Publication Date: November 21, 2006
Summary: HERA Operational Implementation
Guidance (CPS, COD System, EDExpress Suite) -- Issue Alert: Fix Implemented
on R2T4 on the Web to Correct Data Edits for Unsubsidized FFEL/Direct Stafford
Loan Field on Post-Withdrawal Tab
Federal Student Aid wishes to alert
schools and other institutions that we implemented a fix to the Return of Title
IV Funds (R2T4) on the Web site to correct a data entry issue on November 5, 2006.
This issue only impacted users submitting Unsubsidized FFEL/Direct Stafford Loan
data on the Post-Withdrawal tab for students with a withdrawal date on or after
July 1, 2006. We originally alerted you to this issue in an electronic
announcement posted on October 11, 2006 to the Information for Financial Aid
Professionals (IFAP) Web site, located at http://ifap.ed.gov.
Issue Background
R2T4 on the Web was updated in August
2006 to implement changes resulting from provisions of the Higher Education
Reconciliation Act of 2005 (the HERA), Pub. L. 109-171. Among other changes,
the HERA provides that schools must now contact borrowers and receive an affirmative
response prior to making a post-withdrawal disbursement of loan funds. This
change was effective July 1, 2006.
New data edits covering this HERA
provision were added to the Post-Withdrawal tab for students with a withdrawal
date on or after July 1, 2006. These data edits include the following two conditions:
1) If the Response Status is "Response
Received" and the "Amount of post-withdrawal disbursement accepted"
field value is blank or zero, the edit will prevent amounts greater than zero
from being submitted on the Post-Withdrawal tab loan fields for Unsubsidized
FFEL/Direct Stafford, Subsidized FFEL/Direct Stafford, FFEL/Direct PLUS (Parent),
FFEL/Direct PLUS (Graduate Student), or Perkins loans.
2) If the Response Status is "Response
Received" and the "Amount of post-withdrawal disbursement accepted"
field value is greater than zero, at least one of the loan amounts entered on
the tab must also be greater than zero for Unsubsidized FFEL/Direct Stafford,
Subsidized FFEL/Direct Stafford, FFEL/Direct PLUS (Parent), FFEL/Direct PLUS
(Graduate Student), or Perkins loans.
We discovered these new data edits
were not working correctly for the Unsubsidized FFEL/Direct Stafford field if
you ONLY entered Unsubsidized FFEL/Direct Stafford Loan award data (and not
other loan types as well). In this case the loan amount entered in this field
was not being taken into consideration by the Web site when you submitted data
entered on the Post-Withdrawal tab.
This issue prevented you from submitting
accurate data entered on the Post-Withdrawal tab if the student record you were
entering ONLY had Unsubsidized FFEL/Direct Stafford Loan award data (and not
other loan types as well).
Issue Resolution
As of November 5, 2006, this issue
is fixed on the R2T4 on the Web site and will no longer occur.
In the October 11, 2006 electronic
announcement, Federal Student Aid provided two workarounds:
1) Postpone entering Post-Withdrawal
tab data for the student(s) in question until the fix was implemented on the
R2T4 on the Web site.
2) Enter all of the data on the Post-Withdrawal
tab EXCEPT the "Amount of post-withdrawal disbursement accepted" and
the "Unsubsidized FFEL/Direct Stafford Loan" amounts and submit the
record. Once the data was submitted, we advised you to click "View Printable
Page?", print the Post-Withdrawal Disbursement Worksheet for the student,
and complete the remaining fields in the calculation manually on the hardcopy
report. We also recommended that you track your use of this temporary workaround
by adding an entry to the Notes tab for the student record in R2T4 on the Web.
If you followed either workaround
noted above, you can now update the student's Post-Withdrawal tab with the correct
information for the "Amount of post-withdrawal disbursement accepted"
and the "Unsubsidized FFEL/Direct Stafford Loan" and submit the record.
R2T4 on the Web will now calculate these records correctly.
We regret any inconvenience this
issue may have caused you.
If You Have Questions
If you have any questions regarding
R2T4 on the Web, contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support at 800/330-5947 (TDD/TTY
800/511-5806) or by e-mail at CPSSAIG@ed.gov.
For other questions about the HERA,
contact Federal Student Aid's Research and Customer Care Center (RCCC) at 800/433-7327,
202/275-5532 (fax), or by e-mail at fsa.customer.support@ed.gov.
Posted November 22, 2006 on www.NASFAA.org, the Web Site of the
National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA).
Please submit Web Site questions or comments to Web@NASFAA.org
