State Grant & Special Programs Update. Christine Zuzack

Transcription

1 State Grant & Special Programs Update Christine Zuzack

2 Appropriations

3 Appropriations awards are not finalized and no funds are being disbursed until the budget is signed by the Governor. Special instructions sent to employers concerning SWSP hours and wages.

4 Appropriations Governor Wolf proposed three programs for PHEAA funding: Dual Enrollment STEM Primary Healthcare Loan Forgiveness No further discussions on these programs or available funding

5 Appropriations appropriation requests are normally submitted to the State Budget Office in early October. PHEAA delaying budget request for until funds have been approved.

6 State Grant Policy Updates Remedial Credits & Academic Progress Effective with progress reviews for award year Total Remedial Exception Indicators Reported Total Allowable Remedial Credits for Progress Semester Schools Maximum Number of Remedial Credits Permitted Towards Progress Minimum Number of Regular Credits Needed for Progress The total number of credits needed for academic progress is dependent upon the number of State Grant award counters for the year.

7 State Grant Policy Updates State Grant Refunds No refund collections from family members of deceased students No refunds or offsets against other family members State Grant awards

8 Program Participation Agreements For the State Grant Program, a Master Program Participation Agreement and Schedule A are required by November 1, 2015 for continued participation in the State Grant Program. Reject F (non-approved school) will display for students applying to schools without an agreement. Contact sghelp@pheaa.org for assistance

9 Program Review Findings Beginning with reviews covering the Award Year: Error Rate calculations will be based on misspayment of a student award by plus or minus $50. This includes non-payment of funds to an eligible student An Administrative Findings section will address deficiencies in program administration A Program Improvement Plan may be required to address findings

10 FAFSA School List Masking USDE plans to mask the list of schools that a student selects on the FAFSA so that listed schools do not know: if other schools are selected the number of other schools selected the order of other schools selected, if any

11 Reciprocity Rhode Island discontinued state grants going to out-of-state schools effective with the award year. PA State Grants to students attending schools in RI will cease beginning with the Summer Reciprocal states for include DC, DE, MA, OH, VT, and WV

12 Prior-Prior Year Income Data September 14, 2015 Presidential announcement of implementation of PPY data beginning with FAFSA See more at:

13 Prior-Prior Year Income Data Since the award year, the PA State Grant Program has used the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as the State Grant Application. PHEAA will accept Prior-Prior Year data provided on the FAFSA for calculating State Grant eligibility and any Special Programs relying on an EFC.

14 Processing Cycle FAFSA available October 1, Planning the transition of policy, technical changes, communications and processing is underway

15 FAFSA Data Students will report the following information on the FAFSA: 2015 income assets as of the date of application completion household size/number in college projected for the award year.

16 FAFSA PHEAA is reviewing current practices on: Validation Special Consideration Requests Reduced Income Requests

17 Processing Cycle Current application deadlines for the State Grant Program will remain in effect. August 1 for all non-renewal applicants enrolled in a community college, BTT, HSON, designated PA Open Admission institutions, or non-transferable two-year programs May 1 for all others

18 Processing Cycle State Grant Early Estimator will be available in the fall for packaging freshmen Conditional Awards will continue to be announced in May Final awards announced with passage of the Commonwealth budget

19 Communication Cycle Acceleration of communications to schools and students Web and print media updates Access Partners activity changes

20 Potential SG Changes Schools verified high school graduation requirement in the early years of the State Grant program. Consideration being given in returning this function to schools beginning with academic year.

21 SG Award History

22 State Grant Advisory Committee State Grant Advisory Committee meets October 2015 and February, March, and April of 2016 Consider and suggest recommendations for programmatic and policy changes for and beyond

23 IAG

24 Chafee annual award increased to $4,750 Vulnerable population in need of support services

25 SGDEPP Awards to 5,062 students in AY is the last year of the five year State Grant Distance Education Pilot Program Reviewing transition from pilot to traditional SG program Survey being distributed to all schools on distance education please respond!

26 Ready to Succeed Scholarship 3,251 awards for with 8,402 unfunded eligible applicants Average recipient has 3.62 GPA and $80,976 in family income

27 PA-TIP EFC eligibility increased to Several new programs of study added Student application deadline is May 1, 2016 School application deadline is December 31, 2015

28 PA Student Aid Guide

29 FAFSA Completion Initiative FAFSA Completion Initiative is a presidential initiative promoted by USDE in which PA participates Provides FAFSA completion data to Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) and other designated entities Data elements include: Name, date of birth, zip code, FAFSA submission and processing date, completion status

30 High School Initiatives PHEAA will continue to send Certificates of Merit to the top 5,000 scorers on SAT/ACT tests. SAT cutoff is 2040 and ACT is 31. Funding Your Future brochures sent to ~ 85,000 high school seniors in December. Follow-up postcards to non-fafsa filers in March 2016

31 Other Web Resources

32 Questions? Comments? Christine Zuzack