Preparing for Awarding and Packaging

This chapter discusses how to:

• Make early financial aid offers.

• Select your application data source for awarding.

• Enter veteran education benefits.

• Review the student's packaging status.

• Manage aggregate aid.

• Use Mass Change for packaging status attributes.

• Award restricted aid.

Making Early Financial Aid Offers

Your institution may use early financial aid offers as part of your admission recruitment process. Early financial aid offers are associated with a career. Because a student can apply for more than one career, this feature enables you to assign an early financial aid offer for each career's admission application the student may submit. Early financial aid offers must have an effective date so that the history of early financial aid offers can be tracked.

The early financial aid offer enables you to award estimated aid to students based on early financial aid categories you define. Select as many of these categories as you want. For each category, you enter an estimated amount of aid, and whether the award category should be offered, accepted, canceled, or declined.

This section lists prerequisites and discusses how to:

• Create early financial aid offers.

• View admissions application information.

Prerequisites

Before you create early financial aid offers using award categories, you must set up early financial aid offer categories.

See Also

Preparing for Early Financial Aid Offers

Pages Used to Make Early Financial Aid Offers

Creating Early Financial Aid Offers

Access the Early Financial Aid Offer page (Financial Aid, Awards, Early Financial Aid Awards, Offer Early Financial Aid, Early Financial Aid Offer).

Warning! It is strongly advised that the financial aid office work closely with the admissions office regarding the use of early financial aid offers. Early financial aid offers do not require a student to be checked for eligibility for financial aid awards. If a student is offered an early financial aid offer but later is found to be ineligible for aid or for the amount of aid offered, your institution could be held liable for the student's funding.

A student can have multiple admissions applications for multiple programs that may be in multiple careers. The Career Nbr (career number), Program Nbr (program number), and Application Nbr (application number) fields display sequential numbers for multiple admissions applications.

Viewing Admission Application Information

Access the Admission Application Detail page (click the Detail link on the Early Financial Aid Offer page).

Complete and Completed Date	Indicates whether the student's admissions application is complete and the date that the application was completed.
Evaluation Status and Evaluation Date	The evaluation status of the student's admissions application and the date associated with this status. Complete: The evaluation is complete. In Progress: The evaluation is in progress.

Application Detail

The Application Detail group box displays academic program data from the student's admissions application.

Selecting Your Application Data Source for Awarding

Specify whether you want to use federal application data (ISIR), institutional application data (PROFILE or an institutional application), or either (indicating which you would prefer to use if both are available). The application data source you select affects the packaging outcomes of Mass Packaging, Auto Packaging, and online manual awarding.

To allow the awarding and packaging of financial aid by using federal application data or institutional application data, you must enter a value in the Packaging Data Source field on the Financial Aid Defaults page, or override the installation level default for this field using an aid processing rule set at the academic career or academic program level. Select whether you want to use federal data, institutional data, or use a preference for federal or institutional data. For example, you could select the Institutional then Federal value for the packaging data source. If institutional application data is not available, the Packaging routine uses the student's federal application data to award monies.

The Packaging routine and the Equation Engine are affected by your selection of application data, either federal or institutional. The Packaging routine includes manual awarding, Auto Packaging, Mass Packaging, and the Mass Actions page. If you select an application type in the Packaging Data Source field that is different from the type of application that exists for a student, you cannot make awards for that student or adjust that student's awards. For example, if you select institutional application data as your packaging data source and the student has only federal application data, you cannot make awards for that student or adjust that student's existing awards.

Note. If the student does not have the specified packaging data source, the student does not receive any awards—except for no effect and conditional awards. For example, if you select Federal Only in the Packaging Data Source field and you only have institutional application data loaded for students, none of the students are awarded.

Depending on the packaging data source selected and the type of application available for a student, the and Equation Engine routines select data from either the federal application data (ISIR_** tables) or the institutional application data (INST_** tables). The data selected is then used to populate fields used by the Packaging and Equation Engine routines. Several fields selected from the ISIR_** tables do not have corresponding fields in the INST_** tables. Because of this, some packaging fields are populated with assumed values when you are packaging using institutional data. For example, database match information is not provided in the PROFILE application, so the student is assumed to have valid values for the database matches.

When the routine packages students using institutional data (Inst or Inst, Fed), it first determines whether an ISIR also exists for the student, in addition to the PROFILE or other institutional application in the system. Previously , if an ISIR existed for a student, the routine used ISIR data to determine federal eligibility and used institutional data for all other selection or eligibility criteria, such as packaging equations. Data for equations was selected when packaging data was selected. Now you must write your own equation to determine what data is selected. If only an institutional application and no ISIR exists for the student, the Packaging routine uses institutional data to determine eligibility—federal, institutional, or other—to package the student.

The following table provides a list of the packaging fields for which a corresponding field does not exist in the institutional application data (PROFILE or an institutional application). The second column tells you how the packaging field is populated when institutional application data is selected for use in packaging.

Note. The fields FED_DEPEND_STAT and INST_DEPEND_STAT are populated from federal and/or institutional data load processes and are on the STUDENT_AID table. The Packaging routine references these values to determine dependency status.

See Also

Defining Awarding and Rounding Rules

Entering Veteran Education Benefits

The Packaging routine is able to include and exclude Montgomery GI Bill (Chapter 30)/AmeriCorps (Title 1) veteran education benefits based on the following criteria when awarding federal financial aid. This veteran education benefits amount must be used as follows:

• Considered as a resource, which reduces need, when awarding campus-based programs—SEOG, Federal Work Study, and Perkins.

• Excluded when determining a student's eligibility (does not reduce need) for a subsidized loan—FFELP or Direct.

• Considered as estimated financial aid for an unsubsidized loan—FFELP or Direct.

The Packaging routine then uses this amount when determining need and estimated financial aid for awarding. The Need Summary pages also display the veteran education benefits amount.

This section discusses how to:

• Enter other educational resource information.

• Process other educational resources.

Page Used to Enter Veteran Education Benefits

Entering Other Educational Resource Information

Access the Veteran's Education Benefits page (Financial Aid Awards, Award Processing, Identify Education Resources, Veteran's Education Benefits).

EFC Status (expected family contribution status)	Displays the student's ISIR EFC status. Values are Unofficial, Official, and Rejected.
ISIR Information	Click this link to access the ISIR Information page and view selected information from the student's ISIR.
Database Matches	Click this link to access the Database Matches page and review the student's status regarding the U.S.E.D. required database matches.
Award Period	Indicates the award period associated with the veteran education benefit amount you are entering.
Montgomery GI Bill/AmeriCorps	Enter the amount the student is being awarded for veteran education benefits. The Packaging process uses the veteran education benefits amount you enter. This amount reduces need for campus-based awarding, is excluded from consideration when awarding subsidized loans (FFELP or Direct), and is included as estimated financial aid when awarding unsubsidized loans—FFELP or Direct. The amounts that you enter are specific to each award period.
Print as Other Resource	Select this check box if you want the amount that you enter to print on the Financial Aid Notification (FAN) letter as Other Resource. If you do not select this check box, the veteran education benefits amount does not appear on the FAN letter.

Processing Other Educational Resources

The Packaging process uses the veteran education benefits amount in the following way:

• It reduces need for campus-based awarding.

• It is not included in the need calculation for the awarding of subsidized loans—FFELP or Direct.

• It is included as estimated financial aid for unsubsidized loans—FFELP or Direct.

These rules are used during Manual Packaging, Auto Packaging, and Mass Packaging.

Note. Packaging treats the veteran education benefits amount exactly the same for federal methodology (FM) and institutional methodology (IM) processing. Only one entry exists on the Student Aid Attribute record for the veteran education benefits amount. The Need Summary pages display the same amount in both the FM and IM columns.

You enter veteran education benefits amounts for both academic and non standard award periods. Be sure to divide the veteran education benefits amount correctly between award periods. During packaging, if the Award Period value on the packaging plan is Both, then the Packaging process adds the two award period values and uses that amount when assessing need.

If you modify the award period on the student's Term Budget record—for example, from academic to non-standard—and that student has veteran education benefits, you receive this award message: This student has 'Other Resources' associated with this Award Period. Please check the distributions as this change may affect the student's resources/need calculation. You must change the amount entered for the veteran education benefits to derive the appropriate amount for each award period.

Note. When the system is determining a student's eligibility for a particular award, eligibility is based on the student's period of enrollment rather than the student's loan period. If you want to calculate a one-term only loan, you must adjust/prorate the student's veteran education benefits amount accordingly.

Reviewing the Student's Packaging Status

The Packaging Status Summary page provides a summary of the wide variety of information the Packaging routine uses. It includes federal and institutional verification status, disbursement hold, satisfactory academic progress, and packaging information. Other processes or actions affect many of the fields on this page. You can change these fields either manually or using Mass Change.

This section discusses how to:

• Review the Packaging Status Summary page.

• View database matches.

• Review the U.S.E.D. database match process.

• Review Pell information.

• Override Pell eligibility calculation setup values.

Pages Used to Review the Student's Packaging Status

Reviewing the Packaging Status Summary Page

Access the Packaging Status Summary page (Financial Aid, View Packaging Status Summary, Packaging Status Summary).

EFC Status (expected family contribution status)	Displayed from the financial aid application data. The student's EFC can be Official, Rejected, or Unofficial.
TERM	Click this link to access the Financial Aid Term page and view Financial Aid Term information.
ISIR Information	Click this link to access the ISIR Information page and view some of the student's ISIR information.
Database Matches	Click this link to access the Database Matches page and review a student's status regarding the U.S.E.D. required database matches.
Need Summary	Click this link to access the Need Summary page and view the student's need summary information calculated with both federal and institutional methodologies.
PELL	Click to access the PELL Information page and view Pell information or to initiate Pell Payment processing for a student if they have received a Pell Grant.
PELL Calculation Override	Click this link to access the Pell Eligibility Calculation - Student Override page and override your institution's Pell eligibility calculation values for this student.
Counselor Name	Enter a financial aid counselor's ID in this field if a particular counselor is assigned to the student.
Restricted Aid	This link appears only if the student has restricted aid information entered on the Restricted Aid page. Click to access the Restricted Aid Information page and view the status and amount of the student's restricted aid award.
Financial Aid Awarded	This link appears when the student has one or more financial aid awards. Click to access the Financial Aid Awards page and view the student's financial aid awards.
Academic Career	This value is entered with the first ISIR load and is not changed by subsequent ISIR loads. If the student has multiple careers, the settings that you establish on the Prospect Source Cross Reference Setup page determine the career entered in this field. Update this field by selecting the correct career for the student. The value in this field is automatically updated after the student has been packaged.
Aid Processing Status	Indicates where the student is in the Awarding process. You can also update this status using the Package Status field on the award entry pages. Use this field in Mass Packaging to determine whether students are ready to be packaged. The Disbursement Authorization routine also uses this field to determine whether a student's package is complete, if you select the Package Complete check box on the Disbursement Rules: Global - Indicators page or the Disbursement Rules: Item Type - Indicators page. Applied: The student has applied for financial aid. This value is automatically populated when you load a financial aid application like an ISIR, a PROFILE application, or an institutional application. No Electronic Application: No electronic application has been received. Packaging Completed: The student's award package has been posted. The Posting routine automatically updates the field to this value. To repackage a student after their status has been changed to Packaging Completed, use Manual or Auto Packaging or set up a Mass Packaging query definition to select students with a status of Packaging Completed. Ready for Counselor Review: The student should be or is currently being reviewed by a financial aid counselor. Ready for Packaging: The student is ready for packaging. When you select students for Mass Packaging, you may want to choose only students whose status is set to this value; otherwise, any student who meets the Mass Packaging query definition is selected regardless of aid processing status. Repackage: The student is ready for repackaging. Can be set by the External Award Load process.
Aid Application Status	Indicates whether the student's financial aid application is available for financial aid processing. (none): You have not assigned the student's financial aid application a status. You cannot access certain pages until you enter a status. Active: The student's financial aid application is active for financial aid processing. The system assigns this value automatically when you load the student's first ISIR into the system. Canceled: You have canceled the student's financial aid application. You must enter this value manually. Restricted: The student has applied for restricted aid only. You must enter this value manually.
Satisfactory Academic Progress	Indicates whether the student is meeting satisfactory academic progress (SAP). The Packaging routine uses this field to determine whether to award federal aid to the student. The Satisfactory Academic Progress global disbursement rules use this field to determine whether to authorize disbursement of the student's award. Also, CommonLine Disbursement Hold and Release processing can use this field to determine whether the student's loan disbursement should be held or released. Academic Plan:The student does not meet satisfactory academic progress and has been placed on an academic plan that leads to meeting SAP. This value allows federal awards to be made and the student's award to be authorized for disbursement. Meets SAP: The student is meeting satisfactory academic progress. This value allows federal awards to be made and the student's award to be authorized for disbursement. Not Meet: The student is not meeting satisfactory academic progress. Federal awards are not made, and if already awarded the student's award is not authorized for disbursement. Probation: The student does not meet satisfactory academic progress and has been placed on Probation. This value allows federal awards to be made and the student's award to be authorized for disbursement. Undetrmine: (undetermined) Satisfactory academic progress is undetermined or has not been calculated. Federal awards are not made, and if already awarded, the student's award is not authorized for disbursement. Warning: This value should only be used by institutions that process satisfactory academic progress by term. A student that does not meet satisfactory academic progress for the first time is assigned a warning status. This value allows federal awards to be made and the student's award to be authorized for disbursement.
SAP Details	Click on this link to view the Student SAP page.
Review Status	Indicate the status of the review if your institution conducts a review of the student's financial aid application. (none): Indicates that your institution does not conduct a review. Complete: The review of this application has been completed. Incomplete: This application is awaiting a review.
Disbursement Hold	Enables you to place a hold on the student's awards that is specific to disbursement processing. You can opt to hold authorization/disbursement of financial aid if a hold is present. (none): No holds are placed on this student's financial aid. Fed Aid (federal aid): Places a hold on the authorization/disbursement of federal aid only. Institut. (institutional): Places a hold on the authorization/disbursement of institutional aid only. Loan Hold: Places a hold on the authorization/disbursement of loans.
INST Verification Status (institutional verification status)	Indicates the status of your verification process if your institution conducts a verification of the student's financial aid application. You must set these values manually if you want to use them in the verification process. (none): Indicates that your institution does not conduct an institutional verification. Doc Select: The student has been selected for institution verification of a document only. Non Select: The student has not been selected for institutional verification. Select: The student has been selected for institutional verification.
Loan Entrance Interview Status	Note. The Loan Entrance Interview Status field displays when f the Financial Aid Installation default for Loan Counseling Version is Simple. Indicates whether the student has completed a loan entrance interview for the corresponding aid year. If you select the Loan Entrance Intervw Req (loan entrance interview required) check box on the Disbursement Rules: Item Type - Indicators page, the interview status value affects how the authorization process treats the student's award. (blank): The authorization process automatically determines whether the student has satisfied the loan entrance counseling requirement using the process activated when you select the Loan Entrance Intervw Req check box. Complete: The student has completed a loan entrance interview. If the Loan Entrance Intervw Req check box is selected, the authorization process passes the student and allows the award to be authorized. Set this value after confirmation of the student's completion of loan entrance counseling. Inst Req (institution required): Your institution requires the student to have a loan entrance interview, regardless of whether the authorization process requires an interview for loan awards. If the Loan Entrance Intervw Req check box is selected, the authorization process fails until you reset the status to Complete or Pending. Students with prior loan history also fail authorization until you reset the status to blank, Complete, or Pending. Pending: The student's loan entrance interview is pending. If the Loan Entrance Intervw Req check box is selected, the authorization process passes the student and allows the award to be authorized. See Setting Up Loan Counseling. See Managing Loan Counseling.
Exit Interview	Note. The Exit Interview field displays when the Financial Aid Installation default for Loan Counseling Version is Simple. Indicates whether the student has completed a loan exit interview for the corresponding aid year. This field is for informational use only because no delivered process currently uses the value of this field. Complete: The student has completed a loan exit interview. Inst Req (institution required): Your institution requires the student to have a loan exit interview. Pending: The student's loan exit interview is pending.
Loan Counseling Status	Note. The Loan Counseling Version hyperlink displays when the Financial Aid Installation default for theLoan Counseling Versionis Expanded. This is a link to the Entrance/Exit Loan Counseling page.
Verification Flag	Indicates the status of the Department of Education's verification requirement for this student. You can choose to hold Authorization/Disbursement of financial aid if the status is not Complete by selecting the Verification Complete check box on the Disbursement Rules Global page. (none): This value is treated the same as the Not Reqd value. Complete: Indicates that you have completed verification either manually or by the Auto Verification process. Not Reqd (not required): The student has not been selected for verification by the Department of Education. This is the default value for this field. Pending: The student has failed Auto Verification. This value is automatically populated by the Auto Verification process. Required: The student has been selected for verification. This value is automatically populated when you load the student's ISIR data.
Verification Status	This is associated with the awarding of federal funds, including Pell Grants, Stafford loans, and Direct Loans. It indicates the code you use when reporting a Pell payment made to a student. Accurate: Indicates that the ISIR transaction number is 01, meaning the ISIR information is accurate and no changes are needed. Auto verification enters this value, but you can enter it manually. Calculated: Indicates that you have calculated the Pell eligibility based on ISIR corrections, and the Pell eligibility has not changed. Not Select: The student was not selected for verification. Not Verfd (not verified): Indicates that a student was selected for verification but was not verified. Reprocess: Indicates the SAR needs to be sent for corrections, and is used for all ISIR transaction numbers that are not 01. Tolerance: Indicates that a student's verification passed within the tolerance level. Wtht Doc (without documentation): Indicates that the first Pell payment was made to the student before verification was completed. You can only use this value for one Pell payment. Subsequent payments/disbursements require reporting a different verification status.
Scholarship Status	Identifies whether you have evaluated a student for scholarship funds. This is an information only field. It does not affect the Packaging process. Evaluated: You have evaluated the student for scholarship funds. Not Eval (not evaluated): You have not evaluated the student for scholarship funds.
Award Notification	Click this link to access the FE Award Notification Detail page.
Aid Packaging Method	The method used to create the student's financial aid package. The values in this field are automatically updated. Auto: Packaged using Mass Packaging. View the packaging plan used to package the student in the Packaging Plan ID field. Counselor: A financial aid counselor packages the student manually or using Auto Packaging. If Auto Packaging is used, view the packaging plan used to package the student in the Packaging Plan ID field. Not Pkgd (not packaged): Not yet packaged. This is the default value until you manually change it.
Packaging Plan ID	If you use Auto Packaging or Mass Packaging to package the student, this field identifies the packaging plan used to package the student. The Mass Packaging process populates this field when it is run in live mode. When Auto Packaging is used, the Posting routine populates the packaging plan ID.
Repackaging Plan ID	If you use Auto Repackaging or Repackaging, this field identifies the repackaging plan used. The Repackaging process populates this field when it is run in live mode. When Auto Repackaging is used, the Posting routine populates the repackaging plan ID.
Aggregate Source	Identifies and defines the aggregate source that the Awarding and Packaging process uses directly. Prior to any awarding or packaging, this identifies the default value for manual, auto, or mass packaging. You can also change the aggregate source on any of the awarding pages. If online awarding or packaging is already complete, the value here represents the aggregate source used during the Packaging routine. Default: Identifies aggregate source to be used based on value defined on FA Installation Defaults. NSLDS: Indicates that awarding and packaging uses the NSLDS aggregate totals. PS: Indicates that awarding and packaging uses the PeopleSoft generated and maintained aggregate totals.
Aggregate Used	Indicates the aggregate source used during packaging. NSLDS: Indicates NSLDS aggregate totals used. PS: Indicates PeopleSoft generated and maintained aggregate totals used.

Self Service

See Also

Defining Basic Global Rules for Authorization

Managing Disbursement Hold and Release Processing

Working with Auto Verification

Awarding Restricted Aid

Setting Up Self-Service Inquiry Options

Setting Up Self-Service Awarding Options

Viewing Database Matches

Access the Database Matches page (click the Database Matches link on the Packaging Status Summary page or the Veteran's Education Benefits page).

The database match values on this page are display only. The Validation routine uses these values to determine whether the student is eligible for federal financial aid using previously defined eligibility rules. If you want to change the federally reported database match value to allow a student to receive federal aid, you must submit a history correction. When that history correction has been resolved and a Correction ISIR has been received by your institution, the database match field in question contains the resolved value. As a result, you can process the student for federal aid. If you want to award the student federal aid prior to receiving the revised Correction ISIR, you must select the Override check box.

The system enforces additional federal database edits for the following existing database matches:

• Student's Social Security Number match with SSA: student's date of birth inconsistent with SSA records.

• Veteran Status match with Veteran Affairs: independent due to VA status.

During packaging, the system performs the database match edits in the following sequence:

1. SSN Match

2. SSA Citizenship

3. DHS (formerly INS) Match

4. VA Match

5. Selective Service Match

6. Selective Service Registration

7. NSLDS Match

8. Drug Offense Conviction

9. Parent SSN Match

The system checks the first database match in the sequence (SSN Match) and determines whether or not resolution is required. When it encounters a database match that needs resolution, it does not perform any additional database match checks until the match in question is resolved. After you resolve the database match issue, the system then checks the next database match in the sequence. For example, if a student has three database match problems, the system does not perform all three checks at the same time. It starts serially with the first one. If the match is good, it moves to the next match. If the next one is not good, the system does not perform any more database checks until that database match is resolved.

Important! When you override a federally reported database match value, your institution assumes full responsibility for changing these values.

Reviewing the U.S.E.D. Database Match Process

To evaluate database matches, Campus Solutions uses the ISIR Comment table as the basis for determining the student's eligibility for federal aid. Administrators can control eligibility through the severity level value assigned to an ISIR comment. The system compares ISIR comments on the student's record to the ISIR Comment table and evaluates eligibility for federal aid based on that database match.

The DB Match Use value in the ISIR Comment table corresponds to a U.S.E.D. database match. Each comment is associated with a severity level. The severity level associated with the DB Match Use field effects how the system handles the database match during packaging.

Severity levels are pre-defined according to the combination of the database match value, ISIR comments, and the presence of reject codes and SAR C flag. The values are as follows:

Based on these severity levels, if a student has an ISIR comment with a severity level 1 or 2 and the DB Match Use field is not blank, the system does not award the student federal aid until the errant condition, and therefore the corresponding ISIR comment, are resolved.

Note. The DB Match Use and SAR C Flag values are set based on the most recent ISIR record loaded for the aid year.

Examples of ISIR Comment Codes, Severity Level, and DB Match Use

Access the ISIR Comments page (click the comment code on the ISIR Information page).

See Setting Severity Levels for ISIR Comment Codes.

Reviewing Pell Information

Access the PELL Information page (click the PELL link on the Packaging Status Summary page).

The fields on this page are populated when Pell data, from the ISIR, is loaded in the system.

See Also

Defining Pell Payment Setup

Awarding Pell Grants for the 2010 and Future Aid Years

Overriding Pell Eligibility Calculation Setup Values

Access the Student Override page (click the PELL Calculation Override link on the Packaging Status Summary page).

Status	Select Active to override the PEC setup at the FA installation, career, or program level. The override applies to all terms and all Pell Grant awards across award periods. Select Inactive to use the PEC setup at FA installation, career, or program level.
Academic Base Weeks	Enter the number of weeks that define your institution's Academic Award Period (AAP). Several financial aid processes use this value to calculate eligibility and to calculate prorated expected family contribution (EFC). Valid values are 0.0 to 99.9.
Non-Standard Base Weeks	Enter the number of weeks that define your institution's Non-Standard Award Period (NSAP). Several financial aid processes use this value to calculate eligibility and to calculate prorated EFCs. Non-standard terms are usually summer terms or inter-sessions. Valid values are 0.0 to 99.9.
Pell Calculation Start	Enter the calculation mode to use for Pell calculations made before the student's academic term start date. Values are: Enrollment Current Load (For use only with 2009 and prior Aid Years):Directs the Pell calculation to use the Current Load value from Financial Aid Term to determine which Federal Pell Grant disbursement schedule to use when it is calculating the student's eligibility for a Pell Grant. The Current Load value uses the number of units that the student is currently enrolled in, plus the number of units from already completed sessions in the term to determine the student's load for the term. Enrollment FA Load (For use only with 2009 and prior Aid Years): Directs the Pell calculation to use the FA Load value from Financial Aid Term to determine which Federal Pell Grant disbursement schedule to use when it is calculating the student's eligibility for a Pell Grant. The FA Load value uses the number of financial aid eligible units that the student is enrolled in for the term to determine the student's load. Formula 1 — FA Load (For use only with 2010 and future Aid Years): Directs the Pell calculation to divide the Pell Grant award by the Pell Number of Terms and uses the student's actual FA Load for each term. Formula 1 — Full-time (For use only with 2010 and future Aid Years): Directs the Pell calculation to divide the Pell Grant by the Pell Number of Terms and uses Full-time as the student's FA Load for each term. Formula 3 — Current Load (For use only with 2010 and future Aid Years): Directs the Pell calculation to sum the Academic Base Weeks and Non-Standard Base Weeks values to determine an Academic Program's Weeks of Instruction. This value serves as the denominator in the percentage calculation for student's number of enrolled weeks in a term. This mode uses the Current Load value from Financial Aid Term to determine which Federal Pell Grant schedule to use when it is calculating the student's eligibility for a Pell Grant. The Current Load value uses the number of units in which a student is currently enrolled ("In Progress" from the Financial Aid Term Session Detail) plus the number of units from completed sessions in the term to determine the student's load for the term. Formula 3 — FA Load (For use only with 2010 and future Aid Years):Directs the Pell calculation to sum the Academic Base Weeks and Non-Standard Base Weeks values to determine an Academic Program's Weeks of Instruction. This value serves as the denominator in the percentage calculation for a student's number of enrolled weeks in a term. This mode uses the FA Load value from Financial Aid Term to determine which Federal Pell Grant schedule to use when it is calculating the student's eligibility. The FA Load value uses the number of financial aid eligible units in which the student is enrolled for the term to determine the student's load. Formula 3 — Full-time Load (For use only with 2010 and future Aid Years):Directs the Pell calculation to sum the Academic Base Weeks and Non-Standard Base Weeks values to determine an Academic Program's Weeks of Instruction. This value serves as the denominator in the percentage calculation for a student's number of enrolled weeks in a term. This mode uses Full-time as the FA Load value when it is calculating the student's eligibility. Full Time (For use only with 2009 and prior Aid Years): Directs the Pell calculation to always use the full time Federal Pell Grant disbursement schedule to determine the student's eligibility for a Pell Grant regardless of the student's enrollment. Half Time (For use only with 2009 and prior Aid Years): Directs the Pell calculation to always use the half time Federal Pell Grant disbursement schedule to determine the student's eligibility for a Pell Grant, regardless of the student's enrollment.
Pell Calculation Midterm	Enter the load value to use for Pell Grant calculations made on or after the student's academic term start date but before the student's term census date. The available values match those for Pell Calculation Start.
Pell Calculation Census	Enter the load value to use for Pell Grant calculations made on or after the student's term census date. The available values match those for Pell Calculation Start.
Pell Number of Terms	Enter the number of terms that define the Academic Program. Although this value should match the TERM_TYPE on the ACAD_CAR_TBL, there is no automatic cross-check between the two to ensure that these values correlate. Packaging uses this value to distribute a Pell Grant across the student's enrolled terms when making a Pell Grant calculation using Formula 1 - FA Load or Formula 1 - Full-time Pell calculation values. If you select Formula 1 - FA Load or Formula 1 - Full-time, you must populate the Pell Number of Terms field. Valid values are 0 to 99.

See Also

Defining Installation Level Defaults

Managing Aggregate Aid

To ensure that a student does not exceed annual and lifetime limits for certain award programs, it is critical that the system maintain and assess a complete history when determining aid eligibility. Financial Aid provides several options and methods to maintain aggregate aid to ensure that Packaging adheres to eligibility requirements and award limits.

NSLDS data can be used to update aggregate aid system tables. For more information,

See Setting Up Aggregate Aid.

See Using NSLDS Data and Processes.

This section discusses how to:

• Update aggregate aid.

• Assign aggregate sources.

• Review the lifetime aggregate report.

Pages Used to Manage Aggregate Aid

Updating Aggregate Aid Information

Access the Aggregate Aid Data page (Financial Aid, Awards, Aggregates, Update Incoming Aggregates, Aggregate Aid Data).

This page displays the student's aggregate aid data and allows the entry of data byAggregate Area and Aid Year. In addition to manual update, the data displayed on this page can be updated by the internal NSLDS Push process. The Packaging Aggregate Source and type of aggregate area determine how the elements that appear on this page are used in the packaging process.

Two major award limit checks are performed during the packaging process:

• The Lifetime limit check uses the total fields that the Packaging Aggregate Source Indicator designates:

  • If the Packaging Source is NSLDS, then the NSLDS Total amounts are used to identify the amount of lifetime limit expended.

  • If the Packaging Source is PS (PeopleSoft), then the Undergrad and Graduate Lifetime Total Used amounts are used to identify the amount of lifetime limit expended.

• The Annual limit check, regardless of Packaging Source, always assesses any aggregate level detail entered for the aid year being packaged.

Assigning Aggregate Sources

Access the Aggregate Source page (Financial Aid, Awards, Aggregates, Assign Aggregate Source, Aggregate Source).

To assess a student's lifetime aggregate aid history, Aggregate Source directs the Awarding and Packaging processes to use either the NSLDS aggregate totals or PeopleSoft generated undergraduate lifetime and graduate lifetime totals. You can set the aggregate source at the financial aid installation default level and on the Packaging Status Summary page, in addition to each of the award page components. This option permits you to assign the aggregate source value in batch for an individual student, all students, or a subset of students. The batch assignment process updates the aggregate source value on the student's Packaging Status Summary page.

Population Selection

Aggregate Source

Reviewing the Lifetime Aggregate Report

Access the Lifetime Aggregate Report page (Financial Aid, Awards, Aggregates, Review Lifetime Aggregate, Lifetime Aggregate Report).

Aggregate Area	If you leave this field blank and you save the page or run the report, the system enters a % in this field. The system generates all aggregate areas for each ID.
ID	If you leave this field blank and you save the page or run the report, the system enters a % in this field. The system reports all students with an aggregate area for the selected aid year.
Tolerance	Enter a tolerance amount to use in identifying rows of data where the NSLDS Total is different from the PeopleSoft generated Undergraduate Lifetime and/or Graduate Lifetime totals. Discrepancies that fall above the tolerance are listed in the report. Enter 0 or blank if you want to see all discrepant rows of data.

Using Mass Change for Packaging Status Attributes

You might sometimes want to change the value of a field on the Packaging Status Summary page for a group of students. Mass Change makes this possible. Mass Change definitions for the ED Verification Status and Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) fields are included with your system. You can create additional Mass Change definitions for other fields on the Packaging Status Summary page that you want to change. The process for changing packaging status attributes using Mass Change requires four steps.

This section discusses how to:

• Select students.

• Review selected students.

• Move students into financial aid batch update.

• Update packaging status attributes.

See Also

Using Mass Change

Pages Used to Use Mass Change for Packaging Status Attributes

Selecting Students

To change the value of a packaging status attribute for a group of students, the first step is to select the students for whom you want the attribute changed. Use a Mass Change definition to select students. Two Mass Change definitions exist in the system for your use. FA-Verification Status Select is used for changes to the ED Verification Status field, and FA-Sat Acad Progress Select is used for changes to the Satisfactory Academic Progress field. You must create Mass Change definitions for changes to other packaging status attributes.

After you have completed the Mass Change definition, execute the Mass Change Select process using the Run Mass Change page. This process places information about the selected students in a temporary table.

Reviewing Selected Students

Access the Review Mass Change Selection page (Financial Aid, Federal Application Data, Select SAP/Verification (MC), Review Mass Change Selection).

Students Selected	Displays the number of students selected by the Mass Change select process.
New Setting of Indicator and Will be	Displays the field that Mass Change changes and the new value of the field.
Status	These status codes are delivered as part of PeopleTools. You can define how you use these statuses in your Mass Change routine. You can remove students from the selection by making their status Cancel or by deleting the row. Approved: Not applicable in this process. Cancel: Use this status code if you want to eliminate a student from the mass change. Error: Indicates that the Mass Change process encountered an error when attempting to move the student into the Financial Aid Update record. Pending: Indicates that the Mass Change process moved this student into the Financial Aid Batch Update area. Successful: Indicates that the Mass Change process moved the student into the Financial Aid Batch Update record.
Cur Val (current value)	Displays the current value of the field to be changed.

Moving Students into Financial Aid Batch Update

In this step, you run a Mass Change to move the selected and reviewed students from the temporary table used in the selection process into the Financial Aid Batch Update area so the packaging status attributes can be changed. You use a Mass Change definition for this step. Two Mass Change definitions exist in the system for your use: FA-Verification Status Update for changes to the ED Verification Status field, and FA-Sat Acad Progress Update for changes to the Satisfactory Academic Progress field. You must create Mass Change definitions for changes to other packaging status attributes. You must run this Mass Change process because the FA-Upd Stdnt Aid Attr Tbl process (FASAAUPD) you run next looks for data in the Financial Aid Batch Update area, not in the temporary table.

After you have completed the Mass Change definition, run the Mass Change Selection using the Run Mass Change page.

Updating Packaging Status Attributes

Access the Update Student Aid Attribute page (Financial Aid, Federal Application Data, Update SAP/Verification Status, Update Student Aid Attribute).

Run the FA-Upd Stdnt Aid Attr Tbl (financial aid - update student aid attribute table) process (FASAAUPD) to update packaging status attributes.

Awarding Restricted Aid

This section provides an overview of restricted aid and discusses how to:

• Enter a student's restricted aid.

• Enter committee comments.

• Enter committee member comments.

• Evaluate a student's restricted aid.

Understanding Restricted Aid

Restricted aid includes awards such as scholarships, fellowships, and institutional or private funds with subjective eligibility requirements. Restricted aid does not refer to federal monies. The restricted aid pages enable you to monitor the process of awarding restricted aid from the application process through committee evaluation and ranking, to the final decision for the award. The requirements for each type of restricted aid are defined in the Restricted Aid Table component.

The process for awarding restricted aid involves the following steps.

1. Enter the student being evaluated for restricted aid on the Restricted Aid page.

   You must enter the Restricted Aid ID. You must also enter values in the App Method (application method) and Application Date fields.

2. The committee members use the Restricted Aid Evaluations page to enter their ratings for each of the criteria for the student.

   View each student's overall rating by the committee and by individual committee members using the Committee Detail page and Evaluator Detail page. You can access both of these pages from links on the Restricted Aid page.

3. After all committee members have evaluated the student, the committee makes a final decision on whether to offer the student the restricted aid and how much to offer the student.

   After the final decision has been made, enter the final decision, the decision date, the amount offered to the student (if appropriate), and any comments on the Restricted Aid page.

4. For students who have been awarded the restricted aid, you must manually enter the restricted aid award on the award entry pages.

   If departmental employees are entering the restricted aid award, consider providing them with access to the Manual Student Packaging page only.

See Also

Awarding Online

Setting Up Restricted Aid

Pages Used to Award Restricted Aid

Entering a Student's Restricted Aid

Access the Restricted Aid page (Financial Aid, Awards, Restricted Aid, Make Award, Restricted Aid).

Use the information on this page when you enter the restricted aid award for the student on the Student Aid Package page or Manual Student Packaging page.

Complete the following fields—from the top section of the page—at the time that a student applies for a restricted aid award.

After the student has been evaluated, complete the rest of the page with information about the final decision.

Entering Committee Comments

Access the Committee Detail page (click the Committee Detail link on the Restricted Aid page).

Committee	The name of the committee that reviews this restricted aid award. If more than one committee reviews this restricted aid award, use the scroll arrows to view other committees.
Committee Type	Identifies the purpose of the committee. This is established when the committee is created and is display only information on this page.
Evaluation Status	The current status of the student's evaluation for this restricted aid award. All committee members must have an evaluation status of Complete before an overall rating can be calculated for the student.
Status Date	The date when the displayed evaluation status became effective.
Committee Rating	The student's rating for this restricted aid award, which is the average of the ratings of all the committee members.
Member Detail	Click this link to access the Evaluator Detail page and view each committee member's overall rating for the student as well as information about the committee member. You can also enter any comments from the committee member about the student.
Committee Comments	Enter any comments that the committee wants to make about the awarding of this restricted aid to the student. This field is informational only.

Entering Committee Member Comments

Access the Evaluator Detail page (click the Member Detail link on the Committee Detail page).

Evaluator ID	Displays the ID of the committee member whose information is displayed. Use the scroll arrows to view information from other committee members.
Role	The role that the committee member fulfills on this committee. For example, the individual could be the chair, a staff member, or a student member.
Evaluation Status and Status Date	The current status of the member's evaluation of the student for this restricted aid award and the date that the displayed evaluation status became effective.
Member Rating	The average of the numerical ratings assigned to each of the components evaluated by the committee, as entered on the Restricted Aid Evaluations page. The committee should determine what values to use for its rating scheme.
Comment	Any overall comments this committee member has about the student. You enter the member's comments on this page, not the Restricted Aid Evaluations page.

Evaluating a Student's Restricted Aid

Access the Restricted Aid Evaluations page (Financial Aid, Awards, Restricted Aid, Evaluate Ratings, Restricted Aid Evaluations).

This page can be used by committee members or an administrative assistant to enter information, and then can be viewed by others who might need to review the information.

Rating information and comments can be added for each component that is evaluated. For example, the committee might review an essay, extracurricular activities, and the student's GPA to decide if the restricted aid should be awarded to the student. The essay, extracurricular activities, and GPA are all components.

See Also

Setting Up for Evaluating Applicants