Enhanced Award Override Regulatory Configuration Flexibility

New groovy methods allow additional flexibility when defining which terms are included in the Financial need calculation for Title IV Loans. 

When packaging Summer funding and distributing un-used standard term Subsidized loans into the summer term, the new methods will allow for the Summer need calculation to include the standard term awards when there is 0$ eligibility for Subsidized loans. 

A script-writer can define whether a business rule that returns a 0$ eligible amount is eligible or ineligible for Subsidized loans in that term.  This impacts whether the terms' COA/EFA are included within the need calculation.  (See table)

Method Purpose Parameter 1 Required (Parameter) Parameter 2 Required (Parameter) Type Default (If method is not used) IsEligible Flag

Need Impact (COA - SAI - EFA)
withNonRegulatory()

Defines whether business rule is NonRegulatory, i.e. whether 0$ amount is eligible.  

If a regulatory maximum business rule is what causes one or more Payment Periods/Terms to be brought to a zero amount those Terms are considered ineligible from that point on. If the rule is non-regulatory it may bring the value to $0 but this will not mean that the term becomes ineligible for the fund. 

Code Block 

Y

N/A 

N/A

Closure

False

 True COA/EFA of term will be included in need calculation
withRegulatory()

Defines whether business rule is Regulatory or not, and whether 0$ eligible amount is eligible 

Boolean (when true)

N

Code Block  

Y

Closure

True

 False COA/EFA of term will not be included in need calculation
withRegulatory()

Defines whether business rule is Regulatory or not, and whether 0$ eligible amount is eligible.  

Boolean (when false)

N

Code Block

Y

Closure

True

 True COA/EFA of term will be included in need calculation
withGiven()

Equivalent to calling 

withPpMinimum(java.math.BigDecimal)

 and 

withPpMaximum(java.math.BigDecimal)

 for the same amount, with the aim of keeping the given value in the output of the phase.

BigDecimal

Y

String

N

Closure

No additional constraint set

  N/A  N/A

Common Use Cases: 

  • When Subsidized loan fund acceptance is declined in standard terms and standard term awards are rolled over and packaged in Summer term as a summer-only award. 
  • When student does not take action on standard term Subsidized loan and standard term awards are rolled over and packaged in Summer term as a summer-only award.
  • Establishing minimum regulatory amounts for Title IV loans. 
  • When Subsidized loans are limited by Term COA, that terms' COA/EFA can be declared using the new method to be included in the need calculation. 

This feature allows for additional flexibility in defining whether terms containing zero-dollar results will be included in the student need calculation.  

Steps to Enable

Use the Opt In UI to enable this feature. For instructions, refer to the Optional Uptake of New Features section of this document.

Offering: Student Financial Aid

  • Download the delivered Baseline Configuration and review the Awarding_Override_Critieria groovy script for subsidized loans in FAS_FUND_CONFIG.csv.
    • An update was made to summer need calculation to include standard term COA/EFA when the student is eligible for subsidized loans in the standard terms but have declined their loans. Logic in the configuration will now look to see if the Subsidized Loan is awarded in the standard academic year and the accepted amount = 0 for all terms. then when summer trailer is added, the Summer need calculation includes COA/OFA for Standard + Summer terms.
  • Update your Awarding_Override_Critieria groovy configuration as desired to use new methods withNonRegulatory(), withRegulatory(), and withGiven() available within the IOptimizationPhaseAPI

Tips And Considerations

  • Known considerations when using these methods.
    • These updates and new methods only apply to Title IV Loans 
    • Only applies if defined business maximum rule can force the amount to become 0.  
  • When Is Eligible flag is True (see table above), downstream event driven messages including the fund can contain the 0$ award amounts so consider that these 0$ would need to be filtered out of the message when displayed to the student (for example, via letters).

Key Resources