On Aug. 14, 2020, the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) published final regulations in the Federal Register to amend the TEACH Grant Program. The regulations are effective July 1, 2021.
To implement the final regulations, we have made changes to the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System and StudentAid.gov website. In this Electronic Announcement, we provide some school-related operational impacts to consider as well as information about the system and web that are now in place as of July 1, 2021.
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Operational Considerations for Schools
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COD System Changes
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StudentAid.gov Changes
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TEACH Grant Servicing
Operational Considerations for Schools
Generally, the regulations have little direct operational impact to schools. School staff may want to be aware of the program changes to help guide students when necessary, but schools do not have to make system changes or alter operational procedures for the submission and processing of TEACH Grant information. The primary impact for schools to consider will be changes to any school-produced materials, such as TEACH Grant Exit Counseling, letters, web content or internal procedures; these should be evaluated and updated at the earliest point possible.
COD System Changes
The regulatory changes do not change the front-end processing of TEACH Grants. As a result, there are no major processing changes in the COD System. In June 2021, we made some minor website changes related to the TEACH Grant Program changes; the changes are explained below. Other COD System changes that were part of the June 2021 implementation were explained in a June 11, 2021 Electronic Announcement.
COD Website
The TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve (ATS) has been renamed to TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve or Repay (Agreement). We will update the COD website screens and some TEACH Grant reports to remove references to ATS and replace them with Agreement. While the COD website and reports have been updated, schools will continue to see ATS in other cases; in particular, there is no plan to change the COD XML Schema, so ATS will continue to be reflected in the Common Record and Common Record responses and related documentation (i.e., certain sections of the COD Technical Reference).
Documentation and Software
COD Common Record XML Schema and 2021–22 COD Technical Reference – There are no changes to the COD Common Record XML Schema. There were limited changes made to the 2021–22 COD Technical Reference posted in late June 2021.
EDExpress for Windows – Similar to the COD website, the EDExpress for Windows software will be updated to change references to the TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve (ATS) to TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve or Repay (Agreement). We expect to release updated software and related documentation later this year.
StudentAid.gov Changes
We have implemented updates to all TEACH Grant counseling (including a new counseling module), the TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve, and the TEACH Grant landing page.
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TEACH Grant Initial and Subsequent Counseling has been updated to reflect changes to the required content of the counseling made by the final regulations.
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TEACH Grant Exit Counseling has also been updated to reflect changes made by the final regulations. In particular, the final regulations removed most of the previous exit counseling content related to repayment requirements if TEACH Grants are converted to Direct Unsubsidized Loans. This information is now provided in the new TEACH Grant Conversion Counseling (see below). The revised TEACH Grant Exit Counseling focuses on the terms and conditions of the TEACH Grant service obligation. Note: Schools that choose to provide TEACH Grant Exit Counseling directly to their TEACH Grant recipients instead of directing the recipients to complete the counseling on StudentAid.gov must update the content of the counseling as necessary based on the new regulations.
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New TEACH Grant Conversion Counseling has been added to StudentAid.gov. This new counseling is for TEACH Grant recipients whose TEACH Grants have been converted (or are in the process of being converted) to Direct Unsubsidized Loans. TEACH Grant Conversion Counseling helps prepare borrowers to begin repaying their new Direct Unsubsidized Loans by explaining the terms and conditions that apply to their loans, the impact of the loans on their overall loan balances, and options to help with repayment. TEACH Grant Conversion Counseling also explains the conditions under which grant recipients can ask the TEACH Grant servicer to reconsider the conversion of their TEACH Grants to Direct Unsubsidized Loans. Note: The TEACH Grant servicer will direct TEACH Grant recipients whose grants are converted to loans to complete conversion counseling and will provide them with written conversion counseling materials. Schools have no responsibilities or actions related to this new counseling. In addition, there will be no information about this counseling in the COD System and schools will not receive any responses related to its completion on StudentAid.gov.
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Similar to the COD website, we have updated references to the TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve (ATS) to be TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve or Repay (Agreement).
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The TEACH Grant landing page (StudentAid.gov/teach-grant-program) was updated to include information on the program changes and a link to the new TEACH Grant Conversion Counseling. General web content (outside of log-in) on impacted StudentAid.gov pages was also updated.
TEACH Grant Servicing
Many of the regulatory changes impact the information we communicate to TEACH Grant recipients after they leave school and are working towards fulfilling their service obligation. Accordingly, we are working closely with our TEACH Grant servicer to implement the necessary servicing-related changes, as well as update applicable web content and correspondence.
Contact Information
If you have questions regarding the updates to the COD System, contact the COD School Relations Center at 1-800-848-0978 or by email at CODSupport@ed.gov. For general inquiries about TEACH Grant Program changes, complete the Customer Support form at fsapartners.ed.gov.