Publication Date: October 12, 2007
Summary: Operational Guidance for Action - Reporting and Adjusting 2007-2008 Federal Pell Grant Awards Based on Elimination of "Alternate" Payment and Disbursement Schedules
As explained in Dear Colleague
Letter P-07-02, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (the CCRAA), Pub.L.
110-84, modifies the award rules for the Federal Pell Grant (Pell Grant) Program.
Specifically, the "tuition sensitivity" provision of section 401(b)(3)
of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), is repealed, retroactively
to the 2007-2008 Award Year.
As a result of the CCRAA, the two-page "Alternate" Payment and Disbursement
Schedules published in Dear
Colleague Letter P-07-01 may no longer be used. All Pell Grant awards for
the 2007-2008 Award Year must be determined using the four-page "Regular"
Payment and Disbursement Schedules.
We have begun the work needed to modify our systems, Web and software products,
technical documents, training materials, and publications to reflect the repeal
of the "tuition sensitivity" provision beginning with 2007-2008 Pell
Grant awards. However, completion of our work is not necessary for each affected
school to take the actions needed to submit new 2007-2008 Pell Grant awards
to the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System and/or to adjust previously
submitted 2007-2008 Pell Grant awards.
In this announcement, we provide technical guidance on submitting and adjusting
2007-2008 Pell Grant awards. The information is presented in the following order:
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Submitting New 2007-2008 Pell Grant Awards
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Adjusting Previously Submitted 2007-2008 Pell Grant Awards Determined Using
Eliminated Alternate Schedules (multiple subsections)
-
Guidance for EDExpress 2007-2008 Release 3.0 Users
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Contact Information
Submitting New 2007-2008 Pell Grant Awards
If a school has not yet submitted to the COD System an origination record for
a student's 2007-2008 Pell Grant award, the award must be determined using the
"Regular" Payment and Disbursement Schedules. When submitting the
award to the COD System, the school must not set the "Low
Tuition and Fees Code" in the COD Extensible Markup Language (XML) Common
Record document. This means that if the <LowTuitionFeesCode> tag of the
COD XML Common Record document is submitted, it must include nil = "true".
Adjusting Previously Submitted 2007-2008 Pell Grant Awards Determined
Using Eliminated Alternate Schedules
If a school has previously submitted to the COD System an origination record
for a student's 2007-2008 Pell Grant award that was determined using the "Alternate"
Payment and Disbursement Schedules, the award must be recalculated using the
"Regular" Payment and Disbursement Schedules. In addition, the award
amount and disbursement amounts in the COD System must be adjusted to reflect
the correct award.
A school in this situation may make the necessary adjustments via COD XML Common
Record batch submission or COD Web site
submission.
COD XML Common Record Batch Submission
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Step 1:
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Submit to the COD System a Pell Grant award maintenance record
that includes nil = "true" in the <LowTuitionFeesCode>
tag of the COD XML Common Record document.
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Either of the following formats for nil = "true" may
be used:
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<LowTuitionFeesCode xsi:nil="true"/>
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<LowTuitionFeesCode xsi:nil="true"></LowTuitionFeesCode>
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Upon receipt of this maintenance record, the value previously stored
in the COD System will be removed, and the student's Scheduled Federal
Pell Grant amount will be automatically recalculated and returned to the
school.
|
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Step 2:
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Submit the new Pell Grant award amount and new disbursement information
in the same batch. The new award amount and new disbursement information
will be determined by the school on the basis of all eligibility factors.
|
Note: See #2 under "Important Notes About Both Submission
Options" below for a one-step process that may be used by a school that
will recalculate the student's Scheduled Federal Pell Grant amount using its
own processes.
COD Web Site Submission
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Step 1:
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Log in to the COD Web site, navigate to the Award Detail Information
screen for the Pell Grant award, and click on the UPDATE AWARD button.
The Update Award Information screen displays.
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On the Update Award Information screen, select the blank space
at the top of the dropdown menu for the Low Tuition Fee Code field and
click on the SUBMIT button.
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Upon receipt of this Web update, the value previously stored in the COD
System will be removed, and the student's Scheduled Federal Pell Grant
amount will be automatically recalculated and returned to the school.
|
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Step 2:
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Navigate to the COD Web site's Award Disbursements Information
screen for the Pell Grant award and click on the disbursement number hyperlink
under the No. column. The Disbursement Information screen displays.
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On the Disbursement Information screen, click on the UPDATE button. The
Update Disbursement Information screen displays.
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On the Update Disbursement Information screen, enter the new disbursement
information and click on the VIEW AWARD DATA button. Enter the new award
amount determined by the school on the basis of all eligibility factors
and click on the SUBMIT button.
|
Note: See #2 under "Important Notes About Both Submission
Options" below for a one-step process that may be used by a school that
will recalculate the student's Scheduled Federal Pell Grant amount using its
own processes.
Important Notes About Both Submission Options
1) When using either of the two-step processes explained above, the school
must ensure that Step 2 is completed. If an increase to the Pell Grant award
is not submitted, the student's award will remain capped at the lower amount.
2) If a school has recalculated the student's Scheduled Federal Pell Grant
amount using its own processes, it may change the Low Tuition and Fees Code
status, award amount, and disbursement information in the same COD XML Common
Record batch submission or in the same COD Web site submission.
Guidance for EDExpress 2007-2008 Release 3.0 Users
With the elimination of the "Alternate" Payment and Disbursement
Schedules, EDExpress 2007-2008 users may need to recalculate Pell Grant awards
in both the Packaging and Pell modules of Release 3.0. Both modules contain
a Low Tuition-related field that previously may have been activated to calculate
awards using the "Alternate" Payment and Disbursement Schedules.
Detailed guidance on how to identify and update all student records with 2007-2008
Pell Grant awards that were determined using the "Alternate" Payment
and Disbursement Schedules is provided in the attachment titled "Identifying
and Recalculating 2007-2008 Pell Grant Awards Determined Using Eliminated Alternate
Schedules in EDExpress 2007-2008 Release 3.0."
Contact Information
If you have any questions about submitting new or adjusting previously submitted
2007-2008 Pell Grant awards to the COD System, contact the COD School Relations
Center at 800/4PGRANT (800/474-7268) for ACG, National SMART Grant, and Pell
Grant or by e-mail at CODSupport@acs-inc.com.
If you have any questions about identifying and updating 2007-2008 Pell Grant
awards using the Packaging module or the Pell module of EDExpress 2007-2008
Release 3.0, contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support at 800/330-5947 (TDD/TTY 800/511-5806)
or by e-mail at CPSSAIG@ed.gov.
Attachments/Enclosures:
Identifying and Recalculating 2007-2008 Pell Grant Awards Determined Using Eliminated Alternate Schedules in EDExpress 2007-2008 Release 3.0 in PDF Format, 124KB, 4 pages
Posted 10/15/07 to www.NASFAA.org. Please submit Web Site questions or comments to Web@NASFAA.org
