| AwardYear: 1997-1998 Edition: PostSecondary Part: 2 - - The application process for financial aid SectionNumber: SectionTitle: How the application is processed PageNumbers: 27-30 How the application is processed The CPS analyzes the information from the FAFSA and calculates an EFC to determine how much a student and (if the student is dependent) his or her parents can be expected to pay toward the student's education. As discussed in Part 1, the EFC measures the family's financial strength on the basis of the income and assets of the student and/or the student's parents and/or the student's spouse. The EFC formula also takes into account the family's expenses relative to the number of persons in the household and how many of them will be attending college during the award year. If the EFC is less than the cost of attendance, the student is considered to have financial need. A student with a zero EFC may receive the maximum Federal Pell Grant award, depending on the student's cost of attendance and enrollment status. The higher the EFC, the less the student's need. If the student's EFC is above a maximum amount determined each award year, the student will not be eligible for a Federal Pell Grant but may be eligible for other assistance. The CPS automatically calculates a simplified EFC for students who meet certain income and tax filing requirements. Such students do not need to provide asset information on the application, but if they do, a full calculation will be performed using that information. To qualify for the simplified calculation, - neither the student, the dependent student's parents, nor the independent student's spouse can have filed (or have been required to file) an IRS Form 1040, and - they must have an income of less than $50,000, not counting the income of a dependent student. (The income limit applies only to the income of the dependent student's parents, or the independent student and his or her spouse.) The formula also provides for an automatic zero EFC for some students. Applicants who meet the following requirements will automatically receive a zero EFC: - for a dependent student, neither parent was required to file a 1996 IRS Form 1040, and the parents' taxable income is $12,000 or less - for an independent student with dependents other than a spouse, neither the student (or spouse) filed or were required to file a 1996 IRS Form 1040, and the student (and spouse's) taxable income is $12,000 or less. Independent students with no dependents other than a spouse do not qualify for an automatic zero EFC. The CPS uses a series of edits to check the consistency of the student's information. For instance, it would be inconsistent for the dependent student of a single parent to report income earned from work for two parents. If the FAFSA data is inconsistent, the CPS may be unable to calculate the EFC or may calculate an EFC based on automatic assumptions. If assumptions have been used, they are indicated on the SAR or ISIR; the student must make sure the assumptions are correct. For electronic applications, you can anticipate certain assumptions and correct or override certain information on the student's first application. Thus, the student's information does not have to be reprocessed to confirm these assumptions. For example, if the household size and the number of people in college are equal to each other and more than two, the processor assumes that the number in college should be one. In an electronic application, the financial aid administrator can override this assumption if all members of the household are in fact enrolled in college. This override allows information contrary to the assumptions to be confirmed when first filing through EDE (rather than requiring later confirmation). The CPS also performs several data matches. If a student's records do not satisfy the eligibility match requirements of one or more of the databases discussed below, the student's records are flagged and the student may not be eligible to receive federal aid unless the discrepancy is resolved. Resolving such a discrepancy usually requires the student to submit additional documentation to the school where he or she is applying. For example, the CPS matches FAFSA data against the Department's National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS). This database identifies students who owe an overpayment on a Federal Pell Grant or Federal Perkins Loan, and students who have defaulted on any Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Direct Loan, or Federal Family Education Loan (as well as any other federal student loan held by a state guaranty agency or by the Department). If a student is found to owe an overpayment or to be in default and has not made satisfactory arrangements to repay, he or she receives a comment on the SAR or ISIR saying he or she is ineligible for aid until the status is resolved. If a match with NSLDS is completed but no student data are present, comment #140 is generated. The school can thus assume that the student has no financial aid history. If the match is partial--that is, if a student's SSN matches a record in the NSLDS database, but the student's name does not match--comment 138 is generated. In this situation, the loan history in the database does not appear on the student's SAR or ISIR (identification was not complete), but the comment alerts the financial aid administrator that some financial aid history is associated with that student's SSN. For 1997-98, one new reject reason code (Reject 4) has been added. If a student makes the mistake of reporting his or her birth year as the current year, the application will be rejected and the student must provide a correct year for his or her date of birth. This procedure ensures better data matches with NSLDS and the Social Security Administration (SSA). The CPS sends records to the SSA to check the validity of a student's Social Security Number (SSN). If the SSN is invalid, the student receives a rejected SAR, and a comment will appear on the SAR or ISIR instructing him or her to review the SSN. (Also, the student receives a comment on the SAR or ISIR if the SSN is a valid number but the name and/or date of birth reported on the FAFSA does not match SSA records.) A student with an invalid SSN receives a "Reject 18" SAR ("SSN not found in database"); this was formerly known as a "Reject S" SAR. The student must report his or her correct Social Security Number to SSA and provide documentation verifying the correct number. The student should then submit a new FAFSA using his or her correct SSN: as stated in Action Letter 5 (GEN-96-22), a student who receives the Reject 18 SAR, and who determines that a correction to the originally reported SSN is needed, should submit a new FAFSA rather than attempt to correct the SSN on the SAR. Beginning in the 1997-98 academic year, if a student makes corrections to his or her name, date of birth, or SSN after an attempted SSA database match, this record will be rematched against the SSA database. A new match flag will be generated and reported in the FAA Information section. Once confirmation of all the SSA match elements has been obtained (i.e., SSN, name, and date of birth all match and U.S. citizenship is confirmed), the SSN and citizenship flags will be carried forward to the student's 1998-99 Renewal Application, and the SSA match will not have to be performed each time the student applies for aid. If a student whose match data have been confirmed subsequently attempts to change his or her SSN, the system does not accept the change and generates a comment (code #13) advising the student to contact his or her financial aid administrator for assistance. Since 1996-97, the SSA has been conducting a match to verify U.S. citizenship status if the student indicates on the FAFSA that he or she is a U.S. citizen. The results of the SSA citizenship match--a comment code and a comment explaining the result--are printed on the student's SAR. When a student's reported data conflict with the SSA database--or when no citizenship match can be performed--he or she will receive a comment on his or her SAR, along with a SAR flag "C." A student who receives this comment must provide the school with documentation substantiating his or her claim to be a citizen or eligible noncitizen. For each student who provides an Alien Registration Number (ARN), the CPS also checks the status of eligible noncitizens by conducting a match with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The CPS also performs matches against drug abuse conviction records maintained by the U.S. Department of Justice and registration status information maintained by the Selective Service System. |