1 SSACI Processing Guide ISFAA Winter Conference 2009 December 7, 2009

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SSACI Processing GuideSSACI Processing Guide

ISFAA Winter Conference 2009ISFAA Winter Conference 2009

December 7, 2009December 7, 2009

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AgendaAgenda

• SSACI processing rules as they pertain to:– Edits– Change of College Choice– Professional Judgments

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EditsEdits

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EditsEdits

• During the first week in February, SSACI begins daily downloads from the CPS of FAFSA transactions for students who list Indiana (IN) as their state of residence

• Those students who have edits on their FAFSA will be placed into Edit status with SSACI (APED), and related edit codes will be placed on their record

• If the student does not list Indiana, SSACI will not receive their FAFSA

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SSACI Edits (24 total edits)SSACI Edits (24 total edits)These edits are in three categories: Non-Correctable (NC), Correctable by Student (CS)

and Correctable by the College (CC)

• (CS, CC) 00 – Important; Please read (Student has 5 or more edits)• (NC) 01 - Late application/FAFSA received after March 10 deadline• (CS, CC) 02 - Not an Indiana resident; Independent student or parent(s) of a

dependent student• (CS) 03 - Not a first-time undergraduate**• (NC) 04 - Four (4) years of SSACI aid already used• (CS, CC) 05 - FAFSA is incomplete/PC and or/EFC cannot be calculated• (CS,CC) 06 - FAFSA birth date is invalid or incorrect• (CS, CC) 08 - High School diploma/GED not received before college enrollment• (CS,CC) 11 - Not a U.S. Citizen, registered alien or eligible non-citizen• (CS, CC) 12 - No schools listed on the FAFSA• (CS, CC) 13 - Only SSACI ineligible schools listed on the FAFSA• (CS, CC) 14 - FAFSA or SAR not signed by student• (NC) 16 - 21st Century Scholar drug-free pledge violation

** SSACI looks at 8 data elements to determine is student is not a first-time undergraduate

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SSACI Edits (continued)SSACI Edits (continued)

• (CS, CC) 17 - Default on federal student loan or overpayment• (CC) 18 - Professional judgment: Dependency status change• (CC) 19 - Professional judgment: PC/EFC change• (CS, CC) 20 - Social Security Administration could not validate

SSN/date of birth/name• (CS, CC) 21 - Not eligible for award at Contract for Space school

due to home location• (CS, CC) 22 - Mailing address is not IN• (CS, CC) 23 - Missing/invalid parent SSN• (NC) 24 - 21st Century Scholar failure to fulfill filing or

matriculation requirements• (CS, CC) 25 - FAFSA or SAR not signed by parent• (CS) 26 - Edit 05 cause might be missing parent data: Special

Circumstances Flag = 1• (CS, CC) 27 - Edits were cleared after the edit correction deadline

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Change of College ChoiceChange of College Choice

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• SSACI calculates a student’s award at the first SSACI-eligible college choice on the FAFSA

• For students filing electronically:– SSACI will load the first six (6) SSACI-eligible colleges– If your school is 7-10, you will not be able to view the student via

eStudent• Students will need to move you up into their top six choices

• For students filing a paper FAFSA– SSACI will load the first four (4) SSACI-eligible colleges,– Students will need to update their SAR

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College of Choice ChangeCollege of Choice Change

• Changes of college choice may be impacted by certain factors:

– Who the change was made by:• School• SSACI• Student

– What the change was for:• Professional Judgment

– When the change is received at SSACI:• eStudent vs. CPS

– Where/How the change occurred:• CPS• eStudent• GRADS (SSACI Internal Database)

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Change of College Choice Change of College Choice

• (1) A school that submits a transaction for a student that contains a PJ or Dependency Override will become the “current” institution for the student

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• (2) If a school submits a CPS transaction which does not contain a PJ or Dependency Override SSACI will make their institution the "current institution" for the student unless the preceding school change was:– submitted by the student via eStudent; or– made by a SSACI staff member

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• (3) If a school is the "current institution" for the student as a result of one of the preceding actions, the following will not change their "current institution" status:– a subsequent CPS transaction submitted by student or CPS

but the following will change a student’s "current institution" status:– subsequent CPS transaction submitted by a different school;– school change submitted via eStudent (by either student or any

school); or– Any school change made by a SSACI staff member

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Source of School Choice Stored in GRADS Currently Source of New TransactionDoes SSACI Change School Choice?

Student – via eStudent School, student, CPS No

SSACI School, student, CPS No

School – via CPS or eStudent School Yes

School – via CPS or eStudent Student, CPS No

Student – via CPS School, student, CPS Yes

CPS School, student, CPS Yes

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Professional JudgmentProfessional Judgment

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Coding Professional JudgmentsCoding Professional Judgments

• Professional Judgments (PJs) for extenuating family circumstances are identified by colleges on the FAFSA by marking the appropriate box in the software submitting to the CPS. SSACI receives the information indicating the college has created a PJ for the student.

• If the college mistakenly does not mark the box or mistakenly does not adjust the FAFSA data as they intended, an award calculation could take place on a transaction the college did not intend for SSACI to use. Therefore, the college must then take additional steps, resulting in time delays, to set back with the CPS the FAFSA to its original state and start the PJ process anew.

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Coding Professional JudgmentsCoding Professional Judgments

• Once SSACI receives the data from the CPS on the PJ, the student’s FAFSA file is coded as SSACI Edit 18 or 19. The student can receive an award offer. However, SSACI does not take all PJs into consideration when calculating eligibility for state grant funding (state grant funding dollars are more limited in comparison to federal dollars available). Therefore, SSACI places the student’s file with Edit codes 18 or 19 in a “WAIT” status and an additional step* must be conducted by the college before the student’s award may be claimed during the reconciliation phase of the state grant awarding process.

*Additional step: The college supplies a response code to SSACI identifying if the PJ is one SSACI will or will not accept so the correct

calculation for the state grant will be made.

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Not Acceptable PJ ReasonNot Acceptable PJ ReasonResponse Code 99Response Code 99

• Marriage, Divorce or Separation after filing the FAFSA• Increase in dependents or additional family members occurring after FAFSA

is filed• Changes in employment during base year or current year• Changes in business and/or farm value, or assets after filing the FAFSA• Decrease or Increase of income after filing the FAFSA• Cost of private grade school, middle school, or high school• Windfall income due to early retirement, severance or bonus pay• Costs associated with elective home improvement• Cost for elective medical procedures

• Please Note: Necessary corrections are not considered PJs and therefore should be made with the CPS and do not need SSACI approval (e.g. Parents are separated or divorced at the time of FAFSA completion but may have filed a joint tax return and therefore originally supplied FAFSA information for both parents may be adjusted without needing additional clearance through SSACI)

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Professional Judgment CodesProfessional Judgment Codes• Edit 18

– Dependency Override

Acceptable for SSACI• 01-Irreparable breakdown of the

family• 02-Death of sole supporting

parent• 03-Other, unique circumstances

previously

Not Acceptable for SSACI• 99-Does not qualify for

dependency override for SSACI purposes

• Edit 19– PC/EFC change

Acceptable for SSACI• 51-Medical/Dental expenses that

are in excess of amounts that can be deducted from income

• 52-Death of a parent• 53-Uninsured expenses resulting

from loss or damage to home or car• 54-Insurance payments received

from loss or damage to home or car• 55-Other, unique circumstances

previously discussed with SSACI• 56-Parents, verifiably in college

Not Acceptable for SSACI• 99-Does not qualify for PC/EFC

override for SSACI purposes

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Two Methods of Coding PJs to Two Methods of Coding PJs to SSACISSACI

• xGrads (Since two academic years overlap beginning in the second semester each year, and xGrads was not designed to allow two years’ worth of PJs to be resolved, xGrads does not make the more recent year PJ students available to be resolved until after state awards begin to be produced by SSACI for the recent year)

• Uploading an electronic file to SSACI to clear the PJ

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Professional Judgment Professional Judgment Action via xGradsAction via xGrads

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Professional Judgment Action Via Professional Judgment Action Via Uploading a FileUploading a File

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Professional JudgmentProfessional Judgment

• Multiple PJs– When situations occur that warrant multiple

PJs, one which SSACI will accept, and one that SSACI will not

• Process the PJ for the SSACI ACCEPTABLE reason first;

• Next, process the PJ for the NON-ACCEPTABLE reason

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As an example…….As an example…….

Family Situation

• The family of a dependent student has dental expenses in excess of what can be deducted from income……….

• ……..but the student’s father has lost employment in the current year.

Steps a college must take

• Process a transaction to the CPS with a PJ flag for the dental expenses

• Once the student’s file arrives at SSACI, clear the WAIT status by coding the PJ reason as 51

• Next, process a transaction to the CPS with a PJ flag for the loss of employment

• Again, once the transaction arrives at SSACI, the student’s file will be placed into WAIT status

• Code the PJ reason for this transaction as 99

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Utilizing Specific Transactions for Utilizing Specific Transactions for PJsPJs

• Many times, a school wishes to use PC/EFC from a transaction that differs from the one SSACI is using to calculate an award

• In this situation, the school will need to recreate and submit a transaction to the CPS that mirrors the information that existed in the transaction they wish to be applied for calculating the student’s award

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PJs Initiated by Another SchoolPJs Initiated by Another School

• PJs that are setup by one school will be inactivated with SSACI if the student’s first college choice changes to a new school

• If the new school wishes to conduct professional judgment on the student, they will need to flag and submit a transaction as a PJ, then code appropriately with SSACI

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PJs initiated by another schoolPJs initiated by another school

• Transactions coming from a school that are flagged as a PJ will make that school the student’s #1 college choice with SSACI

Documents

1 SSACI Processing Guide ISFAA Winter Conference 2009 December 7, 2009