(GRANTS-24-06) TEACH Grant Closeout Information for 2023–24 Award Year

Posted Date
May 28, 2024
Author
Federal Student Aid
Electronic Announcement ID
GRANTS-24-06
Subject
TEACH Grant Closeout Information for 2023–24 Award Year

The Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant data submission (closeout) deadline for the 2023–24 award year is Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. This is the last processing day of the award year. All school data must be received and accepted by this date to be included in a school's final Ending Cash Balance for the year.

To be considered successfully closed out, the school must—

  • Reconcile to a Zero Ending Cash Balance (Net Drawdowns – Total Net Booked Disbursements) of $0 and Total Net Unbooked Disbursements of $0, as reflected on your monthly TEACH Grant School Account Statement (SAS) and in your school’s internal records.

Schools participating in the TEACH Grant Program can officially confirm closeout via the School Balance Confirmation page on the COD website for the 2023–24 award year. After the data submission deadline, schools will be billed for remaining balances owed to the U.S. Department of Education (the Department).

As a reminder, all cash management, disbursement and disbursement adjustment reporting, and monthly reconciliation regulatory requirements supersede the data submission (closeout) deadline. If a school meets these regulatory requirements, it should be able to reach a zero ($0) ending cash balance and be fully reconciled within a month or two of its final scheduled disbursements for a given program and year. A school should be fully reconciled to a zero ($0) ending cash balance before the data submission deadline.

To assist schools in achieving a successful closeout, we will send Balance Notification emails to notify schools of their current Ending Cash Balance and provide general information regarding the closeout process. These emails will be sent to the Financial Aid Administrator and President at each school.

A school must be aware of its closeout status even if a third-party service handles its TEACH Grant processing. We encourage each school to regularly communicate and reconcile its internal records with its third-party servicer to ensure reconciliation and closeout are complete. It is the school's responsibility to ensure that it finishes processing, reconciles, and completes closeout on time.

A key factor to an easy reconciliation and closeout is closely monitoring the process. We encourage schools to review the following information:

  • Complete monthly reconciliation. This should include:

    Internal reconciliation - compare internal student accounts and Business Office and/or Bursar records with Financial Aid Office records and resolve any discrepancies.

    External reconciliation - compare internal records to your TEACH Grant SAS sent via your Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) mailbox.

    Resolution of any discrepancies and documentation of any outstanding timing issues.

  • Ensure all drawdowns and refunds of cash are accounted for and applied to the correct program year.

  • Ensure all batches have been sent to and accepted by the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System, all disbursements and adjustments are accurately reflected on the COD System, and all responses are imported into the school's system.

  • Resolve all outstanding rejected records.

  • Return all refunds of cash to the Department.

  • Request any remaining funds owed to the school based on actual disbursements accepted by the COD System.

Contact Information

We appreciate your cooperation as we work to close out the 2023–24 TEACH Grant award year. If you have questions about this announcement or need assistance with closeout, contact the FSA Partner and School Relations Center at 1-800-848-0978. You may also email CODSupport@ed.gov.

Questions and Answers

A1: A school should be able to confirm closeout within a month or two of their final scheduled disbursements for a given program and year, but no later than the established data submission (closeout) deadline of Sept. 30, 2024. If your school will need to process actual disbursement data after the established processing closeout deadline, refer to Q10 for more information.

Note: As a reminder, cash management, disbursement reporting (including adjustments to disbursements), and monthly reconciliation requirements supersede the closeout deadline. If a school is meeting these regulatory requirements, a school should be able to reconcile to a zero Ending Cash Balance soon after its final scheduled disbursements, and if all processing is completed and all known issues have been resolved, the school should confirm closeout at that time. Schools should not wait until the closeout deadline.

A2: Yes. After a school’s successful balance confirmation for a TEACH Grant Award Year, the following actions will occur:

  1. The Department will send a Program Year Closeout letter to the school’s President and Financial Aid Administrator (FAA). The letter will be sent via email. Note: Schools can also view a copy of the letter on the “School Correspondence” page via the COD website. If your school confirms closeout and does not receive a letter, please check to make sure your contact information is correct on the “Financial Aid Contact” page via the COD website and that your system is not blocking emails from (DoNotReply@cod.ed.gov).

  2. The COD System will reject award or disbursement changes per published edits.

  3. The Department will reduce the school's Current Funding Level (CFL) to the greater of Net Drawdowns or Net Accepted & Posted Disbursements.

  4. The School Account Statement (SAS) and other reports for this award year and program will no longer be sent.

    Schools that complete this closeout confirmation process should save a copy of the Program Year Closeout letter with their final reconciliation documentation, to document the date the school officially confirmed closeout for the award year. No additional monthly reconciliation is required, unless your school is subsequently reopened, granted extended processing, or your school’s ending cash balance changes, in which case an additional TEACH Grant SAS will be generated and sent to your school for final reconciliation.

    Note: Any change in balance requires a school to complete an additional reconciliation to fulfill its monthly reconciliation requirements and reconfirm closeout.

 A3: Schools should not delay closeout activities based on transactions that may occur later. If a school has completed all known cash and disbursement activity in the award year, the school must complete their reconciliation to a zero Ending Cash Balance and confirm closeout, as indicated in Q1.

Delays should only occur if a school has identified specific additional transactions needing to be reported or corrected immediately. These may include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Eligible late disbursements

  • Downward disbursement adjustments due to changes in student enrollment or eligibility

These changes should be reported in a timely manner, per regulatory requirements, and then final reconciliation and closeout should be completed.

A4: The benefits to confirming closeout include:

  • Receiving a Program Year Closeout Letter to include with your final reconciliation documentation. This letter confirms the date your school officially closed out the award year.

  • No additional monthly reconciliation to the SAS is required unless your school’s disbursement or cash balances change (see Q8 for more details).

  • Tighter controls over available funds in G6. With the closeout confirmation process, a school’s CFL is reduced to the greater of Net Drawdowns or Net Accepted and Posted Disbursements which prevents further funds being requested or received for the closed year. This also prevents funds from being accidentally drawn in the wrong award year when a new award year is added.

  • Tighter controls over submitting disbursement or award level changes per published edits. Schools should review new or increased disbursement and award data closely to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements prior to requesting to be reopened or placed on extended processing.

  • Discontinues year-specific reports which reduces clutter in SAIG mailbox and student data from being sent unnecessarily.

  • Changes to cash and/or disbursement balances after a school has confirmed closeout (i.e., downward disbursement adjustments, refund of cash, or a drawdown adjustment) will trigger a Reopen Change Letter via email which notifies the school that a change in balance has occurred, and the balance needs to be researched and resolved. This aids schools in monitoring when changes occur late in the award year so reconciliation efforts can resume, and the school can reconfirm closeout.

  • A Reopen Change Letter or Extended Processing Letter will be sent via email to the President and FAA as notification that your school was reopened or placed on extended processing due to a request made by your school or by a change in balance. If one of these emails is received, your school is no longer considered confirmed closed out and it indicates your school must resume reconciliation and reconfirm closeout.

    Note: Any change in balance requires a school to resume reconciliation to fulfill its monthly reconciliation requirements and reconfirm closeout.

A5: If a student enrolls in a payment period that is scheduled to occur in two award years, the entire payment period must be considered to occur within one of those award years, and the school must report TEACH Grant payments to the student for that payment period as being made for the award year to which the crossover payment period was assigned. There is no requirement for a TEACH Grant crossover payment period to be placed in the same award year as a student’s Pell Grant.

In most cases, it’s up to your school to determine the award year in which the payment period will be placed. However, if more than six months of a payment period are scheduled to occur within one award year, you must place that payment period in that award year.

Note: When a student’s payment period spans two different Scheduled Awards, the student’s payment for the payment period is calculated based on the total credit or clock hours and weeks of instructional time in the payment period and is the remaining amount of the Scheduled Award being completed plus an amount from the next Scheduled Award (if available), up to the payment for the payment period.

A6: Once a school completes a final reconciliation of its internal Financial Aid and Business Office records to its TEACH Grant SAS and is reflecting a zero Ending Cash Balance, the school must go to the COD website and complete the School Balance Confirmation form (found under the “School” link in the blue toolbar along the top of the main page and the “Balance Confirmation” link on the left-hand toolbar under School Information).

A7: If a school identifies additional new awards, new disbursements, or upward disbursement adjustments that need to be submitted after completing the balance confirmation process but prior to the closeout deadline, the school can request to be reopened via the Request Reopen/Extended Processing page on the COD website (refer to Q10 for more information). Once the request is processed, the school can start processing immediately.

If a school identifies downward adjustments to disbursements and non-financial changes that need to be submitted after completing the balance confirmation process but prior to the closeout deadline, you do not need to request to be reopened via the Request Reopen/Extended Processing page on the COD website (refer to Q10 for more information). If the downward adjustments records are accepted, the school will be automatically reopened.

Note: The school will be considered no longer confirmed closed out and will receive a Reopen Change Letter. The email will be sent to the FAA and President. Your school must resume reconciliation and reconfirm closeout.

A8: If a school’s balance changes due to downward disbursement adjustments, refunds of cash, or adjustments in G6, the school:

  • Will receive a Reopen Change Letter via email.

  • Will receive an updated TEACH Grant SAS at the end of the month.

  • If the balance change occurs before the closeout deadline, the school will be automatically reopened and is considered no longer confirmed closed out.

  • If the balance change occurs after the closeout deadline, the school is considered no longer confirmed closed out. The school can request extended processing to submit new awards, new disbursements, or upward adjustments to awards or disbursements only to resolve the balance. You do not need Extended Processing to process downward adjustments to disbursements or to report non-financial changes (refer to Q10 for more information), or to request or refund cash through G6.

  • Must reconcile to a zero balance and complete the closeout confirmation process again.

A9: The Department:

  • Reduces the CFL to the greater of Net Drawdowns or Net Accepted and Posted Disbursements for all remaining open schools.

  • Any award year batches or records received after the data submission (closeout) deadline will be rejected and returned to the school.

  • Discontinues year-specific TEACH reports.

  • Discontinues year-specific Zero Balance and Remaining Balance emails.

  • Issues a final TEACH Grant SAS to all schools, using existing school SAS options.

A10: If you need to submit increases to award or disbursement amounts or new awards or disbursements after the data submission (closeout) deadline, you will need to request an extension to the deadline via the COD website Request Reopen/Extended Processing page. However, you should not submit a request until after you have completed reconciliation of all program records and are ready to submit increases or new award or disbursement data to the COD System. Extended processing is available on a case-by-case basis. Extended processing is not needed to submit decreases to award or disbursement amounts or any non-financial changes.

In other words, after the data submission deadline:

Extended Processing is Not Needed for:

  • Downward award changes

  • Downward disbursement adjustments (reductions to actual disbursements)

  • Non-financial Changes

Extended Processing is Needed for:

  • Increases to Awards

  • Upward Disbursement Adjustments (increases to actual disbursements)

  • New disbursements

To request Extended Processing, log in to the COD website at https://cod.ed.gov and complete the following steps:

  1. Go to the School Summary Information screen by clicking the School tab on the top blue bar and entering your school identifier information.

  2. Once on the School Summary Information screen, click on the “Request Reopen/Extended Processing” link located on the left-hand toolbar under School Information.

  3. Complete all required fields—including choosing the reason for the request from the drop-down menu—and provide a detailed description of the problem. (Do not include Personally Identifiable Information (PII) data in this field, i.e., SSNs, award identifiers, etc.). The Help link in the upper right corner has additional information to assist you in filling out the form.

  4. Click on the “SUBMIT” button below the data fields.

If your Extended Processing request is authorized, your President and Financial Aid Administrator will receive an Extended Processing email which includes the Extended Processing Expiration Date. This correspondence can also be viewed via the School Correspondence page on the COD website.  If additional information is needed to support your request, FSA will send an email to the requestor.  If the necessary information is not provided or if extended processing is not needed (e.g., request is to process downward disbursement adjustments or request was made in error), your request will be denied.

Tip: A school can also see the status of their extended processing via FSA Partner Connect website. Once on the School Profile page, click on the School Options and General Information link, and select the applicable award year and program. Then expand the Extended Processing Status section for information.

Note:

  • An extension to the data submission (closeout) deadline does not negate any other data reporting deadline, student eligibility or disbursement requirements pertaining to the Title IV programs, nor does it imply the Department approves the school’s failure to meet the established data submission (closeout) deadline.

  • Prior to seeking relief from the data submission (closeout) deadline, the school should have reviewed its records and consulted with the FSA Partner and School Relations Center, if necessary. Therefore, if Extended Processing is requested and granted the school knows exactly what data needs to be submitted and how to submit it to the COD website, so that the school’s records are accurate at the end of the extension period.

  • A school on Heightened Cash Monitoring 2 (HCM2) must coordinate with its Institutional Review Specialist/Payment Analyst if the school finds it still needs to submit data after the established data submission (closeout) deadline. The Payment Analyst will contact the appropriate FSA staff on the school's behalf via email with an appropriate extension period for processing.

A11: The school will be notified of its remaining balance through the Combined Programs Demand and Negative Balance Letter process conducted three times a year (3 Cycles), for new and existing positive and negative balances. Any remaining positive balance will result in a final liability for the school.

A12: There are various tools provided by the Department that your school can use to reconcile externally the cash and disbursement data from the COD website. The following tools are available:

Reports:

  • TEACH School Account Statement (SAS) – The Department provides a SAS to all schools on a monthly basis. The SAS is similar to a bank statement and provides the Department’s official Ending Cash Balance as of the end of the reported month, as well as detailed cash and disbursement detail transactions for the reported period. The SAS is the school’s primary tool used in reconciliation and program year closeout and should be compared to both financial aid and business office records. Tip: Schools can choose to update SAS Options at the end of their processing period to receive year-to-date detail data for final reconciliation activities, even if they routinely receive monthly data as their default.

    Additional information on the content and formats available for the SAS is available in the  2024–2025 COD Technical Reference, Volume 6, Section 6: COD Reports.

  • TEACH SAS Disbursement Detail on Demand – ad-hoc report that allows schools to get SAS Disbursement Detail data independent of the school’s monthly SAS file.

  • Pending Disbursement List Report – contains disbursements not yet funded in the COD website (Disbursement Release Indicator (DRI) = False).

COD website:

  • School Funding Information (found under the “School” link in the blue toolbar along the top of the main page and the “Funding Info” link on the left-hand tool bar under School Information)

  • School Summary Financial Information (found under the “School” link in the blue tool bar along the top of the main page and the “Summary Financial Info” link on the left-hand tool bar under School Information)

  • Cash Activity (found under the “School” link in the blue tool bar along the top of the main page and the “Cash Activity” link on the left-hand tool bar under School Information) – shows all individual Drawdown, Refund of Cash, and other transactions. This information is sent to the COD website from G6. This information can be used to reconcile to internal bank statements and cash transactions.

  • Anticipated Disbursement Queue (found under the “Batch” link in the blue tool bar along the top of the main page and the “Anticip Disb Queue” link on the left-hand tool bar) – lists all anticipated (pending) disbursements. It can be used to determine if anticipated disbursements need to be canceled (reduced to zero) or made into actual disbursements (DRI = True). This information is updated daily.

  • Action Queue (found under the “Batch” link in the blue tool bar along the top of the main page and the “Action Queue” link on the left-hand tool bar) – lists records that are in review by FSA’s Payment Analysts for schools on HCM2. Can be used by schools to ensure all records that the school intends to submit in their HCM2 submission have been sent to the COD website.

FSA Partner Connect website (refer to A14 for more information):

  • School’s Dashboard – This page has a section for Origination and Disbursement Notifications that can key your school into areas that need your immediate attention like unsubstantiated cash > 30 days, unresolved balances in closed award years, and balance confirmations needed.

  • School Financial Information – This page contains sections that are very similar to the financial pages within COD but with some enhanced features. They include the School Daily School Account Statement (SAS) Cash Information, School Funding Information, Cash Activity, and Refunds of Cash Information sections.

  • School Profile, School Options and General Information – This page contains sections with information on Extended Processing status and your SAS Report Selections.

A13: Additional resources for reconciliation can be found on the FSA Partner Connect - Knowledge Center website, which includes:

A14: FSA Partner Connect is a website for individuals involved in the administration of Title IV financial aid for postsecondary education. On this site users can explore policy and guidance in the Knowledge Center, access helpful tools, find training announcements, or link to other Federal Student Aid websites to manage Title IV program eligibility and complete aid administration tasks. You can subscribe to get the latest news and updates from the FSA Partner Connect - Knowledge Center by clicking this link: https://fsapartners.ed.gov/subscriptions/.

Below are the different features of the FSA Partner Connect Portal:

  • Knowledge Center: Repository of articles about the administration of Title IV federal student aid

  • Federal Student Aid Handbook: Web-based, searchable version of the handbook found within the Knowledge Center portion of FSA Partner Connect

  • Training: Information about training and links to important training sites

  • Financial Aid Delivery: Information about the financial aid delivery process as well as links to sites to complete related tasks

  • Title IV Program Eligibility: Information about how schools can apply and maintain Title IV program eligibility as well as links to various sites to complete tasks in the eligibility process

  • Origination and Disbursement Notifications: A quick, top-level overview of an organization’s current operational status with call outs for the most important information

  • Student, Parent, Borrower Accounts: Simplified search functionality to access information about a student, parent, or borrower easily

  • Partner Search: Provides the ability to search and view information about a school