COTOP

Overview & Training

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The Chancellor’s Office is authorized to contract with community college districts to implement

Section 12419.7 of the Government Code

AB 2347 (Chapter 937, 1982) authorized the Chancellor’s Office to act on behalf of

community college districts to collect outstanding student financial aid obligations

through participation in the Franchise Tax Board’s Interagency Tax Offset Program.

In 1991 the program was enhanced through AB 3929, to permit offset for specific non-

financial aid obligations. Districts could now recover outstanding student debts owed

to colleges such as enrollment fee, library fines, personal checks written with in-

sufficient funds, students, and other approved debts.

HISTORY OF COTOP:

Each year the COTOP program collects and returns millions of dollars directly to participating California Community College Districts

COTOP SUCCESS:

Participation in COTOP is voluntary. The program is self supporting with a 75/25 split of collections. The contract and informational documents are located on the CCCCO website:

http://extranet.cccco.edu/Divisions/StudentServices/COTOP.aspx

2016 COTOP Contract Packet (Tax Year 2015) http://extranet.cccco.edu/Divisions/StudentServices/COTOP/CotopResources.aspxDistrict Invitation to Participate (word)COTOP Contract (word) Appendix A Data Submittal Specifications - 2 pages (word) Appendix B Transmittal Document (word) Appendix C Sample of Required Notification (word) Appendix D District Codes (word) Appendix E Debt Types (word) Appendix F Data Edit Checks (word)Sample A - Data Formatting Sample (word)COTOP Questions and Answers Document (word)*Contract and Transmittal Document are due by October 1, 2015

PARTICIPATION:

Recouping 100% of Amount Owed

•Districts should be aware, the 25% admin fee is calculated on total amount offset. In order

to recoup 100% of the debt owed, districts who intend to collect the 25% fee from student

accounts should use the following formula:

Total debt divided by .75 = amount submitted to COTOP

 

Eg. $100 ÷ .75 = $133.33

Notification Requirements (Appendix C)

•Districts must attempt to notify students a minimum of 30 days prior to submitting the

student’s account for collection.

•Districts do not need to keep copies of each notification attempt; a form letter along with a

list of students will suffice.

•There are no official guidelines on how long districts must keep proof of an attempted

student notification. Districts are referred to their legal counsel for decisions on how long to

keep such proof.

COTOP FLOW

Payment

District Reject Report

COTOP DATABASE

Account Modification (add, change, delete)

Franchise Tax Board Database

District

Validate Transaction

Submit to Franchise Tax Board (every 2

days in peak season)

Reject

Accept

Chancellor’s Office

District State Controller’s Office

Offsets Offset Verify Report

30 Day Notice to Student

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• September 30• Districts receive new login password

• October 1 • The date by which signed contracts must be received in the Chancellor’s

Office for District participation in COTOP.• The date Districts can begin uploading accounts for the new COTOP year

• November 17• The last day of the year to add or change/delete new accounts• The last day to modify accounts in the current COTOP year

• December 1• New accounts sent to Franchise Tax Board

• January 4• FTB Loads all new accounts onto their system for new COTOP year• Districts may resume add/change/delete new accounts

• March 15• Ideal last date to add new accounts

Important Dates:

New passwords are sent out on 9/30/15.

• The passwords are sent via e-mail to the District Contact listed on the most recent Transmittal Document under the heading - “Contact person to receive COTOP reports and take student/debtor referral phone calls:”

• This District Contact is responsible for forwarding the password to ALL employees deemed appropriate by the district.

PASSWORDS!

Loading new accounts for COTOP Year 2016 begins 10/1/2015

• Modifications (adds, changes, deletes) to accounts can begin immediately.

• New accounts for COTOP Year 2016 will be sent via electronic delivery to FTB on 12/1/2015

• COTOP Database will be locked out 11/17/2015 through 1/4/2016.

• FTB will load new accounts to their database on Jan 1, 2016; COTOP Database will also re-open Jan 4, 2016.

• New account adds for COTOP Year 2016 are strongly encouraged to be completed by March 15, 2016. However, adds, changes and deletes may continue until November, 2016 when the system goes offline

New Accounts:

• After OCTOBER 1, take note of which COTOP year you log into

• If you are unable to load new accounts before the November shutdown, accounts can be loaded when the system is back online in January with NO negative impact!!!

• Modifications can be made the day after an account is loaded

• New accounts can be loaded anytime the system is online

• Take care which browser you use – Chrome and Firefox have been known to have issues.

REMEMBER!!!!!

Districts -• Direct phone, fax & e-mail

Terence GardnerOffice:  (916) 322-7412Fax:     (916) 324-8486Email:    tgardner@cccco.edu

• • COTOP FAQs

Student -• IVR Phone system – 1.866.810-7221• Chancellor’s website

Check Disbursement:

Monthly checks are disbursed by the State Controller’s Office approximately three to four weeks after each month-end.

Example: January 2016 check will be received in March 2016

COTOP Support:

COTOP Database Demonstration