By Hugh T. Ferguson, NASFAA Managing Editor
The Department of Education (ED) has provided an updated timeline on batch corrections processing for both the 2024-25 and 2025-26 FAFSA, with plans for a fully functional launch date before the end of February.
According to the timeline, the department will begin to work with institutions that previously participated in the fall beta period to submit corrections “over the next few weeks.” During this period, which is expected to last for two to three weeks, ED will test several scenarios to verify that records are being successfully processed.
After addressing any concerns that arise during the testing period, ED will then plan to move forward with a general release date for batch corrections and will provide an electronic announcement detailing the exact launch date.
“While the financial aid community is anxious for batch correction functionality to be implemented, we appreciate that FSA and a small number of schools will be conducting testing to ensure a smooth rollout,” said Karen McCarthy, NASFAA’s vice president of public policy and federal relations.
Importantly, ED notes that they will clear the queue of batch correction files “that were transmitted, but not processed, prior to the general release date”, under the assumption that after schools initially transmitted batches early in the FAFSA processing cycle, they likely subsequently submitted the corrections individually through the FAFSA Partner Portal when it became clear that batch correction functionality would be further delayed. In that case, clearing the queue of these “old” batches will prevent processing conflicts.
The department stressed that any institutions not participating in the beta testing period that submit any 2024–25 or 2025–26 batch records before the general release will need to resubmit them for processing.
In order to prepare for batch corrections processing ED has also included several reminders for partners. These include: ensuring the release date of records are not outdated; supplying additional information when required by a corrected field; and including a professional judgement flag when adjustments are made that change or override Federal Tax Information pulled directly from the IRS.
Publication Date: 1/17/2025
Paul N | 1/22/2025 1:0:23 PM
Has there been any movement on identity verification in the partner portal?
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