Packaging Sequential Careers

Note:

The following examples are based on Pell Grant awarding functionality for the 2009 and prior aid years.

If a student is initially packaged for one career for the entire aid year and then changes to another career in a second or third term in the aid year, you can adjust the student's award by taking the steps outlined in this section. This situation generally occurs when a student changes careers part way through the aid year, and is called sequential career packaging.

The following step-by-step process should be used after the first term has begun and the student has been packaged for the entire aid year using one career. Then the Financial Aid Term Build process changes the student's career or the student informs the financial aid office that he or she has a different career for the second term.

To package sequential careers for a student:

1. Assume the student is in Career 1 for Term 1 and Term 2.

2. After Term 1 begins, the student changes to Career 2 for Term 2.

3. The Financial Aid Term build changes the student's career information, or you can change the career online.

   Adjust the budget for Career 1 in Term 2 down to zero and build a new budget for Career 2 in Term 2.

   Note:

   Reducing a budget to zero does not remove the budget record. When the career on Financial Aid term changes, the actual Financial Aid term record still exists. The records used in the initial awarding have the data changed, but they are not deleted.

4. Go to an award entry page.

   The student's current awards—for Career 1 in Terms 1 and 2—are displayed.

5. Select Career 1 from the available Career options. All the awards for Career 1 are now available to be edited.

6. Reduce the awards for Career 1 based on the number of terms the student is actually in Career 1 for the aid year.

   For example, if the student is Career 1 for Term 1 and Career 2 for Term 2, at a semester-based institution, reduce the student's Career 1 specific awards by one half. Departmental awards are an example of career-specific awards. If an award is not affected by a change in career, you do not need to adjust the award. For example, you may not need to adjust Perkins loans, Stafford loans, or University Grants. When you reduce an award, use a custom split to direct 100 percent of the award to Term 1 for Career 1 or specify a split code that distributes 100 percent of the award in Term 1 for Career 1. Validate and post your changes.

   Note:

   If you do not reduce the awards for the first career before packaging with the second career, the student may not have any need with which to receive additional awards, and no awards are made for the second career. The student can also be over-awarded if the need for the second career is less than the need for the first career because the second career's budget is reduced.

7. Select Career 2 from the available Career options on the award entry page. The remaining awards for Career 1 in Term 1 are now considered passive awards and are displayed at the top of the sequence order. Award the student for Career 2 for Term 2. Be sure to use disbursement splits that direct the Career 2 awards to Term 2 for disbursement. You can award the student for Career 2 using Manual Packaging, Auto Packaging, or Mass Packaging. Disbursement plans and split codes are attached to careers and only the disbursement plans and split codes for the selected career are available when awarding.

   Note:

   Use the Professional Judgement page to go back and make changes to awards for Career 1 after you have awarded for Career 2 if the awards you are changing have aggregate areas associated with them. For more information regarding this topic see the "Making Award Adjustments with Multiple Careers" section.

The following tables show an example of the first award package for Career 1, then the second award package for Career 2. In the example the student begins as an undergraduate for Terms 1 and 2, then changes to a graduate for Term 2. The following table shows the student's original package:

Career	Award	Amount	Term	Disb Plan	Split Code
Undergraduate	Pell Grant*	1,000.00 USD 1,000.00 USD	1 2	01 − Term 1 and Term 2	01 − Even Split across 2 terms
Undergraduate	Subsidized Stafford Loan	2,750.00 USD 2,750.00 USD	1 2	01 − Term 1 and Term 2	01 − Even Split across 2 terms

*Example based on Pell Grant awarding functionality for the 2009 and prior aid years.

The following table shows the student's package with an additional subsidized Stafford loan because of the student's increased eligibility as a graduate student:

Career	Award	Amount	Term	Disb Plan	Split Code
Undergraduate	Pell Grant* (reduced)	1,000.00 USD 0.00 USD	1 2	01 − Term 1 and Term 2	Custom split with 100% in Term 1 OR 02 − 100% in Term 1
Undergraduate	Subsidized Stafford Loan	2,750.00 USD 2,750.00 USD	1 2	01 − Term 1 and Term 2	01 − Even Split across 2 terms
Graduate	Subsidized Stafford Loan#	3,000.00 USD	2	02 − Term 2 only	02 − Term 2 only

*Example based on Pell Grant awarding functionality for the 2009 and prior aid years.

#Additional loan for graduate eligibility. You can use the same Financial Aid Item Type because it is a new career.

You can also use this step-by-step process for students who change from Career 1 for the aid year to Career 1 for Term 1 then Career 2 for Term 2 and back to Career 1 for Term 3. You would go through the step-by-step process first for the change to Career 2 then again for the change to Career 3.