New Common Origination and Disbursement System Tools and Reject Edit Code Updates

By Amanda Sharp and Jennifer Martin, NASFAA Training & Regulatory Assistance Staff

New Common Origination and Disbursement System Tools

During an interest session held at the 2015 NASFAA National Conference in New Orleans on the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System, Department of Education (ED) staff shared that the website has two new tools to help with the administration of federal student loan funds, as well as a new way to help schools get the information and assistance they need.

The COD website now offers a Direct Subsidized Loan Usage Calculator which allows a school to enter simulated Direct Subsidized Loan origination information to determine the loan’s potential effect on the student’s remaining Direct Subsidized Loan eligibility. Schools should keep in mind that the information entered in the calculator is for simulation only – no actual changes are made to the COD system via the calculator.

Another option currently available in COD is the Direct Loan Subsidized Usage Inquiry tool. COD web users may create and submit a subsidized usage inquiry for subsidized usage cases that require Federal Student Aid (FSA) intervention and can’t be resolved by the school.

Coming soon, schools will be able to have questions answered in real time via a “live chat” option available from the "Contact Us" page of the COD website.

Common Origination and Disbursement System Reject Edit Code Changes

During the COD System interest session, ED staff also shared updates to reject edit codes.

The first is Reject Edit Code #050, Disbursement Date Outside Allowable Window. Previously, this reject edit code was only triggered at the disbursement level. Now, this code also triggers at the award level on both origination and maintenance submission records. Reject Edit Code #050 prevents an active disbursement (either anticipated or actual) from falling more than 10 days before, or more than 180 days after, the Financial Award Begin/End Date.

The second reject edit code discussed was #147, Identifier Inconsistency for Graduate/Professional Student PLUS Award. This reject edit code was previously relaxed, but is now enforced. Reject Edit Code #147 triggers on origination if the Date of Birth or Last Name change tag is submitted in the borrower block of the Common Record but not in the student block. Reject Edit Code #147 also triggers on maintenance if the Social Security Number, Date of Birth, or Last Name change tag is submitted in the borrower block of the Common Record but not in the student block.

The final reject edit code discussed was #205, Payment Period Start Date (PPSD) Outside the Award Begin and End Dates. This reject edit code triggers on maintenance submissions only, and allows a school to adjust the Financial Award (loan period) Begin/End dates without changing the PPSD. This edit will not trigger at the disbursement level when the disbursement equals zero and the disbursement date is outside of the loan period. Reject Edit Code #205 will also not trigger at the award level on a change to the award begin/end dates if the PPSD falls outside the loan period and an inactivated disbursement (amount equals zero) is outside the loan period. In summary, Reject Edit Code #205 allows schools to adjust loan period dates as required in Dear Colleague Letter GEN-13-13.

For highlights and summaries of key events and other sessions that were held at the 2015 National Conference in New Orleans, see our summaries page.

 

Publication Date: 8/5/2015


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