Session C-11 Operational Update: Pell Grants, ACG and National SMART Grants Kathleen Wicks Dan Sullivan U.S. Department of Education.

Session C-11

Operational Update:Pell Grants, ACG and National

SMART Grants

Kathleen WicksDan Sullivan

U.S. Department of Education

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• Pell Grants, ACG & National SMART Grant Overview

• Institution & Student Eligibility

• Edit Statistics

• COD Updates

• HEOA Updates

• Resources

Session Agenda

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ACG: Eligibility Reason Code

ACG Reason Code

2006-2007 2007-2008

01: HS Programs 121,147(38.8%)

169,029(41.2%)

02: AP/IB 13,840(4.4%)

18,286(4.5%)

03: Coursework 176,878(56.7%)

223,011(54.3%)

Data accurate as of 8/11/2008.

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ACG: Year in School

Year in School

2006-2007 2007-2008

00 136,574(42.9%)

198,103(47.0%)

01 105,347(33.1%)

122,555(29.1%)

02 76,760(24.0%)

101,048(23.9%)


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National SMART Grant Statistics

CIP 2007 200801 - Agriculture 1,609 1,92311 – Computer Science 10,292 10,32614 -Engineering 13,586 14,20215 -Technology 3,090 3,05216 – Foreign Language 632 74926 – Life Sciences 22,768 24,00527 - Mathematics 4,337 4,28429 – Military Technologies 1 130 – Multi/Interdisciplinary 1,771 1,80540 – Physical Science 6,203 6,45741 – Science technologies 135 154


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National SMART Grant: Year in School

Year in school

2006-2007 2007-2008

03 32,051(45.3%)

34,194(45.5%)

04 38,679(54.7%)

41,036(54.5%)

Data accurate as of 8/11/2008

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• Pell Grants, ACG & National SMART Grant Overview


• Edit Statistics

• COD Updates

• HEOA Updates

• Resources

Session Agenda

• ACG Self-Identification results from the CPS are sent to school on the student’s ISIR

• A special flat file is sent to the schools containing ACG self-identification responses– File Name: 2010 ACG DATA FILE– Message Class: ED2010OP for 2009-2010 award

year• Student Specific information is available using

FAA Access

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Institutional ParticipationReviewing Self-Identified Applicants for ACG

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Institutional ParticipationFor ACG and National SMART

• 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• IG audit results

– Audit of the Department’s Process for Disbursing Academic Competitiveness Grants and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grants

– Control Number ED-OIG/A19H0011

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Institutional Eligibility For ACG and National SMART Grant

• Offers a 2- or 4-year degree program• Program length in COD System

– 5,6,7,8,11,12 for ACG– 6,7,8 for National SMART Grant

• See School Information, “General” page at COD Web site (cod.ed.gov)

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• Student may not receive ACG or National SMART Grant concurrently from more than one school– The MRR will be automatically generated for all

applicable schools• Student must receive ACG (or National SMART

Grant) and Pell Grant from the same award year

• For ACG:– HS graduation after 1/1/06 (ACG Level 1)– HS graduation after 1/1/05 (ACG Level 2)

Student EligibilityAdditional Criteria

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Transfer Student Eligibility

• ACG/National SMART Grant Programs require award information from previously attended schools to properly award transfer students– Calculation for eligibility used– Where to obtain necessary information

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Determining Transfer EligibilityEligibility Used, Total Eligibility Used

EU% = 100% × Sum of Actual Disbursements of Award ÷ Scheduled Award Amount*

TEU% = Sum of all EU%’s at each applicable Academic Year Level** Across award years and Schools

* Scheduled Award Amount is the maximum award amount by Academic Year Level and award year

** The COD System considers Academic Year Levels 0 and 1 to be the same when calculating TEU %

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Eligibility Used,Total Eligibility Used Example 1

A student in Academic Year Level 3 is awarded an 08-09 SMART Grant for $3000, $1250 in actual disbursements.

EU% = 100% × ($1250 ÷ $4000) = 31.2500%

Grade Level

award year

Award Amount

Anticipated Disb

Amount

Actual Disb

Amount

Scheduled Award Amt

Eligibility Used

3 2009 3000 1000 1250 4000 31.2500%

Total Eligibility Used (Sum of all EU's) – Academic Year Level 3 31.2500%

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Eligibility Used,Total Eligibility UsedExample 2A Student in Academic Year Level 4 is awarded an 08-09 SMART grant. However the student’s second disbursement would have caused his actual disbursements to exceed his award amount so the disbursement is rejected with Edit 137.

Award Number

Disb Number

Academic Year Level

award year

Award Amount

Actual Disb

Amount

Scheduled Award

AmtEligibility

Used

001 1 4 2009 4000 1050 4000 26.2500%

001 2 4 2009 4000 3000 4000 N/A

Total Eligibility Used (Sum of all EU's) – Academic Year Level 4 26.2500%

The student’s second disbursement would cause EU to equal EU% = 100% × [($1050 + $3000) ÷ $4000] = 101.2500%

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Determining Transfer Eligibility

• Now that you know the calculation….. where can you obtain the information you need?– ISIR– COD to NSLDS– COD

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Determining Transfer EligibilityISIR Record

• NSLDS data elements added/changed for ACG and National SMART Grant

•Scheduled award•% eligibility used by scheduled award •Total % eligibility used by academic year

level•Award year•Academic year level

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Determining Transfer Eligibility – COD to NSLDS - data fed daily

• Award year• OPEID• Transaction number• Award amount• Amount paid to date• Date posted to COD• Academic year level• Award ID• Major CIP code

• ACG eligible payment reason code

• ACG high school program code

• Scheduled award• Percent eligibility

used• Total eligibility used

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Determining Transfer EligibilityNSLDS

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Transfer Student Monitoring

• NSLDS will monitor changes made by other institutions to Pell/ACG/National SMART Grants and alert the informing school

• Monitoring is across award years• Changes made to any one of the following

will trigger an alert:• Award amount• Amount paid to date (disbursement

amount)• Latest disbursement date

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Transfer Student Monitoring

• The alert process continues to send schools an alert email notification and the alert data via Web only or Web and Batch

• Schools designate the alert method on the School Transfer Profile page setup

Underlying Pell Grant Requirement For ACG and National SMART

• If student has an ACG or National SMART Grant and is not a Pell recipient, the student will lose the ACG/National SMART Grant

• A special de-obligation job will be run twice in spring and late summer/early fall

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“No Pell De-obligation” Statistics

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Program 2006-2007 2007-2008ACG Schools:40

Students: 58Total: $150,145

Schools: 51Students: 58Total: $133,660

SMART Schools: 183Students: 276Total: $156,618

Schools: 264Students: 519Total: $279,009

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Determining Transfer EligibilityCOD Website

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COD Web: Person Information Webpage

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• Pell Grants, ACG & National SMART Overview


• Edit Statistics

• COD Updates

• HEOA Updates

• Resources

Session Agenda

Grade Level Edits

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• Must deliberately report grade level!

Program Grade Level

ACG 0, 1, 2

National SMART Grant 3, 4

Edits 56, 58

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Preventable - for the most part!

Edit Block MessageACG Hits

SMART Hits

Pell Hits

056 DisbursementSequence Number Not In Sequential Order

45,591 13,140 498,746

058 DisbursementDuplicate Disbursement Information On File

32,838 7,419 352,149

Total 78,429 20,559 850,895


Edit Statistics: 2007-2008

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Edit Error Message ACG HitsSMART

HitsPell Hits

014 Citizenship Status is not eligible for this award

6,445 3,107 2,566

041 Changed Award Amount Is Less Than Total Disbursements

1,564 446 0

048 School is Ineligible 265 45 6,754

051 Disbursement Date With Payment Trigger Set to True Outside of Allowable Window

8,305 1,296 25,596

123 Incorrect Student Level for ACG/National SMART Grant Awards

6,481 2,955 0

994 Missing Value 10,557 1,648 61,239

Total Error Messages for Program for 2007-2008

2,322,481 488,794 27,313,038


Pell Edit Statistics: 2007-2008

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Edit Error Message Pell Hits

015 Corrected Value Same as Original Value (Warning) 21,065,195

024 Reported CPS Transaction Number Does Not Match CPS

61,785

038 Student not Pell eligible 34,525

039 Incorrect Award Amount 290,332

040 Changed Award Amount is Less Than Total Disbursements

19,632

079 Incorrect Adjustment to Payment Trigger 88,601

Total Error Messages for Program for 2007-2008 27,323,038

ACG Edit Statistics: 2007-2008

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Edit Error Message ACG Hits

127 Missing Rigorous High School Program Code 8,571

129 Invalid Rigorous High School Program Code 2,854

130 Award Amount Exceeds Maximum Scheduled Award for ACG

21,283

135 Disbursement exceeds scheduled award for ACG at your school

5,644

Total Error Messages for Program for 2007-2008 2,322,481


SMART Edit Statistics: 2007-2008

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Edit Error Message SMART Hits

131 Incorrect CIP Value 3,323

132 Award Amount Exceeds Maximum Scheduled Award for National SMART grant

2,743

137 Disbursement exceeds scheduled award for National SMART grant at your school

2,361

Total Error Messages for Program for 2007-2008 488,794


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Edit StatisticsPOP Edits for 2007-2008

Edit Message Hits

134 Disbursement exceeds scheduled award at all schools for ACG during the same or multiple award years

23,647

136 Disbursement exceeds scheduled award at all schools for National SMART Grant during the same or multiple award years

19,205

068 Potential Over award Project – Notice Sent Separately (Pell)

30,312


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• Edit Statistics

• COD Updates

• HEOA Updates

• Resources

Session Agenda

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Rigorous Secondary Programs of Study, and Eligible Majors

• No change for 08-09 award year

• Check for update on IFAP for the 09-10 award year

Operational Updates for ACG and National SMART

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• Currently when the COD system receives a Pell correcting school’s common record with no tag for the COA data field, the COD system:– Places a default value of $99,999.99 in the COA

field– Returns a correcting edit 993 (missing value)– Accepts the common record

• Beginning in March 2009, the COD system will:– Place no default value in the COA field– Return a rejecting edit 994 (missing value)– Will reject the common record

Pell Cost of Attendance Field

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COD Schema

• Currently, schema version 2.0e may be used for Pell Grant, ACG, National SMART Grant, and Direct Loan

• The COD system began to accept and process data from new XML Schema 3.0a in June 2008

– Currently, schema version 3.0a is required for TEACH Grant processing

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COD Schema• Beginning March 2009 schools must use the

3.0b schema version for all programs for award year 2009-2010 and forward

• Schema version for system generated responses for award years prior to 09-10 may be set on the COD Web site - School Options page

• Web responses are ALWAYS sent in the highest schema version

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Recap of Schema 3.0a Changes

• Entity ID attributes removed• Person Identifier attributes removed• Multiple changes to Contact and Address

blocks• New TEACH Grant block

• Refer to the March 11, 2008 IFAP posting for all changes

Summary of Schema 3.0b ChangesNew Counseling block added for TEACH Grant Counseling Acknowledgements

New enumeration values for Agreement to Serve Status Code to include “C” for Closed. Values already returned are “A” for Accepted and “P” for Pending”

Updates/Changes for future use (to allow two Pell awards in an award year):– New tags within the Pell Award block:

• FinancialAwardNumber• FinancialAwardID• AdditionalEligibilityIndicator

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ACG and National SMART for Eligible Non-Citizens

• Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) of 2008 changes the ECASLA effective date from January 1, 2009 to July 1, 2009

• Effective July 1, 2009, COD will allow eligible non-citizens to qualify for an ACG award or a National SMART award

• COD will accept ACG and National SMART records for eligible non-citizens disbursed on or after July 1, 2009

Edit Changes

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Edit Description of Change

Message Condition

014 HEOA – Updated to allow for eligible non-citizen code of ‘2.’

Citizenship Status is not eligible for this award

For ACG, National SMART Grant, and TEACH Grant, Student’s Citizenship Status Indicator is not “1” for U.S. Citizen or “2” for eligible non-citizen.

Citizenship• The inclusion of a Citizenship Status Code in the

Person Block is optional– If no Citizenship Status Code is provided in the

Person Block, COD will pull the value from CPS

• Documentation held by the school– Citizenship Status Code must be included if it differs

from the value on CPS

• In March 2009, additional values from CPS will be factored into the citizenship edit (014)

Look out for more rejects!

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National SMART for 5th Year Undergraduates• Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) of 2008

changes the ECASLA effective date from January 1, 2009 to July 1, 2009

• Effective July 1, 2009, 5th year undergraduate students will be eligible to receive a National SMART award

• COD will accept National SMART records for 5th year undergraduate students disbursed on or after July 1, 2009

Edit Changes

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Edit Description of Change

Message Condition

123

HEOA – Updated to allow for National SMART Student Level 5.

Incorrect Student Level for ACG/National SMART Grant Awards

The Student Level submitted for the award is not valid based on award type. Valid values per award are:For National SMART Grant: 3, 4, 5

132 Award Amount Exceeds Maximum Scheduled Award for National SMART grant

Award amount originated at a single school exceeds the maximum scheduled award for the award year.For National SMART Grant:Student Level 3, 4, 5 - $4000

136 Disbursement exceeds scheduled award at all schools for National SMART Grant during the same or multiple award years

Disbursement amount distributed across one or more schools exceeds the maximum scheduled award for the most recent award year.For National SMART Grant:Student Level 3, 4, 5 - $4000

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• Edit Statistics

• COD Updates

• HEOA Updates

• Resources

Session Agenda

HEOA UpdatesProvides for “Year-round” Pell Grants• Allows students to receive two Pell Grants

during a single award year to allow them to accelerate their progress towards their degree or certificate

• They must be enrolled at least half-time and be enrolled in a program of instruction at a school that awards an associate or baccalaureate degree or a certificate

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HEOA UpdatesMaximum Duration of Eligibility for Pell

• Limits the time students can receive Pell Grants to up to 18 semesters or its equivalent for students who first receive a Pell Grant on or after July 1, 2008

• Only the percent of time that a student is enrolled will count against that time limit

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HEOA UpdatesACG and National SMART Grants

• Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) of 2008 changes the ECASLA effective date from January 1, 2009 to July 1, 2009

• Students can be enrolled less than full-time but must be enrolled at least half-time

• Proportionally reduces maximum awards the same way Pell does for part-time students

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HEOA UpdatesACG and National SMART Grants

• Students in certificate programs eligible, if program is at least one year in length and offered at a two or four-year degree granting institution

• Awards based on student’s grade level instead of “academic year”

• Requires grant awards and payments to be

determined on the same basis as Pell

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HEOA UpdatesNational SMART Grants Only

• Authorizes grants to students at institutions that offer a single liberal arts curriculum leading to a baccalaureate degree but at which students are not allowed to declare a major in a particular subject area by the institution

• Look for new approved majors on IFAP

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• Edit Statistics

• COD Updates

• HEOA Updates

• Resources

Session Agenda

Resources

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• COD Technical Referencehttp://ifap.ed.gov/cod/0910CODTechRef.html

• Webinarshttp://ifap.ed.gov/IFAPWebApp/currentCPresentationsYearPag.jsp?p1=Additional+FSA+Presentations&p2=c

• COD Computer-Based Training

• COD Initiated Activity Handout

http://ifap.ed.gov/cod/0910CODTechRef.html

http://ifap.ed.gov/cod/0910CODTechRef.html

http://ifap.ed.gov/IFAPWebApp/currentCPresentationsYearPag.jsp?p1=Additional+FSA+Presentations&p2=c



Related COD Sessions

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Session C-23 COD Web for Grants (Hands-on Session)

Session C-12Title IV Funding to Schools: From COD through G5 (For Pell Grants, ACG, and National SMART)

Session C-13Requirements for Federal Grant Programs - Pell, ACG and National SMART

Session C-06Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 – An Update

Session FF-12 COD Basics

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Contact Information

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Kathleen WicksDirector, Grant [email protected](202) 377-3110

Dan SullivanProgram Specialist, Grant Operations [email protected](202) 377-3114

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Session C-11 Operational Update: Pell Grants, ACG and National SMART Grants Kathleen Wicks Dan Sullivan U.S. Department of Education.

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