Understanding Mass Packaging

Using Mass Packaging, you can award financial aid for groups of students. A Mass Packaging definition can identify the group of students being selected for Mass Packaging. You can then associate one or more packaging plans with that population. You can evaluate your selected population and the packaging plan associated with each student before Mass Packaging takes place. The system selects the optimum packaging plan for each student based on the combination of your packaging equations and the processing order of the packaging plan. Then the system applies the packaging plan against those selected students, awarding each student based on the defined packaging plan rules.

Three processes are run as part of Mass Packaging. The first process selects students to be included for Mass Packaging evaluation. The second process assigns packaging plans to students. The third process reviews the student's eligibility, the program rules, and other eligibility criteria and then awards financial aid to students using the assigned packaging plans. After the first two processes, you can review the students being selected and the assigned packaging plans. You can also review the order in which the students are packaged, again by packaging plan. Finally, you can delete unwanted students. You can run the third process in live mode or in simulation mode to review expected packaging results. Mass Packaging refers to this three-step process. The Mass Packaging process is the third step in Mass Packaging.

Before using Mass Packaging, consider the results that you want the system to produce according to your institution's packaging philosophies. Determine the student attributes to use in the packaging equations to select the correct students for each packaging plan. Review the criteria each packaging plan uses to select students. If some of the selected students cannot be matched to any of your packaging plans, review the list of these students to determine why the they did not get matched. Adjust your equations to ensure that these students are assigned correctly.