[This guidance has been updated by an Electronic Announcement posted on 01/11/08]

Publication Date: February 20, 2008

Award Year: 2008-2009

Summary: COD Common Record XML Schema Version 3.0a

In June 2008, we will implement Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System functionality that will support the processing of Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant awards for the 2008-2009 and subsequent award years. As explained in Dear Colleague Letter GEN-08-01 posted on the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site, this new grant program was established by the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (the CCRAA), Pub. L. 110-84, and is effective July 1, 2008.

We previously informed the financial aid community that we will post numerous communications about the operational implementation of the TEACH Grant Program over the next several months. This communication focuses on the implementation of a new version of the COD Common Record Extensible Markup Language (XML) Schema. The new version – 3.0a – of the COD Common Record XML Schema incorporates 1) a new block for TEACH Grant awards and 2) other changes throughout the schema to comply with standards established by the Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC).

In short, we are phasing in required use of COD Common Record Schema Version 3.0a. As you will read in more detail below, use of the new schema version for the 2008-2009 Award Year will be required only for TEACH Grant Common Record documents. Use of the new schema version for all Common Record documents will be required beginning with the 2009-2010 Award Year.

In this announcement, we cover information in the following order:

• Updating to COD Common Record XML Schema Version 3.0a
• Files and 2008-2009 COD Technical Reference Information
• Contact Information
• Attachments/Enclosures

Updating to COD Common Record XML Schema Version 3.0a

To determine a plan for updating to COD Common Record XML Schema Version 3.0a, a school or third party software provider should consider the following information:

Effective after COD System implementation for TEACH Grant scheduled for June 28, 2008 and before COD System implementation for 2009-2010 Award Year—

• All 2008-2009 Common Record documents that contain TEACH Grant origination and disbursement information must be sent by schools and will be acknowledged by the COD System using COD Common Record XML Schema Version 3.0a.
  
  
• A school that begins to use COD Common Record XML Schema Version 3.0a on or after June 28, 2008 will need to take action regarding unsolicited system-generated responses.

  The school will receive unsolicited system-generated responses for the TEACH Grant Program from the COD System in schema version 3.0a. However, the school will have the option to receive unsolicited system-generated responses for all other programs from the COD System in either schema version 3.0a or schema version 2.0e.

  To set this option, the school will enter its schema version preference for each program via the COD Web Site’s School Options Update screen. We will provide detailed instructions on how to set this option in forthcoming communications about the June 28, 2008 implementation.
  
  

• A school that does not begin to use the COD Common Record XML Schema Version 3.0a on or after June 28, 2008 will need to take no action regarding unsolicited system-generated responses. In this case, unsolicited system-generated responses will continue to be sent by the COD System using schema version 2.0e.
  
  
• All available school reports, including data requests, will continue to be sent in formats other than XML.

Unsolicited system-generated responses are listed in the table below.

Effective after COD System implementation for 2009-2010 Award Year scheduled for March 2009—

• All Common Record documents that contain Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG), National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant (National SMART Grant), Federal Pell Grant (Pell Grant), TEACH Grant, and William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) origination and disbursement information must be sent by schools and will be acknowledged by the COD System using COD Common Record XML Schema Version 3.0a.
  
  
• All unsolicited system-generated responses will be sent by the COD System using COD Common Record XML Schema Version 3.0a.
  
  
• All available school reports, including data requests, will continue to be sent in formats other than XML.

Note: We strongly encourage all schools and third party software providers to update to COD Common Record XML Schema Version 3.0a for all programs as soon as possible after the June 28, 2008 implementation. However, the COD System will continue to process, except as noted above, using the current version of the COD Common Record XML Schema (2.0e) until the March 2009 implementation of the COD System for the 2009-2010 Award Year.

Files and 2008-2009 COD Technical Reference Information

Attached to this announcement are files that schools and third party software providers will need to update to COD Common Record XML Schema Version 3.0a. One of the attachments is a change log that identifies the changes made to the current version of the COD Common Record XML Schema (2.0e). In addition, we will post updated sections of the 2008-2009 COD Technical Reference on the IFAP Web site in late February 2008.

Contact Information

If you have any questions, contact the COD School Relations Center at 800/4PGRANT (800/474-7268) for Grants or 800/848-0978 for Direct Loans. You may also e-mail CODSupport@acs-inc.com.

Attachments/Enclosures:

XML Common Record 3.0a in XML Code, Size 99 KB

XML Common Record 3.0a - Value Range for the Common Record in XML Code, Size 7.34 KB

Common Record Change Log in Microsoft Excel Format, Size 47 KB

Posted 02/21/08 to www.NASFAA.org. Please submit Web Site questions or comments to Web@NASFAA.org