below for additional enhancements information and installation guidance for this service release.
Credit Status Response (CRCS15OP) Enhancement
This spring, the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System replaced the Credit Decision Override Response (message class CRCOXXOP) for all award years with the Credit Status Response (CRCSXXOP). The Credit Status Response is a new system-generated file with credit-related status and date fields that can help you determine if PLUS or Grad PLUS borrowers have completed all necessary credit requirements to receive actual disbursements for the loan, including borrowers with adverse credit decisions who must either secure an approved endorser or appeal the decision by documenting extenuating circumstances. The Credit Status Response also indicates whether PLUS or Grad PLUS borrowers have completed the new PLUS Counseling process on Federal Student Aid’s StudentLoans.gov Web site.
After installing the service release, you will be able to import 2014-2015 Credit Status Response (CRCS15OP) files into EDExpress 2014-2015, Release 3.0 and generate an import edit report. The report lists credit-related information for 2014-2015 PLUS or Grad PLUS loan records you have submitted to the COD System, including the current value for the new Credit Requirements Met field, which indicates if the borrower has satisfied all credit-related requirements to receive actual disbursements for a PLUS or Grad PLUS loan.
With the discontinuation of the Credit Decision Override Response, you will no longer receive the Credit Override Code for PLUS and Grad PLUS records, which indicated the outcome of borrower appeals, a submitted Endorser Addendum, or a pending Credit Decision, and in some cases enabled actual disbursements for records. The Credit Decision field value is also not updated from a pending or denied value to an accepted value by the COD System on the same PLUS or Grad PLUS record.
As a workaround for these processing changes, you should now consider the Credit Requirements Met value of True as the equivalent of either an accepted Credit Decision or a Credit Override Code indicating the success of an appeal or approval of an endorser for a PLUS or Grad PLUS loan.
When a Credit Status Response import edit report indicates a Credit Requirements Met value of True for a PLUS or Grad PLUS loan record in your database, you can change the Credit Decision value for the record to A manually on the Credit/PLUS App Info sub-tab of the Origination (Direct Loan) tab for the record in EDExpress 2014-2015. This manual update will allow you to create and submit actual disbursements for the loan in the software.
Note the following additional guidance:
You can import the Credit Status Response using the COD Common Record Receipt/Response import type (File, Import, Direct Loan). You must locate and select each CRCS15OP file for import manually by clicking the File… button, changing the Files of Type field to All Files (*.*), and clicking the specific CRCS15OP file you want to import.
The Credit Status Response import does not update your EDExpress 2014-2015 database. If you want to review the contents of a CRCS15OP file you imported previously, you must locate the CRCS15BK file in your data directory and re-import it to produce the import edit report.
EDExpress 2015-2016, Release 2.0 includes more extensive enhancements related to the implementation of the new Credit Status Response, including a redesigned Credit/PLUS App Info sub-tab for PLUS and Grad PLUS records and new data edits for actual disbursements that check the current Credit Requirements Met value. For more information, see the EDExpress 2015-2016, Release 2.0 Cover Letter, available on the FSAdownload Web site.
For more information on Credit State Response files and the information they provide, see the 2015-2016 COD Technical Reference, Volume II, Section 1, available on the FSAdownload Web site.
Additional Direct Loan Enhancements
In addition to the Credit Status Response enhancement, this service release adds or revises several end-of-entry edits in the Direct Loan module.
The COD System relies upon accurate school-reported information to maintain current eligibility information for students, including calculations of the 150% Direct Subsidized loan limit. The following edit enhancements are designed to provide you with additional flexibility when reporting and correcting date-related information on Direct Loan records, including disbursement dates, payment period start dates, and loan period start and end dates:
We added Direct Loan end-of-entry edits 1110 (for Loan Period Start Date) and 1115 (for Loan Period End Date). These new edits are generated if you adjust the Loan Period Start Date or Loan Period End Date to a date outside the 2014-2015 Award Year on a loan record with an Origination Status other than A (Accepted by COD) or B (Batched to send to COD). If the Origination Status is A or B, you can now adjust the Loan Period Start Date to be after June 30, 2015 and the Loan Period Start Date to be before July 1, 2014. Note that the loan period dates must still fall within the Academic Year start and end dates associated with the loan record.
We updated the condition and message text for Direct Loan end-of-entry edits 2000, 2001, and 3105 to indicate that disbursement dates cannot be more than 10 days prior to the Loan Period Start Date or more than 180 days after the Loan Period End Date if the associated disbursement’s gross amount is greater than zero. Edits 2000 and 2001 check anticipated and actual disbursement dates and amounts against the Loan Period Start Date, while edit 3105 checks actual disbursement dates and amounts against the Loan Period End Date. In prior award years, these were warning-only edits in EDExpress.
We added Direct Loan end-of-entry edits 1230 (for actual disbursements) and 1240 (for anticipated disbursements). These new edits are generated if you adjust the Payment Period Start Date associated with an anticipated or actual disbursement to a date before or after the loan period dates if the anticipated or actual disbursement amount is greater than zero and the loan’s Origination Status is A or B or if the loan’s Origination Status is E (Origination reject received from COD) or R (Ready to Send to COD).
To review the condition and message text for the new and revised edits noted above, see the April 2015 version of the 2014-2015 COD Technical Reference, Volume III, Section 4, scheduled for posting later this month on the FSAdownload Web site.
Installation Guidance
You should run the service release installation file (Express15r31.exe) on all PC workstations in your office that have EDExpress 2014-2015, Release 3.0 installed.
Note the following additional tips when installing the service release to your PC workstation(s):
Be sure to close EDExpress 2014-2015 on the PC workstation before installing the service release.
You must have admin rights to the PC workstation to run the service release installation.
You can resume use of EDExpress 2014-2015, Release 3.0 immediately following the service release installation; you do not need to reboot your PC.
If your EDExpress 2014-2015 database is installed on a network drive, and you have multiple PC workstations accessing that database, you must install the service release on EACH workstation.
Note: The service release installation screens indicate you are installing Release 3.1 of EDExpress 2014-2015. However, when you complete the installation and resume use of EDExpress 2014-2015, the software’s start-up screen and “About EDExpress for Windows” option (from the Help menu) will continue to indicate you are running Release 3.0. If you need assistance determining whether you have installed the service release, contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support (see contact information in section below).
Contact Information
If you have any questions regarding downloading, installing, or using the service release for EDExpress 2014-2015, contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support at 800/330-5947 (TDD/TTY 800/511-5806) or by e-mail at CPSSAIG@ed.gov.
You can also post questions regarding EDExpress on FSATECH. FSATECH is an electronic mailing list for technical questions about Federal Student Aid systems, software, and mainframe products. For more information on subscribing to FSATECH, go to http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/services/fsatechsubscribe.html.
If you have any questions about 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@ed.gov.