Prerequisites for Defining Application Processing Options

Before you define application processing options, take steps to review predefined need analysis tables, all financial applications you use, and your understanding of admit levels and external loads.

The Financial Aid system provides predefined tables in compliance with federal regulations. This enables you to use the Institutional Need Analysis System (INAS) process and CSS PROFILE for Institutional Methodology (IM) Expected Family Contribution (EFC) calculations and to use the Federal Methodology Need Analysis Calculator (FM NAC) for FM EFC/SAI (Student Aid Index) calculations. Before you define application processing options, review these tables for warnings about the consequences of making changes.

Also, ensure that the financial aid applications used by your institution are available, and make sure that you understand the different admit levels that influence how external data loads are processed. To help you most effectively use the Financial Aid application processing, refer to these websites:

• U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid: https://fsapartners.ed.gov/home/.

• National Association of Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA): https://www.nasfaa.org/.

• The College Board: https://www.collegeboard.org/.