This Electronic Announcement provides institutions with important information about the system, web, and software modifications we are making to reflect the revised 2022–23 Federal Pell Grant (Pell Grant) payment and disbursement schedules, including changes we must implement to the Central Processing System (CPS), the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System, and the EDExpress for Windows software.
In Dear Colleague Letter GEN-22-04, posted to the Knowledge Center website on March 24, 2022, we provided schools with revised payment and disbursement schedules for determining Pell Grant awards for the 2022–23 award year. These schedules must be used for all 2022–23 Pell Grant award calculations.
As noted in the Dear Colleague Letter, the maximum Pell Grant award for the 2022–23 award year is $6,895, an increase of $400 from the $6,495 maximum Pell Grant award for the 2021–22 award year. The maximum expected family contribution (EFC) eligible for a Pell Grant for the 2022–23 award year is 6206 as compared to 5846 for the 2021–22 award year.
We have begun the work needed to modify our systems, web and software products, technical documents, training materials, and publications to reflect the revised 2022–23 Pell Grant payment and disbursement schedules. In the sections below, we describe the impact to the following systems and software products, as well as provide the anticipated completion date for each update:
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Impact on the CPS and Upcoming Reprocessing
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Impact on the COD System
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Impact on EDExpress
Impact on the CPS and Upcoming Reprocessing
When we began processing the 2022–23 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form on Oct. 1, 2021, we used the 2021–22 maximum EFC of 5846 to establish Pell Grant eligibility and reported that eligibility on Student Aid Reports (SARs) and in Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs). As a result of the maximum EFC increase for 2022–23, some applicants (those with EFCs greater than or equal to 5847 and less than or equal to 6206) who were not Pell Grant eligible using the 2021–22 schedules are now Pell Grant eligible for the 2022–23 award year.
On May 22, 2022, we will update the CPS to use the revised 2022–23 Pell Grant payment and disbursement schedules (and maximum eligible EFC) to determine Pell Grant eligibility and estimated Pell Grant Scheduled Award amounts for all newly-submitted 2022–23 FAFSA forms, as well as for all newly-submitted corrections to previously-filed FAFSA forms.
As part of the CPS system update, we will update our SAR print operations to display estimated Pell Grant Scheduled Award amounts based on the revised 2022–23 schedules. Similar updates will be implemented on the FAFSA confirmation pages. Help text will also be updated at this time.
After we implement the changes to the CPS, we will need to identify and reprocess records for those students who completed a 2022–23 FAFSA form or submitted a correction before May 22, 2022, and who are now newly eligible for a 2022–23 Pell Grant, based upon the revised 2022–23 schedules and maximum EFC.
The CPS will identify the impacted 2022–23 transactions on May 23, 2022, and reprocess them on May 24, 2022, in order to properly indicate Pell Grant eligibility. The May 24 reprocessing will create a new SAR and ISIR transaction for any student with an EFC that is greater than 5846 (the previous maximum Pell-eligible EFC) and less than or equal to 6206 (the new maximum Pell-eligible EFC) to reflect the addition of Pell Grant eligibility.
Note that student records that had been Pell Grant eligible-based on the 2021–22 schedules and maximum EFC do not need to be reprocessed even though the estimated Pell Grant award amount presented to the student has changed. Schools should simply use the revised 2022–23 schedules published in Dear Colleague Letter GEN-22-04 when awarding and disbursing 2022–23 Pell Grants.
Several methods will exist for schools to identify records resulting from the May 24 reprocessing:
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Reprocessed ISIRs will be sent under the IGSG23OP message class.
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Paper SARs and ISIRs will include SAR comment code 172, which states “This SAR was produced because we processed a change to your information based on information reported to us by another agency or as a result of a processing system change. Review your SAR to see what effect, if any, this change has had on your application, and call 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243) if you have any questions.”
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ISIRs produced as a result of the May 24 reprocessing will include a value of “01” for the Reprocessed Reason Code (ISIR field #243).
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The FAA Information page in Student Inquiry on the FAA Access to CPS Online website will display “01 – Reprocessed due to change in the Pell Maximum EFC” for the Reprocessing Code for the transaction resulting from the May 24 reprocessing.
Note: On Sept. 25, 2022, we will update the ISIR Request edits that enable FAA Access to CPS Online users to request Pell-eligible ISIRs with EFCs in the range of 5847 to 6206. We will also update help text in FAA Access to CPS Online to reference the maximum Pell Grant award and/or new maximum Pell-eligible EFC for 2022–23.
Impact on the COD System
On March 27, 2022, we implemented COD System functionality to support processing for the 2022–23 award year. The March 2022 COD System release implemented the Pell Grant payment and disbursement schedules published on Jan. 31, 2022 and did not implement the revised 2022–23 Pell Grant payment and disbursement schedules in Dear Colleague Letter GEN-22-04.
On May 1, 2022, we plan to implement the revised 2022–23 Pell Grant payment and disbursement schedules in the COD System. All 2022–23 Pell Grant records sent to the COD System before the upcoming release will be evaluated by the COD System using the old schedules and will need to be corrected after the upcoming release for the revised schedules. We encourage schools to refrain from submitting Pell Grant records to the COD System until after the revised schedules have been implemented in the COD System.
We will provide more detail about the planned May 1, 2022, COD System implementation of the revised 2022–23 Pell Grant payment and disbursement schedules in a forthcoming Electronic Announcement on the Knowledge Center website.
Impact on EDExpress
EDExpress 2022–2023, Release 1.0, posted on Sept. 27, 2021, does not include the revised 2022–23 Pell Grant payment and disbursement schedules, and EDExpress 2022–2023 Release 2.0, scheduled for release in late April, will not contain the revised 2022–23 Pell Grant payment and disbursement schedules. Instead, Release 3.0, scheduled for release in early June 2022, will update the Packaging and Pell Grant modules to use the revised 2022–23 schedules.
EDExpress Packaging users who want to manually add or adjust Pell Grant awards according to the revised 2022–23 schedules before Release 3.0 is available must use the Pell Grant payment and disbursement schedules in Dear Colleague Letter GEN-22-04. After Release 3.0 becomes available in early June, EDExpress users who already packaged students using Release 1.0 or Release 2.0 must repackage those students using Release 3.0 to ensure an accurate Pell Grant award.
Contact Information
If you have questions regarding the updates to the CPS or EDExpress, contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support at 1-800-330-5947 or by email at CPSSAIG@ed.gov.
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.