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Understanding the Packaging Process for ACG and SMART Grants

This section reviews how the Packaging process handles ACG and SMART grants in these areas:

Note: In Bundle 11, January 2009, the Financial Aid module was updated to accommodate SMART3 and fifth-year undergraduates because the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act (ECASLA) added a fifth-year undergraduate senior grant level for students in a five-year program of study. The manual, auto, and mass Packaging routines as well as the Repackaging process work the same to award fifth-year students as they do to award fourth-year students. Any documentation reference made to SMART2 applies to SMART3 as well.

For a general understanding of the Packaging and Repackaging processes, Professional Judgement, and Self Service, refer to these topics:

The Packaging process uses four records to determine eligibility for ACG and SMART grants:

  • ISIR select (Financial Aid, then select Federal Application Data).

  • FA Term select (Financial Aid, then select Financial Aid Term, then select Maintain Student FA Term, then select FA Term).

  • ACG/SMART Eligibility select (Financial Aid, then select ACG/SMART Grants, then select ACG/SMART Grant Eligibility)

  • Incoming Aggregates select (Financial Aid, then select Awards, then select Aggregates, then select Update Incoming Aggregates).

Using these records, the Packaging process determines eligibility as follows:

  • If the Pell Eligibility flag set from the ISIR process is not equal to Y, the student is not awarded an ACG or SMART grant.

  • If the FA Term HERA Academic Level Beginning of Term field is not the same as the ACG/SMART HERA Student Level, no award is granted for that term.

  • The student is not required to be full-time for a given term to receive an ACG or SMART award.

    Note: Note. According to your school's business practices, ensure that you identify any students who are not full-time students and resolve their FA Load status before performing any Authorization or Disbursement processing.

  • The Eligibility Status and HERA Student Level field values from the ACG/SMART Grant Eligibility record are applied.

  • The values for Aggregate Area, Aid Year, Aggregate Level, Award Amount, Undergraduate Lifetime Total from the Incoming Aggregates are applied.

Other programs use term-specific disbursement plans to award for a given term, such as spring-only term awarding. But for ACG or SMART awarding, you can use a disbursement plan that spans all terms within the award period. The Packaging process automatically evaluates the ACG/SMART eligibility records and awards to the corresponding term or terms regardless of the Split Code specified based on the student's HERA academic level.

For example, if you have a Disbursement Plan/Split Code that spans both the fall and spring terms, such as 01/01, in the Academic Award Period, and if the student is eligible for ACG2 in Term 1 and SMART1 in Term 2, you can use the same Disbursement Plan (01) for both ACG2 and SMART1. You do not need to specify a fall-only Disbursement Plan for ACG1 and a spring-only Disbursement Plan for ACG2. Provided that your Packaging plan includes both ACG1 and ACG2 as awarding rules, the Packaging process returns a $650 ACG2 award with a Disbursement Plan of 01/01 for Term 1 and a $2,000 SMART1 award with a Disbursement Plan of 01/01 for Term 2.

An example is shown on the Student Aid Package page select (Financial Aid, then select Awards, then select Awards Processing, then select Assign Awards to a Student, then select Student Aid Package).

Image: Example Disbursement Plan on the Student Aid Package page, Award tab

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Example Disbursement Plan on the Student Aid Package page, Award tab.

Example Disbursement Plan on the Student Aid Package page, Award tab

The ACG2 and SMART1 examples are shown on the Award Disbursement Detail page (click the Disbursement link from the Award tab of the Student Aid Package page).

Image: Example Award Disbursement Detail page for ACG2

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Example Award Disbursement Detail page for ACG2.

Example Award Disbursement Detail page for ACG2 (Academic Competitiveness Grant two)

Image: Example Disbursement Detail page for SMART1

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Example Disbursement Detail page for SMART1.

Example Disbursement Detail page for SMART1 (Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent grant one)

Protection of an ACG or SMART award after it has been disbursed is controlled on the student's ACG/SMART Eligibility record. This protection is controlled at the term level, not at the FA Item Type level. For ACG/SMART Item Types, Disbursement Protection is not an available attribute on the FA Item Type setup.

If the Disbursement Protection attribute is checked at the term level on the ACG/SMART Eligibility record, the disbursed portion of the award for that term is protected from packaging adjustments. The system does not reduce the award below what has already been disbursed for that term.

If the Disbursement Protection attribute is cleared at the term level on the ACG/SMART Eligibility record, the disbursed portion of the award for that term is not protected from packaging adjustments. The system reduces the award below what has already been disbursed for that term.

For initial awards, the Packaging process uses the awarding option set up on the ACG/SMART Processing Options page. If the awarding option is set to Eligible, the system awards ACG or SMART grants that have a status of Eligible for the given terms. If the awarding option is set to Eligible, pending review, the system awards ACG or SMART grants that have a status of Eligible or Eligible, pending review for the given terms. For existing awards, where an ACG or SMART award already exists and the system is determining continued eligibility for that award:

  • The award is retained if the status is one of the following:

    • Eligible

    • Eligible, Pending Review

    • Ineligible, Pending Review

    • Not Verified

  • If the status is Canceled, the Packaging process reduces the award to $0, regardless of Disbursement Protection.

  • If the status is Ineligible and the award has not been disbursed for the term, the Packaging process reduces the award to $0.

  • If the status is Ineligible and the award has been disbursed for the term, the Packaging process checks the Disbursement Protection option on the ACG/SMART Eligibility record. If Y, the Packaging process reduces the award to disbursed amount. If N, the Packaging process reduces the award to $0.

If there are more FA Term records than there are ACG/SMART Eligibility records for the student, the Packaging process projects award eligibility for subsequent terms that do not exist on the student's ACG/SMART Eligibility record. The prior (non-projected) term's Academic Level is used to determine the maximum term amount for subsequent terms.

For example, if the student has fall, winter, and spring FA Term records, but only a fall ACG/SMART Eligibility record, the Packaging process projects an award eligibility for the student for the winter and spring terms. The fall HERA Academic Level governs the amount of the award for the subsequent terms (winter and spring). If the student has fall, winter, and spring FA Term records, but only fall and winter Eligibility records, the Packaging process projects an award eligibility for the student for the spring term. The winter HERA Academic Level governs the amount of the award for the subsequent term (spring).