State Grant 201“The Hard Stuff”

MAFAA Spring Conference 2014

Presented by Ginny Dodds, OHE

May 8, 2014

Content

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• State Residency• Difficult Transcripts• Award Calculation – Multiple Schools Same

Term• Distribution of Interim Credits for Awarding• Award Recalculations & Refunds for Change

in Enrollment Level• Full Withdrawal Refund

Minnesota Resident M.S.136A.101, Subd. 8

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• Meet ONE of the following criteria:

• Student who graduated from MN high school while residing in MN (must be physically attending college in MN if residing in another state*); OR

• Student who earned GED in MN after residing in MN for one year; OR

• Dependent student whose parents resided in MN when FAFSA completed; OR

• Student who resided in MN for 12 consecutive months without being enrolled for 6 or more credits in any term

(con’t)

*Restriction on distance education applies ONLY if graduating from a MN high school is the ONLY way a student can establish MN residency

Minnesota Resident M.S.136A.101, Subd. 8

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• A member (or spouse or dependent of) of the armed forces of the U.S. stationed in MN on active federal military service as defined in MS 190.05, Subd. 5c; or

• A spouse or dependent of a veteran who meets the residency requirement; or

• A person (or spouse of) who relocated to MN from an area that is declared a presidential disaster area within the preceding 12 months, if the disaster interrupted the person’s postsecondary education; or

• A person defined as a refugee under US Code, Title 8, section 1101 (a)(42) who upon arrival in the US, moved to MN and has continued to reside in MN; or

• A person qualifying for in-state tuition rates under the MN Dream Act

Minnesota Resident MN Dream Act

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Requirements:•Attend a MN high school for at least 3 years•Graduate from a MN high school or earn a GED in MN•If male, complied with Selective Service registration requirements•Apply for lawful immigration status once federal process exists (does not refer to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals)

• This requirement not yet enforced, since federal process does not yet exist

Minnesota Resident Agency Policy

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• Student who resided in MN for 12 consecutive months without being enrolled for 6 or more credits in any term• Does not have to be initial year student lived in

MN• Residency established this was is lost if student

later leaves MN for more than 1 year (unless for college, military, missionary service and still pay taxes to MN)

Minnesota Resident Agency Rules

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• Independent student who originally met residency requirement as dependent because parents resided in MN when FAFSA completed grandfathered once independent (4830.0100 Subp. 10E)

• Families not penalized for leaving MN to attend college or serve in military or missionary if still filing taxes in MN (4830.0400 Subp. 2a.)

Problem Transcripts

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• Must obtain separate transcript from each school

• It is acceptable to obtain written statement from student reconstructing history when transcript can’t be obtained due to:• Cosmetology schools only required to keep records 5 years

• School closure and no other entity holding records

• Destruction of institutional records

• Civil war in country where student attended

• Can’t use if school holding transcript due to unpaid bill• However, student copy is acceptable

• Can also accept written statement from student if transcript doesn’t contain enough information to make determination

Good Faith EffortAssigning Units

• School can make reasonable, good faith effort to assign units when transcript does not contain enough information to make accurate determination • Course work not separated by term, no start or end

date, no credits shown for any course work

• If course shows grade of ‘W’ with no attempted credits, use assumed value of 4 credits (unless all other classes indicate otherwise)

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Good Faith EffortAssigning Units

• Examples of “reasonable”• Look at other college’s web site for more information

• How long does it usually take to complete program?

• Standard period of time to complete credential for particular program

• Written clarification from student or other college

• Number of terms that would normally take place during period of enrollment

• Look at total attempted credits for period of enrollment

• Examples of “unreasonable”• Ignore, destroy, dartboard, roulette wheel

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Award CalculationMultiple Colleges for Same Term

• One eligible MN school may act as the ‘home school’ and base student’s award on the combined credits at both schools

• A consortium agreement is not required as long as both schools are eligible MN schools• However, home school must monitor student’s

enrollment at other school to determine if student withdraws or is making satisfactory progress

• No award calculation adjustment is required if both schools are in the same sector:• MnSCU • U of M• Private 4-Year• Private 2-Year

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Award CalculationMultiple Colleges for Same Term

• If colleges are in different sectors, use OHE award calculation spreadsheet for multiple campuses• Spreadsheet factors in tuition actually charged at each

campus• Tuition maximum based on student’s program

• If one campus is MnSCU campus, can only combine credits if:• Other campus is MnSCU campus (no adjustments

needed)

• Student’s total credits 15+; or

• Student has $0 PC (dependent) or EFC (independent)

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Award CalculationDistribution of Interim Credits

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Award CalculationDistribution of Interim Credits

• Federal Pell Grant requires interim term be attached to one term

• State Grant allows interim term credits to be assigned to either or both terms, on student by student basis

• However, if student is Pell Grant recipient, interim credit distribution for State Grant cannot result in incorrect Pell Grant being subtracted in award calculation

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Award CalculationDistribution of Interim Credits

• Example:• Fall credits = 11

• Interim credits = 4

• Spring credits = 11

• School attaches interim to spring semester for Pell Grant enrollment level

• Interim credits go to spring semester for State Grant

• Distributing any interim credits to fall term would result in incorrect Pell Grant (e.g. full-time) being subtracted in State Grant formula

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Award CalculationDistribution of Interim Credits

• Example:• Fall credits = 11

• Interim credits = 4

• Spring credits = 0

• School attaches interim to spring semester for Pell Grant enrollment level

• Interim credits go to spring semester for State Grant

• Distributing any interim credits to fall term would result in incorrect Pell Grant (e.g. full-time) being subtracted in State Grant formula

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Award CalculationDistribution of Interim Credits

• Example:• Fall credits = 13• Interim credits = 3• Spring credits = 14• School attaches interim to spring semester for Pell Grant

enrollment level

• School can distribute all interim credits to either term; or

• Distribute 2 credits to fall, 1 credit to spring to maximum State Grant eligibility

• Either way, the full-time Pell Grant will still be used in the State Grant formula

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Withdrawing/Adding Credits After Beginning Attendance

• No state award adjustments required after student has begun attendance in all classes

• School can have written policy to adjust awards through a certain date• e.g. end of drop/add period, end of term, etc.

• School can have different policy for different programs • e.g. day school vs weekend college

• Policy must be used for all state financial aid programs requiring adjustments• Adjustment end date does NOT have to match end date

used for Federal Pell Grant program

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Withdrawing/Adding Credits After Beginning Attendance

• If school has policy opting for award adjustments, they must be done regardless of whether award increases or decreases if they occur before adjustment end date

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Withdrawing/Adding Credits After Beginning Attendance

• When student first withdraws from and then adds credits after beginning attendance and before award adjustment end date:• Compare revised award for new net enrollment level

(don’t include Ws) with previous disbursement retained by student

• If new award is less than what was retained from original disbursement, there is not an overpayment

• If new award is higher than what was retained from original disbursement, disburse additional funds to student

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Withdrawing/Adding Credits After Beginning Attendance

• Example:• Student paid at onset of term for 15 credits• Student later withdraws from 3 credits • Partial withdrawal refund results in $100 refund• Student retained $393 from original disbursement• Student adds 2 credits• Net enrollment level = 14 (15 – 3 + 2)• Award at 14 credits is $271, but student can retain

$393 from original disbursement

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State Credits

Grant for For

Term Term

$493 15

$271 14

$52 13

$0 12

$313 11

$94 10

$0 9

$356 8

$137 7

$0 6

$399 5

$180 4

$0 3

Withdrawing/Adding Credits After Beginning Attendance

• Example:• Student paid $94 at onset of term for 10 credits• Student later withdraws from 2 credits • Beyond Pell Grant adjustment period, so no

decrease in Pell Grant from ¾ to ½-time• State Grant stays at 10-credit amount $94• Student adds 3 credits• Net enrollment level = 11 (10 – 2 + 3)• Award at 11 credits is $313, so school can

disburse $219 ($313 - $94) in additional

State Grant funds to student

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State Credits

Grant for For

Term Term

$493 15

$271 14

$52 13

$0 12

$313 11

$94 10

$0 9

$356 8

$137 7

$0 6

$399 5

$180 4

$0 3

Withdrawing/Adding Credits After Beginning Attendance

• When first awarding/disbursing funds AFTER the adjustment end date, award must be based on enrollment level as of the date of disbursement

• No further adjustments after that point

• If student has withdrawn class removed from transcript, treat as if student was never enrolled and perform award recalculation

• School can have policy to add credits after state award adjustment end date if:

• Credits would have normally been added during drop/add period and failure to originally add credits was beyond student’s control; or

• Interim credits were registered after fall term award adjustment end date and will be allocated to fall term

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Using OHE Refund CalculationSpreadsheet

• Used when:• Full withdrawal from school• Withdrawal from class takes place before term

adjustment end date and results in reduced award

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Using OHE Refund CalculationSpreadsheet

• Line A: Amount of cash or financial aid applied to original institutional charges (capped at the amount of original institutional charges)

• Line B: Subtract amount of original institutional charges school is allowed to retain according to its own refund policy

• Schools licensed by OHE subject to prorata refund policy • Others may be subject to system or accrediting agency policy

• Line C: Gross refund (if zero or negative, STOP! )• Line D: Subtract institutional share of any required

refund due to Title IV programs• Line E: Net refund (distributed proportionally among

non-Title IV aid programs except State Work Study)

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Questions?

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Where is my

face??

Where is my

face??

Contact

Ginny Dodds

Manager, State Financial Aid

MN Office of Higher Education

Phone: (651) 355-0610

Fax: (651) 797-1637

Ginny.Dodds@state.mn.us

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