The Common Origination & Disbursement System Award Year 2015-2016
Wood Mason U.S. Department of Education Federal Student Aid Atlanta, GA 770.383.9662 wood.mason@ed.gov 2
The COD Release for Award Year 2015-2016 was Implemented On March 29, 2015 3
Agenda New Award Year Setup for Award Year 2015 2016 COD edit modifications Direct Loan Rebuild File modifications New Subsidized Usage Limit Applies (SULA) screens SULA Inquiry/SULA Calculator New XML Schema 4.0b For Award Year 2015-2016 Data New tags New system-generated response New Student Eligibility Tag New codes 4
Agenda - Continued COD Modifications to comply with changes to the Direct PLUS Loan Program Changes to adverse credit criteria Credit check window of validity extended from 90-days to 180-days New Direct PLUS Loan Counseling Requirement Credit Requirements Met Tag COD Web screens 5
New Award Year Setup 2015-2016 6
Included the normal changes that occur from one award year to the next The award year designator changed from 15 to 16 System-generated files Master Promissory Note IDs Agreement To Serve IDs Direct Loan award IDs System-generated responses in XML Schema 4.0b Common Record responses (CRRS) returned in same XML Schema as submission COD award year specific options will increment one year 7
The Funding Method is Advance Funded Pell Grant and TEACH Grant Programs remain records first Accepted actual disbursement data establishes and/or increases your Current Funding Level (CFL) Direct Loan schools NOT on heightened Cash Management receive an initial CFL Early reporting schools received theirs the week of April 6 Other schools will receive their CFL in June CFL bump comes in November Request a bump via COD 8
Things You Need To Check 9
The dates in the red windows are incremented one year with the New Award Year Setup COD for Award Year 2015-2016
Modified Four (4) COD Edits 12
COD Reject Edit Code #050 (Disbursement Date Outside Allowable Window) Previously triggered ONLY at the disbursement level Now triggers at the award level as well on Origination and maintenance submissions Prevents an active disbursement (Actual or Anticipated) from falling more than 10 days before, or more than 180 days after, the Financial Award Begin/ End Date Will not trigger on an inactivated ($0) disbursement 13
COD Reject Edit Code #147 (Identifier inconsistency for PLUS Award for Graduate/Professional Student) Reinstated with implementation and will trigger On origination, if either the DOB change tag or the Last Name change tag is submitted in the borrower block, and the equivalent change tags are not submitted in the student block On maintenance (change record), if the SSN change tag, DOB change tag, or Last Name change tag is submitted in the borrower block, and the equivalent change tags are not submitted in the student block 14
COD Reject Edit Code #205 (Payment Period Start Date is Outside the Award Begin and End Dates) Maintenance submissions only Allows a school to adjust loan period begin/end dates without changing the Payment Period Start Date (PPSD) Will not trigger at the disbursement level When the disbursement = $0 and the disbursement date is outside the loan period Will trigger if the disbursement is not $0 or increased from $0 and the PPSD falls outside the Loan Period Will not trigger at the award level If a change to the Loan Period Begin/End Date and the PPSD falls outside the Loan Period and the $0 disbursement is outside the Loan Period 15
COD Reject Edit Code #996 (Invalid Value) Now allows a school to adjust a loan period to exclude payment periods where the student was NOT in attendance and the loan period originally crossed over two (2) award years All award years No longer returned on the Financial Award Begin Date tag when the Financial Award Begin Date is changed to fall after the allowable begin date No longer returned on the Financial Award End Date tag when the Financial Award End Date is changed to fall before the allowable end date 16
Direct Loan Rebuild File 17
COD will update the Direct Loan Rebuild File Anticipated disbursements will be removed from the Origination record and added to the Disbursement record The current Disbursement Release Indicator field will indicate actual or anticipated disbursement data SULA data fields that already exist on the Disbursement record will now be associated with both anticipated and actual disbursements Payment Period Start Date Program CIP Code Enrollment Status 18
SULA Inquire/Calculator Screen 19
20 COD for Award Year 2015-2016
XML Schema 4.0b 21
All award year 2015 2016 Common Record documents must be sent using XML Schema Version 4.0b Award year 2015 2016 Common Record responses will be returned in XML Schema Version 4.0b System-generated, and Web Activity, responses for ALL award years will be returned in XML Schema Version 4.0b 100% XML Schema Validation will remain in effect 22
COD Common Record XML Schema Version 4.0b incorporates several COD system changes of significance Identify transmitting Software Student Eligibility tag replaces the Ability To Benefit tag New codes and valid values New tags to support new PLUS counseling requirement Electronic Announcement dated November 21, 2014 has all the details on XML Schema Version 4.0b 23
COD requires identification of your reporting Software Provider and Software Version Existing tags <SoftwareProvider> and <SoftwareVersion> now Mandatory Document will reject with edit code #218 if not submitted New <OtherSoftwareProvider> & <OtherSoftwareVersion> tags will be stored by COD if submitted but not edited Document will not reject if not submitted For example a school may process Direct Loan data via a home-grown data system but transmit the data to COD via EdExpress software 24
New Student Eligibility Tag 25
COD includes a new tag name and valid values for Ability To Benefit <AbilityToBenefit> re-named <StudentEligibilityCode> Three new Student Eligibility codes 08 - State Authorized High School Equivalent Certificate 09 - Academic Transcript of 2-yr Program Acceptable for Full Credit Transfer to BA Program 10 - Program leads to at least an Associates Degree, Excelled in High School, and met the Admissions Requirements 26
Valid values for the <StudentEligibilityCode> tag 01-Ability To Benefit Testing Completed 02-College Credits 04-Home Schooled 06-High School Diploma 07-GED Certificate 08-State Authorized High School Equivalent Certificate 09-Academic Transcript of a 2-Yr Program acceptable for full credit transfer to a Bachelor s Program 10-Program leads to at least an Associates Degree, Excelled in High School, and met the Admissions requirements 27
Modifications to COD for Changes to the Direct PLUS Loan Adverse Credit History Criteria and the New PLUS Counseling Requirement 28
COD considers an applicant to have an adverse credit history if, as of the date of the credit report, the applicant Has a default determination, bankruptcy discharge, foreclosure, repossession, tax lien, wage garnishment, or write-off of a Title IV debt during the preceding five years OR Has one or more debts with a combined outstanding balance > $2,085, and that are 90 or more days delinquent or charged off/in collection within the preceding two (2) years 29
Updated adverse credit history criteria applies to ALL Direct PLUS Loan credit checks performed on or after March 29, 2015 The result is NOT award year specific Can apply to a late Spring 2014-2015 or Summer 2014-2015 Direct PLUS Loan COD extended the expiration date on credit checks from 90-days to 180-days Includes ALL credit checks performed within 180-days of implementation 30
Borrowers can resolve an original credit decision of Denied by Securing an approved endorser OR Successfully appealing the original credit decision on extenuating circumstances AND Completing a required PLUS Counseling session PLUS Counseling MUST be completed before disbursement of the Direct PLUS Loan funds A completed PLUS Counseling session remains valid for the duration of the associated credit check 31
New PLUS Counseling Requirement 32
PLUS Counseling is a distinct and unique counseling module PLUS Counseling is NOT Entrance Counseling and does not fulfill the Entrance Counseling requirement for first-time Graduate/Professional Student Some first-time Graduate/Professional students will be required to complete both modules PLUS Counseling is provided ONLY via the StudentLoans.gov (SLG) website Schools are NOT responsible for providing PLUS Counseling 33
Credit Requirements Met Tag 34
COD sends a new <CreditRequirementsMet> tag <CreditRequirementsMet> should be your focus Confirms that all credit related requirements have been met and the PLUS loan can be disbursed An approved endorser or approved appeal AND PLUS Counseling has been completed <CreditRequirementsMet> = Y does NOT mean that other eligibility requirements have been met <CreditRequirementsMet> = Y allows disbursement of Direct PLUS Loan funds New COD Reject Edit Code #217 returned if N 35
New Credit Status Response 36
The new system-generated Credit Status Response keeps the school in the loop Carries information on progress, if any, a borrower is making in resolution of his or her denied credit decision Will include the new <CreditRequirementsMet> tag Approval/denial of an endorser/appeal Contains additional PLUS Loan credit data including but not limited to PLUS Counseling completed/date Endorsed loan amount Message Class is CRCSxxOP Identified as Doc Type CS on Batch Screens The Credit Override Response (Doc Type CO) is retired 37
Other COD Modifications for PLUS Counseling Requirement 38
COD modified the COD Website screens noted below Batch Response Screens to include the new Credit Status (Doc Type CS) system-generated response Common Record (RS), Web (WB), and PLUS Request (SP) Response Information screens to include the new Credit Requirements Met field Award Information displays the Credit Requirements Met field Added a Credit Status Request screen under the Batch Tab Latest data on the student delivered a Credit Status Response 39
A new weekly Credit Status Report identifies borrowers whose most recent original credit decision is Denied and has NOT expired Will indicate Credit Requirements Met Y or N A borrower drops off the report 30 days after Credit Requirements Met is flagged TRUE The Direct PLUS Loan award is reduced to $0 The credit decision expiration date has been reached The Reconsideration Eligibility Report will be retired Posted to your School NewsBox on the COD Web CSV format 40
Good To Know 41
42 COD for Award Year 2015-2016
School Monitoring Report Identifies processing issues Unsubstantiated Cash by program and award years POP 30-Day Disbursement Reporting* by program and award year Request Weekly to your SAIG Mailbox Posted to the COD Web SCHMONOP PDF Format on the COD Web *Reminder: Reporting window is 15 days! 43
44 COD for Award Year 2015-2016
Pell Electronic Statement of Account (ESOA) Requested via Data Request Batch or COD Web Sent to your SAIG mailbox Assists in monitoring funding/cash transactions Provides a summary of your CFL vs. Net Drawdowns Generated when there is a change in your CFL Fixed Length format PGAS16OP 45
Pell Reconciliation Report Requested via Data Request Batch or COD Web Sent to your SAIG mailbox Assists in reconciliation/year-end processing Auto-generated as part of end of award year processing and sent to schools Disbursement data summarized at the student level Fixed Length format PGRC16OP 47
Pell Year-To-Date Report (YTD) Requested via Data Request Batch or COD Web Sent to your SAIG mailbox Assists in detailed reconciliation and can be used to rebuild a corrupted database Auto-generated as part of end of award year processing and sent to schools Detailed award and disbursement level data at the student level Fixed Length format PGYR16OP 48
49 COD for Award Year 2015-2016
Direct Loan School Account Statement (SAS) System-generated on the first full weekend of each month and sent to your SAIG mailbox Year-To-Date or Month-To-Month data spread Sent to your SAIG mailbox Reflects your official ending cash balance You MUST reconcile monthly to the SAS! Composed of Cash Summary Cash Detail Disbursement Summary by loan type Loan detail, loan level or disbursement level activity 50
Direct Loan SAS Disbursement Detail On Demand Report Requested via the COD Web and delivered to your SAIG mailbox You designate the time frame Week-To-Week, Month-To-Month, Year-To-Date Disbursement level detail only Know where the money is between regularly scheduled SAS cycles 51
COD Report Reader Downloadable from the COD Website Not necessary to log in Select the COD Resources tab on the bottom menu bar Make sure you request your file in a fixed-length file format The file will be delivered to your SAIG mailbox Import the fixed-length file into the reader to display and manage Readers available for Pell Grant Year-T-Date and Reconciliation files 52
Resources 53
COD Technical Help Desk COD School Services 1.800.848.0978 CODSupport@ed.gov COD Applicant Services (Direct PLUS Loan support) 1.800.557.7394 COD Technical Reference for award year 2015 2016 Federal Loan School Support Team dlops@ed.gov 54
Electronic Announcements & Dear Colleague Letters EA dated January 27, 2015 EA dated February 3, 2015 EAs (2) dated February 27, 2015 EA dated March 20, 2015 DCL dated April 6, 2015 55
Wood Mason U.S. Department of Education Federal Student Aid Atlanta, GA 770.383.9662 wood.mason@ed.gov 56