(GENERAL-24-67) Update on Department Reprocessing of 2024-25 FAFSA Records (Updated November 26, 2024)

Author
Federal Student Aid
Electronic Announcement ID
GENERAL-24-67
Subject
Update on Department Reprocessing of 2024-25 FAFSA Records (Updated November 26, 2024)

Note

Update on November 26, 2024: The Department continues to address recurring issues in which some FAFSA records are rejected without a reject code or result in a blank SAI. We have resolved and reprocessed a number of records to correct these issues. The new reprocessing codes are detailed below.

Code

Description

02

Pell eligibility and Pell Grant Eligibility Flag

03

Comment codes related to a few FPS edits may not be set correctly

04

No SAI on non-rejected ISIRs

05

Blank “Student Contributions from Assets” (SCA) leading to miscalculated SAIs

06

Updated FTI IRS data

07

Correct Federal School Code (FSC) order

08

Update to Verification Tracking Group

09

Earned Income Credit (EIC) Update for Single Parent

10

Graduate Flag

11

Remove Reject 34 for Unsub Only

12

Removing Unneeded Assets

13

Removing Reject 9

Description of Reprocessing Categories

  • 02 – Pell eligibility and Pell Grant Eligibility Flag: Any record where the Pell Grant flag was set incorrectly. Will cover both the Flag is Yes and should be blank and vice versa.

  • 03 – There are a small number of ISIRs that may be missing some Comment Codes based on a few FPS edits that may need adjustment.

  • 04 – No SAI on non-rejected ISIRs: Any record that has no SAI and is not rejected due to SSA Match signature mismatch.

  • 05 – Blank (SCA) leading to miscalculated SAIs: Any dependent student where the Student Contribution from Assets was calculated incorrectly.

  • 06 – Updated FTI IRS data: A student or contributor on the FAFSA who has incorrect IRS Federal Tax Information (FTI) that resulted in a change to the ISIR will be included.

  • 07 – For state agencies, the school codes are not listed in the order the student entered them on the FAFSA.

  • 08 – Update to provide the verification tracking group for records selected for verification but no group was identified.

  • 09 – Update to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) value for single parents to determine minimum and maximum Pell eligibility.

  • 10 – Graduate Flag - Corrected values not displaying properly in subsequent ISIRs.

  • 11 – Unsubsidized loan only ISIRs incorrectly receiving reject 34.

  • 12 – SAI calculation incorrectly including asset information when FTI cannot be used due to tax filing conflict.

  • 13 – Update to remove reject 9 on paper records.

Update on September 3, 2024: The Department is aware of a reoccurring issue in which some FAFSA records have blank SAI fields and do not contain reject codes. This issue is similar to the issue that required records to be reprocessed in June. We have identified a small number of records where this issue persisted in new records that were initially processed after mid-June. These records will be reprocessed by the Department this week and will be identified with the “04” reprocessing code.

Update on June 11, 2024: The Department previously announced that additional reprocessing of FAFSA records with certain known issues would occur last week. The reprocessing and delivery of records with blank SAI fields (records identified with the “04” reprocessing code) and incorrect Earned Income Credit values (“09” reprocessing code) is continuing as planned. The Department anticipates reprocessing the records missing verification tracking flags (records identified with the “08” reprocessing code) late this week with delivery next week. In the early stages of reprocessing, a remaining issue was identified and is being resolved with the “08” records.

This electronic announcement provides an update on the Department of Education’s (the Department’s) research and reprocessing of 2024-25 FAFSA forms as outlined in Electronic Announcement (GENERAL-24-60). The Department has now transmitted the ISIRs from approximately 10.8 million FAFSA forms to schools, states, and designated scholarship organizations. In addition, over 1.8 million corrections have been successfully processed, addressing the most common issues with FAFSA submission. Whether resulting from a new submission or a correction, applicants’ ISIRs are now being sent to schools and states within 1 to 3 days of submission.

Reprocessing Records with Blank SAI and Missing Verification Tracking Flags

This week, the Department will be delivering reprocessed ISIRs to IHEs that correct records with a blank SAI field, and records selected for verification without a tracking group (V1, V4, or V5) listed. We have identified the root causes of these issues, which impacted fewer than one-half of one percent of ISIRs. Impacted records that are reprocessed will be identified with either a 04 or 08 reprocessing code as detailed below.

In some instances, the Department discovered the blank SAI issue was caused by a missing family size value and a student correction is required. The Department has e-mailed impacted applicants and their contributors with information on how to correct this issue. A dependent student’s parent should return to StudentAid.gov to follow the directions below to reenter the family size information so that we can calculate the student's Student Aid Index.

Log in to the StudentAid.gov account Dashboard.

  1. Select “2024–25 FAFSA Form” from the “My Activity” section.

  2. Select the Actions menu and then “Make Corrections.”

  3. On the “Correct Your FAFSA® Form” page, select “Update Answers to Questions on Your FAFSA® Form” and then enter the Financials section.

  4. Navigate through the Financials section and find the “Family Size” page that asks, “Is the parent’s family size different from the number of individuals claimed on their 2022 tax return?”

  5. Change the answer to “Yes,” report any dependents, and then sign and submit the correction.

Independent students who are impacted by this issue were sent similar instructions but must log in to StudentAid.gov themselves to correct the family size in the Student section of the form.

Reprocessing Records with Updated Earned Income Credit (EIC) Value

The Department identified an issue that the FAFSA Processing System (FPS) was using an incorrect value for the EIC resulting in some applicants not being correctly identified as single parents which could result in these applicants being identified as eligible for the maximum Pell Grant award. The EIC value is not used in the SAI calculation, but it is used to identify if an applicant or contributor is a single parent to subsequently determine maximum and minimum Pell Grant eligibility (and corresponding indicators on the ISIR). Reprocessed records will be identified with an 09 reprocessing code as detailed below.

Identifying Reprocessed ISIRs

During reprocessing, the Department updates the most recent transaction and creates a new subsequent transaction with information to identify that it has been reprocessed and why.

The following fields on an ISIR can help you identify a reprocessed transaction along with the primary reason for the reprocessing:

  • Field 9: Transaction Source will be set to “5” to indicate FPS as the source of the transaction.

  • Field 16: FPS Correction Reason will be set to “P” to indicate Reprocessing.

  • Field 572: Reprocessed Reason Code, a two-digit code allowing for cross- referencing reprocessing reasons with the known issues detailed in the Technical FAQ and Known Issues document.

Code

Description

02

Pell eligibility and Pell Grant Eligibility Flag

03

Comment codes related to a few FPS edits may not be set correctly

04

No SAI on non-rejected ISIRs

05

Blank “Student Contributions from Assets” (SCA) leading to miscalculated SAIs

06

Updated FTI IRS data

07

Correct Federal School Code (FSC) order

08

Update to Verification Tracking Group

09

Earned Income Credit (EIC) Update for Single Parent

Description of Reprocessing Categories

  • 02 – Pell eligibility and Pell Grant Eligibility Flag: Any record where the Pell Grant flag was set incorrectly. Will cover both the Flag is Yes and should be blank and vice versa.

  • 03 – There are a small number of ISIRs that may be missing some Comment Codes based on a few FPS edits that may need adjustment.

  • 04 – No SAI on non-rejected ISIRs: Any record that has no SAI and is not rejected due to SSA Match signature mismatch.

  • 05 – Blank (SCA) leading to miscalculated SAIs: Any dependent student where the Student Contribution from Assets was calculated incorrectly.

  • 06 – Updated FTI IRS data: A student or contributor on the FAFSA who has incorrect IRS Federal Tax Information (FTI) that resulted in a change to the ISIR will be included.

  • 07 – For state agencies, the school codes are not listed in the order the student entered them on the FAFSA.

  • 08 – Update to provide the verification tracking group for records selected for verification but no group was identified.

  • 09 – Update to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) value for single parents to determine minimum and maximum Pell eligibility.

Get Help

The Department continues to email applicants and their contributors who still need to make a correction to the form or have started but not completed their form. The Department is grateful to states, schools, and partners who are continuing their outreach to all students who have not yet submitted a FAFSA form.

For technical issues related to ISIR processing:

  • For support with your SAIG agreement and mailbox, or for help with technical issues related to ISIR processing, the FAFSA Partner Portal (FPP), or EDExpress, please contact the FPS Help Desk (formerly CPS/SAIG Technical Support) at 1-800-330-5947 or by email at support@fps.ed.gov.

  • For general questions related to the 2024-25 FAFSA, we welcome our partners to continue using the Contact Customer Support form in FSA’s Partner Connect Help Center. To submit a question, please enter your name, email address, topic, and question. When submitting a question, please select the topic “2024–25 FAFSA.”

To request assistance with financial aid management systems configuration or processing applications:

  • For schools that need direct technical assistance related to processing applications and packaging aid award offers, please continue submitting your requests to the College Support Concierge mailbox CollegeSupportStrategy-FAFSA@ed.gov.

Last Modified: 11/26/2024