Understanding SLC
The Campus Solutions Student Loans Company (SLC) feature assists Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the United Kingdom in administering their responsibilities regarding SLC student assistance programs.
This chapter provides an overview of SLC and discusses how to set up SLC processing.
Understanding SLC
The SLC administers government-funded loans and grants to students by working with approximately 200 local education (award) authorities, including:
Local Authorities in England and Wales (LEAs)
Student Awards Agency for Scotland
Education and Library boards in Northern Ireland
HM Revenue & Customs
700+ HEIs
HEI students apply for student support annually. Depending on where they live, they apply through their LEAs or directly to the SLC. Application files are available to the HEI in August just before the beginning of each academic year.
The SLC also administers maintenance payments to students and, optionally, bursaries and scholarships on behalf of the HEIs.
PrerequisitesBefore setting up SLC, you must set up your academic institution and aid year.
You must also understand how checklists, communication, financial aid packaging, and disbursement work.
See Defining Academic Institutions.
Setting Up SLC Processing
This section discusses how to:
Define SLC options.
Define search match options.
Pages Used to Set Up SLC Processing|
Page Name |
Definition Name |
Navigation |
Usage |
|
SFA_SLC_SETUP |
Financial Aid, Student Loans Company, Student Loans Company Setup, Options |
Define SLC options. |
|
|
SFA_SLC_SRCH_MATCH |
Financial Aid, Student Loans Company, Student Loans Company Setup, Search Match Options |
Define search match options. |
Defining SLC Options
Access the Student Loans Company Setup - Options page (Financial Aid, Student Loans Company, Student Loans Company Setup, Options).
General
|
SLC Acad Year (Student Loans Company academic year) |
Select the year for which this setup is intended. |
SSAR Import
|
Bank Details Comm Key (bank details communication key) |
Select the communication key to be used when the Bank Details Held fields in the Student Support Attendance Requests (SSAR) files being imported have a value of N. The communication is created only if the communication designated by the communication key does not already exist for the student. |
|
Create SSAR Checklist (create Student Support Attendance Requests checklist) |
Select the checklist to be assigned to students when their SSAR record is imported. This checklist can be used for controlling disbursement of Tuition Fee Grant (TFG) and Tuition Fee Loan (TFL) award disbursements. Disbursement rules can consider a checklist status. The checklist is created only if the designated checklist code does not already exist for the student. |
|
Make Ready for Packaging |
Select this check box to update the Packaging status to Ready for Packaging. The Packaging status is updated for a student when either of the following is true:
|
SSAC Extract
|
Use Checklist |
Select the checklist to be used when selecting the students to be included in the Generate SSAC Data process. When evaluating whether the student can be included in the SSAC Extract, the process determines whether the student has this checklist assigned and whether the checklist is complete. |
|
Use Physical Attendance Flag |
Select this check box to ensure that the Generate SSAC Data process checks to see if the student's physical attendance is confirmed when evaluating whether the student can be included in the SSAC Extract. |
|
Complete SSAR Checklist (complete Student Support Attendance Requests checklist) |
Select this check box to ensure that the Generate SSAC Data process updates the status of the checklist designated in the Create SSAR Checklist field to Complete. |
ACR Processing
Use this group box to:
Associate equations with each of the Attendance Confirmation Report (ACR) elements that is used to determine the At Fee Code that is sent in the ACR Response File from the HEI to the SLC.
Designate a course fee group to be used in the Course Fee element.
Designate an equation to determine the At Fee Code to be returned for each student with the ACR Response File.
At Fee Codes are defined by the SLC.
When writing equations to be used by the At Fee Evaluation process, ensure that they return values for the same calendar date. These values can be compared with students' ACR data to determine the At Fee Code. The exception is the attendance status, which is determined for the same calendar date as the other equations, but which has no ACR field to use for comparison.
The values that are available in the equation fields in this group box appear by default from the Equation Editor (EQUATION_EDITOR) component (Set Up SACR, Common Definitions, Equation Engine, Equation Editor, Equation Editor).
Note. No equations are delivered for ACR processing as of the release of the Summer 2008 Bundle.
If you write equations to be selected in the Attendance Equation, Course Code Equation, Course Year Equation, Course Fee Equation, and Tuition Liability Equation fields:
The Attendance Equation must set the value for the SFA_SLC_EQ_ATTSTAT field.
The translate values for SFA_SLC_EQ_ATTSTAT are A - In Attendance, N - Not in Attendance, and S - Studies Suspended.
The Course Code Equation must return the UCAS or SLC Code for the course (depending on which type of course code was provided on the ACR).
The Course Year Equation must return the year of the course of study/program in which the student is enrolled; for example, a value such as 1, 2, 3, or 4.
The Course Fee Equation must return the amount of tuition fees charged to the student for this academic year.
The Tuition Liability Equation should set the following equation engine variables:
SFA_SLC_EQ_TUITLN - Tuition Loan Amt
SFA_SLC_EQ_TUITGNT - Tuition Grant Amt
SFA_SLC_EQ_TUITSTD - Tuition Student Liable Amt
|
Course Fee Group |
Select the fee group to be used by the Course Fee equation. Values appear by default from the Student Financials Item Type Groups (ITEM_GROUPINGS) component (Set Up SACR, Product Related, Student Financials, Item Types, Item Type Groups). |
All fields in the ACR Processing group box are optional.
However, to use the ACR At Fee Evaluation process, you must write an equation to be selected in the At Fee Equation field.
The At Fee Equation should be coded to populate the Equation Engine variable SFA_SLC_ATTEND_IND.
You can write the At Fee equation so that it uses the results of one or more of the other equations in the ACR Processing group box, or you can write an At Fee equation that does not rely on other equation results.
See Running the ACR At Fee Evaluation Process.
Remittance Report Parameters
Use this group box to define which financial aid item type group represents Tuition Fee Grants and which financial aid item type group represents Tuition Fee Loans. This mapping enables you to create or modify a reconciliation query using imported Remittance Report data. The values for these two fields appear by default from the Financial Aid Related Item Type Group (PKG_REL_ITEM_GROUP) component (Set Up SACR, Product Related, Financial Aid, Awards, Related Item Type Group).
|
Tuition Fee Loan Group |
Select a financial aid item type group for this tuition fee loan item type. |
|
Tuition Fee Grant Group |
Select a financial aid item type group for this tuition fee grant item type. |
HEBSS Import
|
Make Ready for Packaging |
Select this check box to update the packaging status to Ready for Packaging. The Packaging status is updated for a student when either of the following is true:
|
Defining Search Match Options
Access the Student Loans Company Setup - Search Match Options page (Financial Aid, Student Loans Company, Student Loans Company Setup, Search Match Options).
Use this page to select the search parameters that you want to use for the Import SSAR Files process, the Import HEBSS Files process, and the Import ACR/SISF process, and the subsequent actions to be taken for the different match scenarios.
Note. Students for whom an exact Student Support Number match exists have their records directly added to the Student SLC table and are not be subject to the Search/Match options defined on this page.