Setting Up for Pell Payment Processing

This chapter lists common elements and discusses how to:

Click to jump to parent topicCommon Elements Used in this Chapter

Aid Year

An awarding cycle with defined disbursement periods.

Pell ID Reporting

Identification code assigned to an institution by the Department of Education and used during the exchange of electronic data.

TG Number

A number that corresponds to an institution's Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) mailbox.

OPE ID Number (office of post secondary education identification number)

Identification number assigned by the Department of Education to the reporting institution.

Low T & F Flag (low tuition and fees flag)

The system uses this field to identify tuition ranges when the annual tuition falls into the low tuition category as mandated by the Department of Education for each award year.

Click to jump to parent topicSetting Up Pell Funding Method

This section provides an overview of the Pell funding method and discusses how to define the Pell funding method.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicUnderstanding Pell Funding Method

As part of the Pell payment process setup, institutions must indicate if they are an advanced funding institution or just-in-time funding institution. Under the just-in-time payment method, an accepted disbursement record becomes both a report of a disbursement for a student and a request for funds.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicDefining Pell Funding Method

Access the Financial Aid Defaults page (Set Up SACR, Install, Financial Aid Installation, Financial Aid Defaults).

Find a complete description of the Financial Aid Defaults page in Setting Up Your Financial Aid Awarding Cycle, Establishing Defaults, Defining Installation Level Defaults.

Select the Pell Just In Time Institution check box in the Activation Indicators group box to indicate that you participate in the just-in-time funding method.

Clear the Pell Just in Time Institution check box to indicate that you participate in the advance funding method.

See Defining Installation Level Defaults.

Click to jump to parent topicSetting Up Pell Payment Information

To set up Pell payment information, use the Pell payment component (PELL_SETUP_PNL).

This section discusses how to:

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicPages Used to Define Pell Payment Information

Page Name

Definition Name

Navigation

Usage

Pell Payment Setup

PELL_PMT_OPTION

Set Up SACR, Product Related, Financial Aid, Pell Grants, Pell Payment, Pell Payment Setup

Define Pell payment information to include Pell IDs and other reporting data for Pell payment records to common origination disbursement (COD).

Copy Pell Payment Options

PELL_PMT_OPTN_COPY

Click the Copy Pell Payment Option button on the Pell Payment Setup page.

Copy Pell payment options, including academic institution, aid year, and Pell ID reporting setup data from one aid year to another.

Pell Payment Detail

PELL_PMT_SEC

Click the Career - Program Detail button on the Pell Payment Setup page.

Change Pell payment default information. Set up a career and program at the institution when the payment program differs from the default payment schedule or formula.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicDefining Pell Payment Setup

Access the Pell Payment Setup page (Set Up SACR, Product Related, Financial Aid, Pell Grants, Pell Payment, Pell Payment Setup).

Warning! Do not change Pell ID Reporting values in the middle of an aid year. The Pell Grant payment and origination processes reference student awards which are in an Institution context and not directly related to a Pell ID. The Pell ID Reporting for Pell Grant processing is derived from the Institution using the Pell Payment Setup.

Pell ID Reporting

Select to identify an institution. After the Pell ID reporting number is defined for the institution, any school that you associate with your institution, such as an off-site campus, is associated with your primary institution.

TG Number

Enter your TG identification number. This number corresponds to your SAIG mailbox and identifies your school as a destination point.

Software Provider ID

Enter the ID provided by COD. This field is optional.

Institution Type

Select one of the following values: 5 years, 4 years, Less than 1 yr, Less than 2 yrs, Less than 3 yrs, or Less than 4 yrs.

Academic Calendar

This field is optional. Values are:

Clock Hour: Measures academic progress by clock hours.

Crdt Hr NS (credit hour nonstandard term): Uses nonstandard academic terms, and measures progress by credit hours or units. The Financial Aid system does not support this Pell calculation.

Credit Hr w/o Trm (credit hour without term): Does not use terms, and measures academic progress by credit hours. The Financial Aid system does not support this Pell calculation.

Quarter: Uses standard term quarters, and measures academic progress by quarter hours.

Semester: Uses standard term semesters, and measures academic progress by semester hours.

Trimester:Uses standard term trimesters, and measures academic progress by semester or trimester hours.

Payment Methodology

This field is optional. Values are: Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula 4, Formula 5, and (none).

Note. The Financial Aid system does not support the Pell calculation for academic calendars tracked by clock hour or hours without terms.

This includes awarding for Formulas 4 or 5, which are used by institutions with academic calendars tracked by clock hour or hours without terms. The system uses Formula 1.

This table describes each payment methodology value:

Payment Methodology

Description

Formula 1

Applies to a standard term, credit-hour program that meets the following conditions:

  • The program uses an academic calendar that includes two semesters or trimesters (fall and spring) or three quarters (fall, winter, and spring).

  • The fall through spring standard terms provide at least 30 weeks of instructional time.

  • The program is not offered with overlapping terms.

  • Full-time enrollment in every term the school offers in the award year is at least 12 credit hours. For example, if your school offers a summer session, that term must define full-time as at least 12 credit hours.

Formula 2

Applies to a standard term, credit-hour program that meets the same conditions as Formula 1 except that the fall through spring standard terms provide less than 30 weeks of instructional time.

Formula 3

Applies to any term-based, credit-hour program. You must use Formula 3 if the program has any nonstandard terms. Use either Formula 1 or 3 if the program has all standard terms and at least 30 weeks of instructional time. Use either Formula 2 or 3 if the program has all standard terms and less than 30 weeks of instructional time.

Formula 4

Applies to a clock-hour program or a credit-hour program without terms.

Formula 5

Applies to nonresidential correspondence programs.

 

Financial Control

Select to indicate whether the institution is Proprietary, Prvt. Nprft (private and nonprofit), or Public.

Low T&F Flag (low tuition and fees flag)

The system uses this field to identify tuition ranges when the annual tuition falls into the low tuition category, as mandated by the Department of Education for each award year. Values are: (none), 0, Range 1, and Range 2.

Hours/Credits in Acad Year (hours or credits in academic year)

This field is optional. You can save the page without entering data in this field. Enter the number of hours or credits in the academic year of the program.

Pell Just In Time Institution

Select to indicate the Pell funding method if the institution is participating in the just-in-time program. Use this field for processing disbursement records.

Weeks in Program Acad Year (weeks in program academic year)

This field is optional. You can save the page without entering data in this field. Enter the number of weeks of instructional time in the academic year of the program. For example, if the payment methodology is Formula 1, you would enter 30 to represent 30 weeks of instructional time.

Maximum Pell Award

Enter the maximum Pell award amount for the academic year. If awards greater than the defined amount exist, the system does not originate those students.

Max EFC (maximum expected family contribution)

Enter the maximum amount of expected family contribution used to calculate a Pell Grant.

Disbursement Request Offset

Enter a value that represents how many days before your school sends out the disbursement. The number that you enter in this field determines how many days before (negative) or after (positive) the disbursement date you send disbursement records. This value is used in the selection for the outbound disbursement process. You can send disbursement records up to 30 days before disbursement for advance funding schools and up to 5 days before disbursement for just-in-time schools.

SFA Common School ID (student financial assistance common school identification)

The system activates this field only if the COD Full Participant check box is selected. The school identifier is common across the Pell, ACG, SMART, and Direct Loan programs. It is a randomly generated eight-digit number assigned by the Department of Education. It serves as the Entity ID required in the School Entity, Reporting School, and Attending School fields of the XML file.

COD Full Participant (common origination disbursement full participant)

Select if the institution is a COD Full Participant to generate, send, and receive a COD XML file.

Note. If this check box is selected, you cannot generate the EC Agent flat file.

Copy Pell Payment Option

Click to access the Copy Pell Payment Options page, where you can copy setup data from one aid year to another.

Career - Program Detail

Click to access the Pell Payment Detail page. Use this page to set up a career and program at the institution when the payment program differs from the default payment schedule or formula.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicCopying Pell Payment Options

Access the Copy Pell Payment Options page (click the Copy Pell Payment Option button on the Pell Payment Setup page).

In the Copy To section, select the academic institution, aid year, and Pell ID reporting.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicChanging Pell Payment Default Information

Access the Pell Payment Detail page (click the Career - Program Detail button on the Pell Payment Setup page).

Academic Career

Select a career defined by the institution.

Primary Academic Program

Select a program defined by the institution.

Academic Plan

Select a plan defined by the institution.

Weeks in Program Acad Year (weeks in program academic year)

This field is optional. Enter the number of weeks of instructional time in the academic year of the program.

Hours/Credits in Acad Year (hours or credits in academic year)

This field is optional. Enter the number of hours or credits in the academic year of the program.

Academic Calendar

This field is optional. Select from these values: Clock Hour, Crdt Hr NS (credit hour nonstandard terms), Quarter, Semester, Trimester, and Hr w/o Terms (hour without terms).

Payment Methodology

This field is optional. Select from these available formulas to calculate the student's Pell Grant: Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula 4, Formula 5, and (none).

Low T & F Flag (low tuition and fees flag)

Identifies annual tuition that falls into the low tuition category as mandated by the Department of Education for each award year. Select from the values: (none), 0, Range 1, and Range 2.

Use Fulltime Enrollment

Select to use full-time enrollment. The system builds the field for all originated students using full-time enrollment, regardless of the student's actual enrollment. For example, if you select this check box and a student is enrolled part-time, the system reports the student as full-time. To report and originate a student as full-time with maximum Pell, you must also select the Orig Max Pell check box.

Orig Offered (originate offered)

If you select this check box, the system does not update the disbursement tables to reflect the actual Pell amount. When you are ready to send in the disbursement request, you must accept the Pell award, rerun origination, and then run the disbursement outbound process. If you do not go back and run origination, the disbursement outbound process does not pick up students whose Pell disbursements are zero. When you select this check box, you can originate a student's award with an award status of Offered.

Orig Max Pell (originate maximum Pell)

Select to direct the system to originate the maximum Pell award amount for all processed students in that career program plan. The maximum Pell award is defined on the Pell Payment Setup page (PELL_PMT_OPTION).

Click to jump to parent topicSetting Up Pell Reporting Identification Data and Processing Options

To set up Pell reporting identification data and processing options, use the Pell Payment component (PELL_SETUP_PNL).

This section discusses how to define Pell reporting identification data.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicPage Used to Set Up Pell Reporting Identification Data and Processing Options

Page Name

Definition Name

Navigation

Usage

Pell Institution Address

PELL_INST_ADDRESS

Set Up SACR, Product Related, Financial Aid, Pell Grants, Pell Payment, Pell Institution Address

Define Pell reporting identification data. Include the Pell reporting ID data, contact information, and processing options.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicDefining Pell Reporting Identification Data

Access the Pell Institution Address page (Set Up SACR, Product Related, Financial Aid, Pell Grants, Pell Payment, Pell Institution Address).

Pell ID Reporting

Displays the identification code assigned to the institution by the Department of Education and used during the exchange of electronic data.

FAA Name (financial aid administrator name), FAA Phone Number (financial aid administrator phone number), FAA Fax Number (financial aid administrator fax number), and Internet Address

Enter the name, phone number, fax number, and internet address of the financial aid administrator.

Originate Offered Awards

Select to originate Pell awards with an award status of offered. Otherwise, the system originates only awards in offer or accept status.

Use Fulltime Enrollment

Select to use full-time enrollment. The system builds the field for all originated students using full-time enrollment, regardless of the student's actual enrollment. For example, if you select this check box and a student is enrolled part-time, the system reports the student as full-time. To report and originate a student as full-time with maximum Pell, you must also select the Originate Max Pell Award check box.

Originate Max Pell Award (originate maximum Pell award)

Select to direct the system to originate the maximum Pell award amount for all originated records. The maximum Pell award is defined on the Pell Payment Setup page (PELL_PMT_OPTION).

Hold Corrections

Select to hold corrections. The student record goes on hold when the acknowledgment comes back with corrections. Further processing cannot occur until the status is set back to ready.

Disb Prior to Transmitting Rec (disburse prior to transmitting record)

Select to verify that Pell Grant funds have been disbursed to the student's account before you transmit a disbursement record. The disbursement process does not pick up a student's disbursement record until the student has been paid through PeopleSoft Student Financials.

Payment Period Start Date Req (payment period start date required)

Select to indicate that the institution is ineligible. You cannot process a disbursement request unless the process date is equal to or greater than the reported disbursement date.

Click to jump to parent topicSetting Up Pell Multi-Campus Identification

To set up Pell multi-campus identification, use the Pell Attending component (PELL_ATTENDING).

This section discusses how to define Pell multi-campus identification.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicPage Used to Define Pell Multi-Campus Identification

Page Name

Definition Name

Navigation

Usage

Pell Attending

PELL_ATTENDING

Set Up SACR, Product Related, Financial Aid, Pell Grants, Pell ID Attending, Pell Attending

Define Pell multi-campus identification. Assign a Pell and Common School ID for each of your individual campuses to maintain separate statistics for each campus.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicDefining Pell Multi-Campus Identification

Access the Pell Attending page (Set Up SACR, Product Related, Financial Aid, Pell Grants, Pell ID Attending, Pell Attending).

Assign a Pell ID for individual campuses to maintain separate statistics for each campus. Individual campuses or schools must use the Pell ID of the main institution for reporting Pell information.

Attended Pell ID

Select the code assigned to the institution by the Department of Education. This code is the attending ID for which the student is enrolled. Origination records are pulled from each campus for each student.

Description

Enter a site description.

Campus

Select the campus that coincides with the ID and description.

Common School ID

Enter the eight-digit number assigned by the Department of Education. The system uses this identifier in conjunction with the SFA Common School ID. If the reporting school and attending school are the same, this number is identical.

Click to jump to parent topicSetting Up Severity Levels for Pell Comment Codes

To set up severity levels for Pell comment codes, use the Pell Comment Code component (PELL_COMM_CD_TABLE).

This section discusses how to:

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicPages Used to Define Severity Levels for Pell Comment Codes

Page Name

Definition Name

Navigation

Usage

Pell Comment Code Table

PELL_COMM_CD_TABLE

Set Up SACR, Product Related, Financial Aid, Pell Grants, Pell Comment Code, Pell Comment Code Table

Define severity levels for Pell comment codes to indicate what action you want to system to take.

Copy Pell Comment Codes

PELL_COMM_CD_COPY

Click the Copy Pell Comment Code button on the Pell Comment Code Table page.

Copy Pell comment codes from one aid year to another.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicDefining Severity Levels for Pell Comment Codes

Access the Pell Comment Code Table page (Set Up SACR, Product Related, Financial Aid, Pell Grants, Pell Comment Code, Pell Comment Code Table).

This page defines the Pell Comment Codes from the Department of Education.

Pell Comment Codes

Lists the identification number assigned to a specific Pell comment.

Description

Describes the Pell comment code.

Severity Level

Select one of the following severity levels to indicate the action that you want the system to take.

0 - Ignore: The system disregards the message.

1 - Action Required: The institution's Pell processor is required to take action to resolve the issue.

Copy Pell Command Code

Click this button to access the Copy Pell Comment Codes page, where you can copy the setup data from one aid year to another.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicCopying Pell Comment Codes

Access the Copy Pell Comment Codes page (click the Copy Pell Comment Code button on the Pell Comment Code Table page).

Select an aid year from the values in the Copy To group box.

Click to jump to parent topicDefining Reconciliation Periods

To set up reconciliation periods, use the Reconciliation Periods component (PROG_CASH_PER).

This section discusses how to define reconciliation periods.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicPage Used to Define Reconciliation Periods

Page Name

Definition Name

Navigation

Usage

Reconciliation Period Setup

PROG_CASH_PER

Set Up SACR, Product Related, Financial Aid, Pell Grants, Reconciliation Periods, Reconciliation Period Setup

Define reconciliation periods for cash management.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicDefining Reconciliation Periods

Access the Reconciliation Period Setup page (Set Up SACR, Product Related, Financial Aid, Pell Grants, Reconciliation Periods, Reconciliation Period Setup).

You can track requests for funds and determine the frequency of reporting by establishing beginning and ending dates for each reconciliation period.

Period

Enter the period that the reconciliation covers.

Description and Short Description

Enter a description for the period that the reconciliation covers.

Period Start Date and Period End Date

Enter the start and end dates (month, day, and year) that the reconciliation period covers. For example, if your institution reconciles on a monthly basis, enter the reconciliation period number for that month and the start and end date for the period. You can insert rows to enter additional reconciliation periods.