Presented by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission

Adapted from presentations given by the

U.S. Department of Education at the

2014 FSA Training Conference

FAFSA® and Application

Processing System Update

Agenda

• New FAFSA resources

• Scheduled enhancements for January 1, 2015

• Planned changes for April, 2015

• Important dates

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New FAFSA resources

3

The FAFSA Process

4

Who’s My Parent?

5

The IRS Data Retrieval Tool

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Scheduled enhancements for

January 1, 2015

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Foster Care Youth

Issue: Legislation now requires the FAFSA to ask applicants if they’ve

ever been in foster care.

Solution: A new question will display in FAFSA on the Web, and students

who answer “Yes” will receive messaging about potential resources

available to them.

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Foster Care Youth (Cont’d)

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Foster Care Youth (Cont’d)

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Foster Care Youth (Cont’d)

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Freely Associated States

Issue: Students from the Freely Associated States often use a new

pseudo-SSN each year. This became problematic with the

implementation of Pell LEU.

Solution: FSA will provide guidance to returning students who are from the

Freely Associated States to use the pseudo-SSN already assigned

to them when they complete the FAFSA in subsequent years.

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Freely Associated States (Cont’d)

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Freely Associated States (Cont’d)

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Freely Associated States (Cont’d)

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Text Updates

Issue: Members of the financial aid community have identified specific FAFSA

questions that are particularly troublesome for applicants.

Solution: Question labels and help text will be modified to provide clearer

guidance.

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Date of Legal Residence

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Neither Citizen Nor Eligible Noncitizen

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High School Diploma

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Parents’ Number in College

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Question 74: How many people in your parents’ household (from question 73) will be

college students between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016?

Legal Parent

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Legal Parent (Cont’d)

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Amended Return

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If you, the parent(s), filed a Form 1040X Amended U.S.

Individual Income Tax Return for 2014, select Yes; otherwise,

select No. The Form 1040X is used to correct your original filed

tax return. You are not eligible to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool

if you amended your 2014 federal tax return.

Availability of IRS DRT

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Separated

For FAFSA purposes, a married couple is separated if the couple is

considered legally separated by a state, or if the couple is legally

married but has chosen to live separate lives, including living in

separate households, as though they were not married. If you and

your spouse are separated but living together, select “I am married /

remarried,” not “I am separated.”

NOTE: When two married persons live as a married couple but are

separated by physical distance (or have separate households), they

are considered married for FAFSA purposes.

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Gender

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Adding text to tell applicant that all schools

selected will receive the list of selected schools

Adding text to tell applicant students that for

federal purposes it does not matter in what order

schools are listed but it may be important for

state purposes

In Illinois, the order in which schools are listed does not

matter for ISAC programs

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List of Colleges Receiving FAFSA Data

School Selection

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School Selection (Cont’d)

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School Selection (Cont’d)

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Planned changes for April, 2015

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FSA ID

Issue: The FSA ID (username and password) will replace PIN for students,

parents and borrowers accessing FSA systems starting on April 25,

2015.

Solution: FAFSA on the Web will be updated to require users to authenticate with the FSA ID rather than the PIN.

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Introducing the FSA ID (Session #57)

• FSA is adopting the best practice of

using a username and password

instead of personal information

• The FSA ID • Requires users to enter less information (2 fields

instead of 4)

• Provides more secure access to user’s

information

• Links to PIN information during registration

• Allows users to update personal information such

as last name changes without applying for a new

FSA ID (Lifetime ID)

• The FSA ID (Username and Password)

will replace PIN for students, parents,

and borrowers accessing FSA systems

starting in late Spring 2015.

New FSA ID login

Old PIN login on Studentloans.gov

The FSA ID will modernize access for students, parents, and borrowers to FSA systems

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Introducing the FSA ID (Session #57)

Users still click the Sign In button. This directs them to the FSA ID login page. Once they enter their FSA ID,

they are directed back to the website landing page

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Introducing the FSA ID (Session #57) • Will students and borrowers be able to access their

previous FAFSA and loan information ?

• Yes. The FSA ID will allow a student or borrower to access all the

information that they can today with a PIN

• Will Customer Support change?

• The customer help desk which currently supports the PIN, will

support the FSA ID.

• Will school and other professional access to student

and borrower information be affected by the change

to FSA ID?

• No. The FSA ID is for students, parents, and borrowers to login to

FSA’s student and borrower-based websites

35

Verification – Policy (Session GS3)

For the 2014-15 award year

• Eliminated SNAP (V2) as a separate verification group

• Added household resources group (V6)

• Added other untaxed income and benefits as a

verification item

For the 2015-16 award year

• No changes

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Important Dates

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• September 2014 • 2015-16 EFC Formula Guide on the IFAP website, pending final

2014 IRS tax legislation

• October 2014 • 2015-16 SAR Comment Codes and Text

• 2015-16 CPS Test System User Guide

• 2015-16 Electronic Data Exchange (EDE) Technical Reference -

Final

• 2015-16 ISIR Guide on IFAP

• November 2014 • 2015-16 Summary of Changes for the Application Processing

System Guide

• December 2014 • FAFSA on the Web Preview Presentation

• The CPS Test System is made available

• CPS Web Applications Demo System, December 28, 2014

Important Dates

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Important Dates (Cont’d)

• January 2015 • 2015-16 Application Processing System Specifications for

Software Developers - Final

• Application launch January 1, 2015

• February 2015 • IRS Data Retrieval Tool February 1, 2015

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FSA Conference Materials fsaconferences.ed.gov

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2015-16

MAP Processing

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MAP Pilot Program for Dislocated Workers

• For the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 academic years, ISAC must give

additional consideration to the needs of dislocated workers

• The intent is to allow applicants who are dislocated workers an

opportunity to receive a Monetary Award Program (MAP) grant even if

applying later than the general pool of applicants

• ISAC must estimate an amount needed to serve dislocated workers who

file FAFSAs through the summer months and reserve dollars to serve

those applicants

• After stopping award announcements for the general pool of applicants

ISAC will continue to make awards only to dislocated workers through the

summer

• The agency will subsequently analyze student data to try to determine the

success of those students who receive grants as a result of this program

MAP Pilot Program for Dislocated Workers

• For more information:

• ISAC’s State Legislative Update, July 2, 2014

• www.isac.org/e-library/press-releases-and-state-legislative-updates/isac-state-legislative-

updates/index.html

• Public Act 098-0967

• ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=098-0967

From Public Act 098-0967 …

• The General Assembly finds and declares that it is an important purpose of

the Monetary Award Program to facilitate access to college both for students

who pursue postsecondary education immediately following high school and

for those who pursue postsecondary education later in life, particularly

Illinoisans who are dislocated workers with financial need and who are

seeking to improve their economic position through education. For the 2015-

2016 and 2016-2017 academic years, the Commission shall give additional

and specific consideration to the needs of dislocated workers with the intent

of allowing applicants who are dislocated workers an opportunity to secure

financial assistance even if applying later than the general pool of applicants.

The Commission's consideration shall include, in determining the number of

grants to be offered, an estimate of the resources needed to serve dislocated

workers who apply after the Commission initially suspends award

announcements for the upcoming regular academic year, but prior to the

beginning of that academic year. For the purposes of this subsection (e-5), a

dislocated worker is defined as in the federal Workforce Investment Act of

1998.

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Implementation of the Pilot Program

• Independent students who answer “yes” to Question 102 on the

2015-16 FAFSA -- As of today, are you (or your spouse) a dislocated

worker? -- will be considered applicants who receive “additional and

specific consideration”

• As a result, independent student applicants who are dislocated workers

(DW) will have a later suspense date than other MAP applicants

• For the purposes of MAP, a student who answers “yes” to FAFSA Question

102 on any transaction is considered a dislocated worker applicant for the

entire academic year

• Because the answer to FAFSA Question 102 could include the

spouse, schools will need to confirm that the student, not the spouse,

is the DW at the time of payment request

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GAP Access Modified to Identify DW Students

• On the “Student List Eligibility” screen, the DW fields are to

the far right of the initial view

• If the Student or Spouse DW field is “Y”, the student answered yes to

FAFSA Question 102 on one or more transactions in the academic year

• If the field is blank, they answered “no” or “I don’t know” to FAFSA

Question 102 on their transactions for the academic year

• Because DW applicants will

have a later suspend date

than other applicants, a

column for DW Suspend was

added along with the

Student or Spouse DW field

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Student List Eligibility: Filter Screen

• The Filter, Sort and Columns screens include DW options

• The Filter screen allows the user to select only those students that

are considered DW for MAP purposes by checking the Student or

Spouse DW checkbox

• It will also allow

users to

select

DW Suspend

students

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Student Detail: Eligibility Screen

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• The “Student Eligibility Detail screen includes fields that

will indicate if a student is a DW for MAP purposes

• “Y” if the applicant answered yes to the DW question on the FAFSA

for any transaction

• “Blank” if no.

• If a student is a DW and is in DW Suspense, the DW

Suspend field will be populated with an “S”

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Student List Eligibility Screen

• Two new icons have been added to assist users in

determining which DW students are in Suspense

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Student List Eligibility Screen

• The enclosed yellow question mark -- -- means that a

DW student is in DW suspense, meaning that the student

has missed both the regular suspense date and the DW

suspense date

• Because the student is

ineligible based on the

information provided, the

yellow light bulb is shown

along with this icon

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Student List Eligibility Screen

• The regular question mark -- -- identifies a DW student

that has missed the regular suspense date but has not

missed the DW suspense date

• This student is in MAP Suspense

but not DW Suspense.

• Although the yellow light bulb

appears on this record, which

usually indicates ineligibility,

if this student is confirmed as a

DW at the time of the payment

request, the payment request

will be processed

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MAP File Layout Specifications

• The MAP 160-byte file layout specifications have been

updated for the 2015-16 processing cycle

• This file is pertinent to schools that utilize the file extraction feature of

the MAP system or for submitting payment requests via File Transfer

Protocol (FTP)

• Eligibility Status File (ESF) records are identified as Record Type 7

• Payment requests, cancellations and results are identified as Record

Types 4, 5 & 6

• The MAP File

Specifications

are available in the

Electronic Tools

section of the

e-Library

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MAP File Layout Specifications

• Three fields were added to the 160-byte file:

• Field 43 DISLOCATED WORKER INDICATOR X(01);

previously FILLER X(01); field added to record types

2 and 7

• Field 45 DISLOCATED WORKER SUSPENSE FLAG

X(01); previously FILLER X(02); field added to record

types 2 and 7

• Field 46 DISLOCATED WORKER CONFIRM STUDENT

X(01); field added to record types 4,5 and 6

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2014-15 MAP

Processing Update

Second Term Processing

• Second-term claims that were submitted in early January

and subsequently held have now been released for

payment

• Results began appearing in GAP Access on January 16, 2015

• Colleges that have not yet begun submitting second-term

claims may now begin to do so

• As announced in ISAC’s January 14 e-Message, the

Monetary Award Program will not be subject to a reserve

of fiscal year 2015 (FY15) appropriations

• As a result, there is no expectation of a reduction of second and/or

third term awards

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Limited Release of 2014-15 Awards

• A limited number of MAP grants have been released from

suspended status for students whose FAFSA receipt dates

were February 28, 2014 through and including March 5, 2014

• All MAP grants for eligible students with initial FAFSA receipt dates on

or after March 6, 2014 remain in suspense status

• To allow schools the opportunity to submit payment requests

for the released records, the first term priority claim deadline

has been extended to Friday, February 27, 2015

• All initial 2014-15 MAP first-term payment requests, including those for

records released from suspense status, must be submitted by 7 p.m.

(CT) on February 27 to be considered timely

Identifying Released Records

• There is no indicator in the MAP system that identifies

which student records were released

• The suspense flag ("S") is simply removed

• On the Filter Screen, enter the appropriate date range in

the Application Receipt Date fields to create a report of

student records that meet the criteria

• For example, to identify 2014-15 records being released from

suspension, enter February 28, 2015 - March 5, 2015 in the

required fields to create a list of students who had an application

receipt date (initial FAFSA receipt date) within that range

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Questions/Comments?

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kimberly.eck@isac.illinois.gov

217-785-7139