PeopleSoft Student Financials 9.0 PeopleBook

(NZL) StudyLink Processing

This chapter provides an overview of StudyLink and discusses how to:

Set up StudyLink functionality.
Process VOS requests and responses.
Review StudyLink details.
Maintain StudyLink loan information.

Understanding StudyLink

StudyLink, formerly known as WINZ (Work and Income New Zealand) is a governmental agency that administers the distribution of student loans for educational costs and allowances.

In the past, a third party was used to manage the transfer of fees between the student account and StudyLink. The third-party functionality is no longer used and payments are posted directly to the students' accounts.

The process is initiated when a student applies for a loan through StudyLink. StudyLink requests the student's verification of study (VOS) from the institution where the student is enrolled. The institution matches the student's name, date of birth, and ID, creates a loan record, and sends the student's enrollment data and tuition charges to StudyLink in a VOS return file. StudyLink then sends the funds to the institution (if StudyLink is covering tuition) or to the student (only if StudyLink is providing allowance), or it denies the student loan.

StudyLink sends the funds through a PAY file for confirmed students, and payments are posted to the students' accounts. The Refund External Org ID is supplied to allow refunding to StudyLink as necessary.

If a student's enrollment changes and fees are reduced, funds are returned to StudyLink. The system generates an institution PAY file to list refunds to StudyLink and a DAT file of refund transactions. The DAT file can be processed through Student Financials as an external file.

Setting Up StudyLink Functionality

You must define various parameters to use the StudyLink process.

This section discusses how to:

Define StudyLink institution defaults.
Define the institution ID.
Define StudyLink posting parameters.

Pages Used to Set Up StudyLink Functionality

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
StudyLink Institution Defaults	SSF_SL_INST_DFLT	Set Up SACR, Product Related, Student Financials, New Zealand Defaults, StudyLink Institution Defaults	Define StudyLink institution defaults.
Academic Institution 6	SSR_INST_FEATURES	Set Up SACR, Foundation Tables, Academic Institution Tables, Academic Institution 6	Access the Institution Table New Zealand page.
Institution Table New Zealand	SSR_INSTITUTN_NZL	Click the View NZL Institution Fields link on the Academic Institution 6 page.	Set up Ministry of Education institution ID.
StudyLink Posting Parameters	SSF_SL_BUS_UNIT	Set Up SACR, Product Related, Student Financials, New Zealand Defaults, StudyLink Posting Parameters	Define the posting parameters for the StudyLink process.

Defining StudyLink Institution Defaults

Access the StudyLink Institution Defaults page (Set Up SACR, Product Related, Student Financials, New Zealand Defaults, StudyLink Institution Defaults).

Refund External Org ID (refund external organization ID)

Enter an ID setup for StudyLink so that the system can process refunds should there be a change in the student's program causing a reduction in fees charged.

Refund Org Contact (refund organization contact)

Enter the contact information for the external org ID.

IVS Active (institutional verification of study active)

Indicates the number of days between VOS requests. In the example page above, an institution VOS will not pick up student information that has had a VOS request sent within the past four days. Information will be forwarded if a Pending, Not known, Unregistered, or Mismatch response has been received, or if no response has been received by StudyLink following a previous VOS request.

Period Offset Days

Use this field to classify the enrollments into study periods that correlate to the loan period. This designates the number of days prior to the study period start date. The study start date is the date that StudyLink uses to request information. This is typically one month prior to the reported study start date. If the adjusted class start date, five days prior in the page example above, is earlier or the same as the period start date, then the class is covered by that period. If later, the class will be added to the next period within the loan.

If you do not want to use this functionality, set the value to 0.

Vacation

Any break in study. This is used to enter the number of days constituting a break in study, as in the number of days between the end of one study period or term and the start of the next study period or term. So that the vacation period is reported in the VOS, the vacation buffer days should be fewer or equal to the number of days between terms.

IVS History (institutional verification of study history)

Used to select records for the institutional VOS. The number of days, 360 in the page example above, is subtracted from the current date and compared with the study period start date and the transaction date on the history table. History records with a study period and transaction date greater than this date are picked up for the full institutional VOS process.

Round Dates

If this is selected, the start date is set to the Monday of the week of the first class and the end date is set to the Sunday of the week of the last class after the other date buffer calculations are done. Otherwise, the date buffer values will apply without regard to rounding.

Defining the Institution ID

Access the Academic Institution 6 page (Set Up SACR, Foundation Tables, Academic Institution Tables, Academic Institution 6).

Access the Institution Table New Zealand page (click the View NZL Institution Fields link on the Academic Institution 6 page).

This page allows for multi-institution usage.

Defining StudyLink Posting Parameters

Access the StudyLink Posting Parameters page (Set Up SACR, Product Related, Student Financials, New Zealand Defaults, StudyLink Posting Parameters).

Priority

Refers to the business unit.

Payment Item Type

The item type that is posted to the student's account.

Refund Item Type

Used to designate refunds to StudyLink.

Excess Account

Select for situations in which excess payments are posted before being refunded to StudyLink.

Processing VOS Requests and Responses

When a student applies for a loan from StudyLink, StudyLink sends a VOS request to the institution requesting enrollment details and the tuition amount. The institution creates a VOS Response file if changes occurred in the student's enrollment such as dropping courses or withdrawing from the program.

This section discusses how to:

Request VOS information.
Initiate VOS responses.
Review VOS responses.
Review VOS details for selected students.

Pages Used to Process VOS Requests and Responses

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Process VOS Requests	SSF_SL_RC_VOS	Student Financials, StudyLink, Process VOS Requests, Process VOS Requests	Request VOS information.
Initiate VOS Responses	SSF_SL_RC_IVS	Student Financials, StudyLink, Initiate VOS Responses, Initiate VOS Responses	Initiate VOS responses process.
VOS Responses	SSF_SL_VOS_EXT	Student Financials, StudyLink, Review VOS Responses, VOS Responses	Review VOS Response files before sending them to StudyLink.
VOS Details	SSF_SL_VOS_RES_DET	Student Financials, StudyLink, Review VOS Responses, VOS Details	Review VOS details for selected students before sending VOS Response files to StudyLink.

Requesting VOS Information

Access the Process VOS Requests page(Student Financials, StudyLink, Process VOS Requests).

Report Type

Values are:

Detailed Report: The output includes the student IDs, total fees, and EFTS values for each record for which the student has requested coverage of tuition and fees and not just an allowance. This report shows the confirmed students by name, biographic and demonstration data, fee coverage requested, and enrolled program.

Summary Report: The output contains the number of confirmed students and the total fee amount. This report also shows any data mismatches and unregistered students.

Mode

Review is selected by default to ensure that the process is always run in review mode to enable data checking. When you are ready, select Final mode.

In Review mode, the process creates only the VOS record, and in Final mode, the process updates the database and creates the Loan record.

Initiating VOS Responses

Access the Initiate VOS Responses page (Student Financials, StudyLink, Initiate VOS Responses).

Each time the process is run, it includes both records with the re_VOS check box selected on the Maintain Student Loan page and records found for students with changes in their VOS details.

Mode

Review is selected by default to ensure that the process is always run in review mode to enable data checking. When the process is run in Review mode, any existing records are deleted and new review records are created in the review table (PS_SSF_SL_VOS_RVW) and the VOS table (PS_SSF_SL_VOS). You can use the Review VOS Responses component to select and deselect records (the Review VOS Responses component is discussed later in this chapter).

When you are ready, select Final mode. When the process is run in Final mode, the selected records are processed—the records in the review table and the related records in the VOS table are deleted and new data is written to the PS_SSF_SL_VOS and PS_SSF_SL_FILE_HDR tables, from which the VOS file is then produced. When the processing is complete, remaining unselected review records are deleted from the review and VOS tables.

Reviewing VOS Responses

Access the VOS Responses page (Student Financials, StudyLink, Review VOS Responses, VOS Responses).

The Initiate VOS Response process creates the review records. Use the VOS Responses page to review the records before sending the files to StudyLink. You can select and deselect individual records using the check boxes in the Selected column or use the Select All and Deselect All buttons.

Click a link in the ID field to access the VOS Details page and view details about a particular student.

Reviewing VOS Details

Access the VOS Details page (Student Financials, StudyLink, Review VOS Responses, VOS Details).

The New VOS Details group box displays the newly generated VOS information from the review record. The Old VOS Details group box displays information from the most recent previous VOS record.

Click the Review StudyLink Details link to access the Review StudyLink Details page.

Reviewing StudyLink Details

This section discusses how to:

Review StudyLink student loan details.
Review VOS details.
Review payment/refund details.
Review VOS and payment/refund transactions.

Pages Used to Review StudyLink Details

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
StudyLink Details	SSF_SL_STDNT_INQ	Student Financials, StudyLink, Review StudyLink Details, StudyLink Details	Review StudyLink student loan details.
VOS Details	SSF_SL_REVW_VOS	Student Financials, StudyLink, Review StudyLink Details, VOS Details	Review VOS details.
Pay/Refund Details	SSF_SL_PAY_REF	Student Financials, StudyLink, Review StudyLink Details, Pay/Refund Details	Review payment/refund details.
Transactions	SSF_SL_TRANSACTION	Student Financials, StudyLink, Review StudyLink Details, Transactions	Review VOS and payment/refund transactions.

Reviewing StudyLink Student Loan Details

Access the StudyLink Details page (Student Financials, StudyLink, Review StudyLink Details, StudyLink Details).

Click on the File Type link to access the detail record on the VOS Details or Pay/Refund Details page.

Reviewing VOS Details

Access the VOS Details page (Student Financials, StudyLink, Review StudyLink Details, VOS Details).

Reviewing Payment/Refund Details

Access the Pay/Refund Details page (Student Financials, StudyLink, Review StudyLink Details, Pay/Refund Details).

Reviewing VOS and Payment/Refund Transactions

Access the Transactions page (Student Financials, StudyLink, Review StudyLink Details, Transactions).

This page displays all the transactions for a student.

Click on the File Type link to access the detail record on the VOS Details or Pay/Refund Details page.

Maintaining StudyLink Loan Information

This section provides an overview of maintaining StudyLink loan information and discusses how to:

Create payment schedules.
Create the refund file.
Review refund records.
Create student reports.

Note. All of the following processes are intended for administrative users only.

Understanding Maintaining StudyLink Loan Information

Your institution must review student loan information, process payment schedules, track refunds, and create student account reports. Administrative users will run these processes to process loans for students to pay their tuition and living allowances or just the allowances. Loans for allowances only are sent to directly to the student and are not applied to the student account.

After a student has applied for a loan with StudyLink and StudyLink sends the VOS request to the institution, the institution creates the VOS return file that lists any mismatches of name, date of birth, or ID; the student's enrollment details; and the loan request amount.

Your institution receives PAY files from StudyLink for confirmed and declined student loans. For confirmed loans, a COBOL process is run that posts the payments to the students' accounts. Any excess funds are refunded to StudyLink. The system generates an institution PAY file to list refunds to StudyLink and a DAT file of refund transactions. The DAT file can be processed through Student Financials as an external file.

Pages Used to Maintain StudyLink Loan Information

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Process PAY File	SSF_SL_RC_PAY	Student Financials, StudyLink, Process PAY File, Process PAY File	Create the payment file and post payments to student accounts.
Process Refund File	SSF_SL_RC_PYI	Student Financials, StudyLink, Process Refund File, Process Refund File	Create the refund file.
Review Refund File	SSF_SL_RVW_REF	Student Financials, StudyLink, Review Refund File, Review Refund File	Review refund records.
Create Student Report	SSF_SL_RC_RPT	Student Financials, StudyLink, Create Student Report, Create Student Report	Create reports on student loan account information.

Creating Payment Schedules

Access the Process PAY File page (Student Financials, StudyLink, Process PAY File, Process PAY File).

You must run the PAY file process to create the file and to post payments to student accounts. You can run the SQR (Structured Query Report) report SFSPAYR multiple times. Run the COBOL process SFPSLPAY to post the payments to the student account.

Creating the Refund File

Access the Process Refund File page (Student Financials, StudyLink, Process Refund File, Process Refund File).

Use the Process Refund File page in conjunction with the Review Refund File page to create the Refund file to return funds to StudyLink.

The Process Refund File process identifies student records with a Fee VOS file (PS_SSF_SL_HIST) that have a matching Pay file (PS_SSF_SL_PAY) and a credit account balance (PS_ACCOUNT_SF) for the StudyLink item types identified on the StudyLink Posting Parameters (SSF_SL_BUS_UNIT) page.

When the refund process is run in final mode the refund details are written to the StudyLink refund PAY file and the refund transactions are written to a DAT file which can be imported into the core Student Financials transaction tables.

Mode

Review is selected by default to ensure that the process is always run in review mode to enable data checking. When the process is run in Review mode, any existing review Refund records are deleted from the temporary table and new review Refund records are created. The process produces the report and writes records to the Payment Business Unit table (PS_SSF_SL_PAY_BU) and the review table (PS_SSF_SL_REF_RVW). Use the Review Refund File page (discussed later in this chapter) to modify the records.

When you are ready, select Final mode. When the process is run in Final mode, the selected review Refund records are deleted and the data is written to the Refund Pay file and saved as permanent pay records in the Payment Business Unit table (PS_SSF_SL_PAY_BU), the Pay table (PS_SSF_SL_PAY) and the File Header table (PS_SSF_SL_FILE_HDR). The refund transactions are also written to a DAT file which can be imported into Student Financials using Group Processing - External Files.

Reviewing Refund Records

Access the Review Refund File page (Student Financials, StudyLink, Review Refund File, Review Refund File).

Use this page to review the refund records before sending them. You can select or deselect the records and update refund values (decrease).

Selected Total	Displays the total amount for all the records in the temporary table for which the Selected check box is selected, regardless of the records currently found or displayed. If you are processing many refunds and want to break them into several smaller refund files, the Selected Total allows you to see what you currently have selected compared to the refund amount in the entire file (File Total).
File Total	Displays the total refund amount for all the records in the temporary table, regardless of the records currently found or displayed.
Override Amount	Enter an amount here to refund an amount different to that calculated by Process Refund File. When Process Refund File is run in Final mode this value is written to the PAY and DAT files and used in the finalised refund PAY records.
Select All	Click this button to select the Selected check box for each found record. This allows you to find all records and deselect them, and then find a subset of records, for example, all refund amounts less than $200, click Select All and process just that subset.
Deselect All	Click this button to clear the Selected check box on all the found records.

Creating Student Reports

Access the Create Student Report page (Student Financials, StudyLink, Create Student Report, Create Student Report).

Refund External Org ID (refund external organization ID)	Enter an ID setup for StudyLink so that the system can process refunds should there be a change in the student's program causing a reduction in fees charged.
Refund Org Contact (refund organization contact)	Enter the contact information for the external org ID.
IVS Active (institutional verification of study active)	Indicates the number of days between VOS requests. In the example page above, an institution VOS will not pick up student information that has had a VOS request sent within the past four days. Information will be forwarded if a Pending, Not known, Unregistered, or Mismatch response has been received, or if no response has been received by StudyLink following a previous VOS request.
Period Offset Days	Use this field to classify the enrollments into study periods that correlate to the loan period. This designates the number of days prior to the study period start date. The study start date is the date that StudyLink uses to request information. This is typically one month prior to the reported study start date. If the adjusted class start date, five days prior in the page example above, is earlier or the same as the period start date, then the class is covered by that period. If later, the class will be added to the next period within the loan. If you do not want to use this functionality, set the value to 0.
Vacation	Any break in study. This is used to enter the number of days constituting a break in study, as in the number of days between the end of one study period or term and the start of the next study period or term. So that the vacation period is reported in the VOS, the vacation buffer days should be fewer or equal to the number of days between terms.
IVS History (institutional verification of study history)	Used to select records for the institutional VOS. The number of days, 360 in the page example above, is subtracted from the current date and compared with the study period start date and the transaction date on the history table. History records with a study period and transaction date greater than this date are picked up for the full institutional VOS process.
Round Dates	If this is selected, the start date is set to the Monday of the week of the first class and the end date is set to the Sunday of the week of the last class after the other date buffer calculations are done. Otherwise, the date buffer values will apply without regard to rounding.

Priority	Refers to the business unit.
Payment Item Type	The item type that is posted to the student's account.
Refund Item Type	Used to designate refunds to StudyLink.
Excess Account	Select for situations in which excess payments are posted before being refunded to StudyLink.