ACG/SMART:

1
Session 17

• ACG/SMART
• Reporting from CPS to COD
• Sue OFlaherty and Kathleen Wicks

2
A Financial Aid WinFrom a letter to The
Philadelphia Inquirer, September 7, 2006

• Recently, I met with one of our students a
  minority student from Pennsylvania, a star
  football player, an honor biology student, a
  wonderful citizen on our campus, but also a
  financially needy young man --- who was 4100
  short of paying his bill after all means of aid
  were exhausted. He came back to see me, and I had
  the pleasure of seeing his head come up high when
  I told him his hard work has paid off, that we
  had just awarded him a 4000 National SMART
  Grant. All the meetings wed had with departments
  on campus, all the work getting the computers
  updated with the new grant info, all the paper
  wed pushed to finalize the awards became worth
  it when I felt the full impact of his smile.
• 
  Ginny
  Bradley, Associate Director
  of Student Financial Service, Ursinus College,
  Collegeville PA

3
Other ACG/National SMART Interest Sessions

• 5 Student Eligibility and Academic Year Issues
• 6 Transfer Student and Rigor/Major Issues
• 18 EDExpress Changes for HERA and 2007-2008
• 19 A Day in the Life at the COD School Relations
  Center
• 26 Negotiated Rulemaking Open Forum

4
Topics Covered

• Institutional and Student Eligibility
• Phased Implementation Approach
• Reporting ACG/National SMART to COD
• Differences Between Pell and ACG/National SMART
• ACG/National SMART School Reports
• NSLDS and ACG/National SMART
• ACG/National SMART COD Processing

5
Institutional Participation

• All schools that participate in Pell Grants and
  offer an eligible educational program must
  participate in ACG and National SMART Grants
• No new Program Participation Agreement (PPA)
• Must review self-identified applicants

6
Institutional Eligibility

• Approximately 5400 schools participate in Pell
• Of these, 3350 are eligible for ACG
• Of these, 1944 are eligible for both ACG and
  National SMART

7
Institutional Eligibility

• Offers a 2 or 4 year degree program
• Program length in COD
• 5,6,7,8 for ACG
• 6,7,8 for National SMART
• See School Information, General page at COD Web
  site (cod.ed.gov)

8
Institutional Eligibility

• Based on school program information as reported
  in the Application for Approval to Participate in
  Federal Student Financial Aid Programs (See
  eligcert.ed.gov)
• COD Edit 48 School is Ineligible returned on
  student disbursement if school is ineligible
• No edit on student program length

9
Student Eligibility

• US Citizen
• Enrolled in 2 or 4 year degree program
• Pell recipient
• Full time
• HS graduation after 1/1/06 (ACG Level 1)
• HS graduation after 1/1/05 (ACG Level 2)

10
Student Eligibility

• Rigorous HS curriculum (ACG only)
• 3.0 GPA (ACG Level 2 and National SMART)
• Eligible Fields of Study (National SMART only)

11
Additional Student Eligibility Criteria

• Student may not receive ACG or National SMART
  concurrently from more than one school.
• ACG and National SMART must be received from same
  school from which Pell Grant is received.

12
ACG/National SMART Phased COD Implementation

• Full functionality for ACG and National/SMART in
  COD will occur in four phases.
• Implementation of ACG Web Screen July 1, 2006
• 5.1B July 29, 2006
• 5.2B December 16, 2006
• 6.0 April 14, 2007

13
06-07 ACG CPS Web Screens

• On July 1, 2006
• Potentially eligible students sent notification
  to answer additional questions on ACG Web Screen
• Paper filers were sent a comment on a SAR to
  complete questions on the ACG Web Screen or call
  1-800-4FEDAID and answer ACG questions on the
  phone

14
06-07 ACG CPS Web Screens

• Questions include
• High School graduation
• State student completed high school program
• Rigorous program questions
• After July 1, 2006, ACG eligibility questions are
  provided to potentially eligible students during
  the FAFSA process

15
06-07 ACG CPS Processing

• Response sent on ISIR to School
• Comment Codes on ISIR tied to each Rigorous
  Program response from student
• Schools receive daily flat file with response
  information

16
07-08 ACG CPS Processing

• There is no need for a mass notification
  process for 2007-08
• ACG questions will continue to be served up to
  potentially eligible applicants as part of the
  FOTW experience

17
07-08 ACG CPS Processing

• SAR and ISIR comment codes will remain the same
• Potentially eligible 2007-08 paper filers will
  continue to receive a message on the SAR to
  either go to Corrections on the Web or to call
  1-800-4FEDAID to complete ACG questions

18
07-08 ACG CPS Processing

• Current year ACG recipients, when applying for
  2007-08, will also be provided ACG questions if
  they continue to meet the criteria for being
  considered as potentially eligible

19
07-08 ACG CPS Processing

• ACG Eligibility Reason Codes 01, 02, and
  03 will remain the same in 2007-08
• ACG Program Codes (used when reporting an 01
  eligibility reason code) in use for 06-07 will be
  used for 2007-08

20
07-08 ACG Rigorous Programs

• Additional programs may be approved by the
  Secretary in response to the November 1, 2006
  deadline for submitting new rigorous program
  proposals.
• New programs approved by the secretary for 07-08
  will receive a new program code. A list of new
  program codes will be posted as soon as it is
  available.

21
ACG/National SMART Phased COD Implementation

• 5.1B July 29, 2006
• Initial authorizations to schools
• School funding displayed on COD Web and available
  in GAPS
• Process to adjust authorizations upon request

22
ACG/National SMART Initial Authorizations

• Based on proportional volume of 2005-2006 Pell
  Grant recipients at 2- and 4-year degree-granting
  schools
• 221m in ACG
• 208m in National SMART

23
ACG/National SMART Initial Authorizations

• Estimated amounts to fund disbursements until
  mid-December.
• Pell JIT schools must draw from GAPS
• Cash Management regulations in 34 CFR 668 Subpart
  K apply

24
ACG/National SMART Funding

• Schools can request additional funds for Fall
  Term until mid-December
• Electronic Announcement Posted 8/9/2006 Procedure
  for Fall 2006 Adjustments to ACG and National
  SMART Grant 2006-2007 Award Year Initial
  Authorizations
• Send email to COD School Relations Center at
  CODSupport_at_acs-inc.com
• Request amount needed for fall disbursements

25
Status to Date 5.1B

• Adjustments without student reporting until
  mid-December.
• E-mail notifications regarding ACG and National
  SMART Grant awards suspended until January 17,
  2007.
• Please draw funds for eligible student
  disbursements so ED can project for 07-08

26
ACG/National SMART Phased COD Implementation 5.1B

• ESOA Message Classes
• ACG AGAS07OP
• Batch ID AA
• National SMART SGAS07OP
• Batch ID SA

27

• Reporting ACG/National SMART

28
ACG/National SMART Reporting

• The earliest date on which a school was able to
  disburse an ACG or National SMART Grant for the
  2006-2007 Award Year, either with Federal funds
  or its own funds, was July 1, 2006.
• Always report disbursement date, not date sent to
  COD

29
ACG/National SMART Phased COD Implementation

• 5.2B December 16, 2006
• Common Record and Web processing
• Submission of student level data begins
• COD reports disbursements to NSLDS daily

30
ACG Reporting

• Establishing an ACG Origination Record
• The following fields are required for ACG
• All fields required to establish a Pell Grant,
  plus
• Financial Award ID
• Financial Award Number
• Student Level Code
• Eligibility/Payment Reason Code
• High School Program Code (if eligibility/payment
  code 01)
• Citizenship Status Code (optional)

31
ACG Reporting Elements

• Eligibility Payment Reason Code
• Required for ACG only
• 01 Rigorous High School Program
• 02 Advanced Placement/International
  Baccalaureate Coursework and tests
• 03 Coursework

32
ACG Reporting Elements

• Rigorous High School Program Code
• Required for ACG only
• 6 digit, alpha numeric
• Required for ACG Eligibility Reason Code 01 only
• Example, AL0001
• See Volume VI, Section 9 of COD Technical
  Reference

33
National SMART Reporting Establishing an Award

• The following fields are required for a National
  SMART origination record
• All the fields required to establish a Pell
  Grant, plus
• Financial Award ID
• Financial Award Number
• Student Level Code
• Program CIP Code
• Citizenship Status Code (may be taken from CPS)

34
National SMART Reporting Establishing an Award

• Major Program of Study CIP Code
• CIP Codes can be found on IFAP
• See Revised List of Eligible Majors published
  08-25-2006 http//ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/Gen0615.h
  tml

35
New Required Record Elements

• Financial Award ID Financial Award Number are
  new concepts for grant program
• Financial Award ID
• Helps COD distinguish multiple awards for the
  same student at the same school for the same
  Award Year
• Assists in properly directing overpayment
  information at Collections
• Comparable to Loan ID

36
New Required Record Elements

• Financial Award Number
• The last 3 positions of the Award ID
• Demonstrates a change of award within an academic
  year

37
New Required Record Elements

• Elements of the Financial Award ID
• Current SSN
• Award Type (AACG, T National SMART)
• Award Year (07)
• Pell School ID
• Financial Award Number
• 21 characters in length

38
Financial Award ID Financial Award Number

• Example 1 - Student A
• Student level code of 1 receives an ACG Award
  750
• Fall Disbursement 375
• Award ID xxxxxxxxxA07xxxxxx001
• Financial Award Number 001
• Spring Disbursement 375
• Award ID xxxxxxxxxA07xxxxxx001
• Financial Award Number 001

39
Financial Award ID Financial Award Number

• Example 2 - Student B
• Student level code of 1 receives an ACG Award
  750
• Fall Disbursement 375
• Award ID xxxxxxxxxA07xxxxxx001
• Financial Award Number 001
• Progresses to student level code of 2 receives an
  ACG Award 1300
• Spring Disbursement 650
• Award ID xxxxxxxxxA07xxxxxx002
• Financial Award Number 002

40
Financial Award ID Financial Award Number

• Example 2 - Student B, continued
• Student B continues to have ACG award
  eligibility, with a student level code of 2, for
  the following Fall semester.
• Fall Disbursement 650
• Award ID xxxxxxxxxA08xxxxxx001
• Financial Award Number 001

41
Financial Award ID Financial Award Number

• Example 3 - Student C
• Student level code of 3 receives a SMART Award
  4000
• Fall Disbursement 2000
• Award ID xxxxxxxxxT07xxxxxx001
• Financial Award Number 001
• Spring Disbursement 2000
• Award ID xxxxxxxxxT07xxxxxx001
• Financial Award Number 001

42
Financial Award ID Financial Award Number

• Example 4 - Student D
• Student level code of 3 receives a SMART Award
  4000
• Fall Disbursement 2000
• Award ID xxxxxxxxxT07xxxxxx001
• Financial Award Number 001
• Progresses to student level code of 4 and
  receives a SMART Award 4000
• Spring Disbursement 2000
• Award ID xxxxxxxxxT07xxxxxx002
• Financial Award Number 002

43
Financial Award ID Financial Award Number

• Example 4 - Student D, continued
• Student D continues to have SMART award
  eligibility, with a student level code of 2, for
  the following Fall semester.
• Progresses to student level code of 4 and
  receives a SMART Award 4000
• Spring Disbursement 2000
• Award ID xxxxxxxxxT08xxxxxx001
• Financial Award Number 001

44
ACG/National SMART Reporting

• COD establishes award information per student,
  per school, and per grade level
• Student level code can span multiple award years
• Maximum schedule award amount for ACG and
  National SMART awards at a single school or
  across multiple schools cannot exceed the maximum
  scheduled award amount

45
Student Eligibility Not Required to Be Reported
to COD

• US Citizen
• Optional
• If not reported, taken from CPS according to
  Transaction
• Enrolled in 2/4 year degree program
• Not reported to COD
• COD Edit is on institutional eligibility

46
Student Eligibility Not Required to Be Reported
to COD

• Pell Recipient
• Not reported
• Must be Pell eligible according to CPS
  Transaction
• FSA review of exception reports

47
Student Eligibility Not Required to Be Reported
to COD

• HS Graduation Date
• Not reported to COD
• Documentation retained by school
• 3.0 GPA
• Not reported to COD
• Calculation and documentation at school

48
Student Eligibility That Must Be Reported to COD

• Academic Level
• Reported to COD
• Documentation retained at school
• Rigorous HS Curriculum
• ACG only
• Eligible Fields of Study
• National SMART Grant only

49
Differences Between Pell and ACG/National SMART

• Overaward Logic (POP)
• Automatic corrections option
• Timing of actual disbursements
• Required record elements

50
Overaward Logic (POP)

• Pell allows overaward at multiple schools for 30
  days
• For ACG/National SMART, COD System rejects
  disbursement records when the sum exceeds the
  scheduled award amount limit
• At same school
• At multiple schools

51
Automatic Corrections Option

• For Pell, a school may opt to have COD correct
  certain values
• For ACG/National SMART, COD will reject incorrect
  values

52
Timing of Actual Disbursements

• For Pell, as early as 30 days prior to
  disbursement date
• For ACG/National SMART, as early as 7 days prior
  to disbursement date

53

• ACG/National SMART School Reports

54
ACG/National SMART Phased COD Implementation 6.0

• 6.0 April 14, 2007
• ACG and National SMART Multiple Reporting Record
  (MRR)
• Message Class AGMR07OP (ACG)
• Message Class SGMR07OP (National SMART)
• Applies to concurrent enrollment only

55
ACG/National SMART Phased COD Implementation 6.0

• ACG and National SMART Reconciliation Report
• Message Class AGRC07OP (ACG)
• Message Class SGRC07OP (National SMART)

56
ACG/National SMART Phased COD Implementation 6.0

• ACG and National SMART Year-to-Date (YTD) Record
• Message Class AGYR07OP (ACG)
• Message Class SGYR07OP (National SMART)

57
ACG/National SMART Phased COD Implementation 6.0

• ACG and National SMART Text File
• Message Class AGTX07OP (ACG)
• Message Class SGTX07OP (National SMART)

58
ACG/National SMART Phased COD Implementation 6.0

• Data Requests
• Message Class AGRQ07IN (ACG)
• Message Class SGRQ07IN (National SMART)
• Data Request Responses
• Message Class AGRA07OP (ACG)
• Message Class SGRA07OP (National SMART)

59
ACG/National SMART Phased COD Implementation 6.0

• SSN/Name/Date of Birth Change Report
• Consolidated Pell, ACG and National SMART report
• Message Class PGSN07OP

60
ACG/National SMART Phased COD Implementation 6.0

• ACG and National SMART Pending Disbursement
  Report
• Message Class AGPD07OP (ACG)
• Message Class SGPD07OP (National SMART)

61
ACG/National SMART Phased COD Implementation 6.0

• Global Jobs
• Warn and Reduce Disbursements for No Pell
• System Generated Negative Disbursements
• Global Jobs
• Reduce CFL to Accepted Records

62

• NSLDS and ACG/National SMART

63
NSLDS and ACG/National SMART

• NSLDS will begin
• Receiving ACG/SMART Grants from COD on December
  17, 2006
• Displaying ACG/SMART Grants on the NSLDS Website
  on December 18, 2006
• Providing ACG/SMART Grant award data on 2007-08
  SAR/ISIR reports on January 1, 2007

64
NSLDS and ACG/National SMART

• ACG/SMART Grant data from the 2006-07 award year
  will appear as part of the students Financial
  Aid History on the 2007-08 SAR/ISIR
• ACG/SMART Award Data will not appear on the
  2006-07 SAR/ISIR

65
Transfer Student Monitoring and ACG/National SMART

• NSLDS will begin
• Using a new file format for Transfer Student
  Monitoring/Financial Aid History (TSM/FAH) on
  January 1, 2007

66
Transfer Student Monitoring for ACG/National SMART

• For ACG/SMART 2006-07
• TSM begins on January 3, 2007
• Schools should continue to register students for
  Transfer Monitoring the same as they have done in
  the past.
• Schools can look up ACG/SMART award data on NSLDS

67

• ACG/National SMART COD Processing

68
COD and ACG/National SMART

• With the introduction of ACG and National SMART
  to COD in the 5.2 December 16 release
• New Schema
• New Message Classes
• New Edits

69
ACG/National SMART Processing Schema

• ACG and National SMART Common Records must be
  submitted in Schema Version 2.0e
• COD System will continue to accept Pell and/or
  Direct Loan records in previous versions
• COD System continues to echo-back Common Record
  Response Documents in the same schema version as
  the submitted record

70
Schema 2.0e

• All System-Generated Responses returned in Schema
  Version 2.0e (including Web and all DL and Pell
  responses)
• Software Vendors/ Schools are required to
  process with the new schema on April 14, 2007 for
  all programs

71
ACG/SMART Processing New COD Edits

• Edit 14 Citizenship Status is not eligible for
  this award
• Edit 123 Incorrect Student Level for
  ACG/National SMART Awards
• Edit 124 Cannot change Student Level
• Edit 125 ACG/National SMART recipients must be
  Pell eligible
• Edit 126 Incorrect Eligibility/Payment Reason
  for ACG

72
New Edits

• Edit 127 Missing High School Program Code
• Edit 128 Unnecessary High School Program Code
• Edit 129 Invalid High School Program Code
• Edit 130 Award Amount Exceeds Maximum Scheduled
  Award for ACG
• Edit 131 Incorrect CIP Code Value

73
New Edits

• Edit 132 Award Amount Exceeds Maximum Scheduled
  Award for National SMART grant
• Edit 134 Disbursement exceeds scheduled award
  at multiple schools for ACG
• Edit 135 Disbursement exceeds scheduled award
  for ACG at your school

74
New Edits

• Edit 136 Disbursement exceeds scheduled award
  for National SMART grant at your school
• Edit 137 Disbursement exceeds scheduled award
  at multiple schools for National SMART grant
• NOTE Refer to 2006-2007 COD Technical
  Reference, Volume II, Section 4 for a complete
  list of Edits

75
Contact Information

• We appreciate your feedback and comments.
• Sue.OFlaherty_at_ed.gov 202 377-3393
• Kathleen.Wicks_at_ed.gov 202 377-3110