**Custom Layouts**

## Processing Pell Grant Data -- Processing Cycles

Pell Grant processing relies on Electronic Data Exchange (EDE). Schools
exchange data with the RFMS routinely. Schools should develop data
production and transmission schedules around the various Pell Grant
processing cycles. The major processing cycles are:

-   Origination Record

-   Disbursement Record

The Federal Pell Grant Program affords schools maximum flexibility in
the timing and content of their transmissions. However, certain rules
apply. The RFMS processes school data via the Student Aid Internet
Gateway (SAIG, formerly Title IV WAN) daily, in the following order:

-   Origination Records

-   Disbursement Records

Generally, the RFMS retrieves data from the Student Aid Internet Gateway
(SAIG, formerly Title IV WAN) four times each day at approximately 6:05
a.m., 11:05 a.m., 1:05 p.m., and 5:05 p.m. (ET). The times RFMS returns
data to the SAIG depend on the volume of data retrieved. For the
majority of the time, the acknowledgements are returned to SAIG within 5
hours.

### Pell Authorization

RFMS sends an Electronic Statement of Account (ESOA) to schools to
notify them of their initial authorization. As the school reports
disbursements to RFMS, RFMS makes any necessary adjustments to the
authorization and notifies GAPS so that funds will be available to the
school. RFMS enables the Department to track a school's need for funds
as the award year progresses and adjust the school's authorization on
that basis.

The Electronic Statement of Account is a 200-byte fixed-length record.
ESOAs are transmitted by the RFMS to the SAIG on the same day they are
processed by the Department. There are no paper SOAs for 2001-2002;
instead, the file is sent in the PGAS message class. ESOAs can be
retrieved by your school at any time for a six-month period following
their placement on the network. If they are not retrieved within this
six-month period, they are deleted.

ESOAs are transmitted in batches containing a batch header record, one
or multiple ESOAs, and a batch trailer record. Descriptions of the
contents of these records follow later in this section.

Under SAIG, records are no longer broken into 80-byte segments;
therefore, reformatting to recombine transmission segments back into
200-byte ESOA records is no longer necessary.

## Origination Records

The origination record establishes a student's eligibility and amount of
annual Pell Grant award in the RFMS.

-   Origination records are prepared and submitted by schools to RFMS.

-   Origination record data is received and edited by RFMS to ensure
    that the student is eligible to receive the reported amount of
    Federal Pell Grant funds and to establish the student account in the
    RFMS.

After RFMS edits the origination data, it returns the accepted,
corrected, duplicate, or rejected values for each origination record in
an origination acknowledgement record. The origination acknowledgement
record contains:

-   Acceptance status of the record.

-   Accepted or corrected value for each data item.

-   Comment codes for corrections or rejections.

In a rejected record, all data is sent back as reported by the school.
For accepted records, the origination acknowledgement record also
contains an RFMS calculated student scheduled award.

Origination records can be updated if needed when the origination
acknowledgement record is received by the school. Changes to the
origination record which result in a reduction of the award amount may
result in RFMS generating negative disbursements. Origination award
amounts are used to verify disbursement requests. For more details, see
the Implementation Guide.

No changes should be made to any record that has not been acknowledged.

### Academic Calendar

The Academic Calendar is an academic term that is used by schools to
describe student's credit hours. It is also a field of the Origination
Record (field position 207). The Academic Calendar must be valid or
system-accepted for the Origination Record to be processed. The Academic
Calendar dictates which Payment Methodology can be accepted. The
Academic Calendar has the following values:

1 = Credit Hours (nonstandard terms)

2 = Credit Hours -- Standard Terms of Quarters

3 = Credit Hours -- Standard Terms of Semesters

4 = Credit Hours -- Standard Terms of Trimesters

5 = Clock Hours

6 = Credit Hours Without Terms

### Submitting Origination Records

#### Headers and Trailers

An RFMS submission can include one type of data, such as Origination or
multiple types of data such as Origination and Disbursement. To keep the
data in order, there is a system of Headers and Trailers.

An example is provided below:

Transmission Header

Transmission batch Header "PGOR00IN"

Grant Batch Header "#O"

Origination Record

Grant Batch Trailer

Transmission Batch Trailer

Transmission Batch Header "PGDR00IN"

Grant Batch Header "#D"

Disbursement Record

Grant Batch Trailer

Transmission Batch Trailer

Transmission Trailer

Schools using EDExpress for creating batches and EDconnect to send them
simply batch and export their data as the instructions indicate and all
the Headers and Trailers will automatically be applied when the data is
sent to Pell.

Schools using a third party software or a mainframe to process their
data can use EDconnect to send the data. EDconnect will apply the
Transmission Header and Trailer and the Transmission Batch Header(s) and
Trailer(s) to the batches. The third party software or mainframe must
create the Grant Batch Header(s) and Trailer(s).

> The software the school uses to prepare origination records should
> help it enter data in the correct origination record format. Some
> fields that can be entered in the origination record are required, and
> others are optional. The
>
> school will need to make sure the information is correct in both types
> of fields of the origination record for that student.

**Tip**: When a Grant Batch Header fails batch level edits, the entire
origination record batch is returned to the school/servicer. The Grant
Batch Header returned provides the Batch Reject Reasons.

#### Construction

> Schools must be operational for EDE Electronic Payments Service in
> order to submit Federal Pell Grant origination and disbursement data
> via the SAIG. (The school/servicer point initiates an origination
> record batch by transmitting the following):

-   **Grant Batch Header Record**: The grant batch header record reports
    > the school's identifying code numbers, output media type, and
    > processing dates.

-   **Origination Record**: An origination record is included for each
    > student reported in the origination batch. All fields applicable
    > to the recipient must be completed. No fields may be left blank
    > unless noted in the record layout.

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-   **Grant Batch Trailer Record**: The grant batch trailer record
    > reports the number of student records included in the
    > transmission; amount reported on this transmission; and the total
    > number of records in this transmission.

-   **Grant Batch Editing:** The RFMS receives each origination batch
    from the SAIG and performs specific batch-level edits. If the
    submission passes all of these edits, the batch is submitted for
    Federal Pell Grant program processing. If a grant batch fails any of
    the batch-level edits, the header record is updated to indicate the
    reason for rejection and the header and trailer are returned to the
    submitting school/servicer for corrective action. None of the
    transaction data in the rejected batch are forwarded to the program
    for processing.

The grant batch reject reasons field, positions 77 - 100 of the grant
batch header record, indicates the specific reject reason(s). Grant
Batch Reject Reasons are listed in Appendix D.

Each batch number may only be submitted once to RFMS for processing. If
the same batch number is submitted twice, it will be rejected at the
second submission. If a batch is sent twice in error at the same time,
both batches will be rejected. The batch number in the Grant Header and
the Grant Trailer must both be changed with each new batch.

All other fields contain blanks. When the RFMS finds a missing grant
batch trailer, the RFMS constructs a grant batch trailer record for the
returned batch.

During the edit process, batches are either approved or rejected. For
rejected batches, the grant header and trailer are returned immediately
to the school without the detail records. The rejected grant header
shall have the comment codes to notify the school why the batch was
rejected. Schools must resubmit the detail records in new batches with
new batch numbers after the errors are corrected. If the Pell Reporting
Campus ID number in the grant header record is missing or incorrect, the
batch acknowledgement cannot be returned to the school.

The grant batch reject reasons are specific to electronic processing and
are different from the edit/comment codes produced in Federal Pell Grant
Program processing. Grant batch reject reasons indicate errors related
to the transmission of origination and disbursement data between the
school/servicer and the RFMS. The edit/comment codes, on the other hand,
apply to all Federal Pell Grant origination and disbursement processing.
The text associated with each edit/comment code is provided at the end
of this technical reference as Appendix D.

**Origination Record Batch Processing**

Federal Pell Grant processing creates an origination acknowledgement for
every record sent, minus those transactions that are skipped due to
rejected batches. An origination acknowledgement is returned to the
school/servicer for each student record in origination record batches
received and processed by the Federal Pell Grant Program. (Origination
record batches received and processed **exclude** rejected origination
record batches.) All questions regarding these reports should be
directed to Pell Customer Service at 800/4PGRANT.

RFMS transmits origination acknowledgement batches to the network for
pick-up by the school/servicer. The school/servicer should receive back
an origination acknowledgement batch for each accepted origination
record batch it transmits. Batch integrity is maintained during
processing.

RFMS transmits origination acknowledgement batches to the network the
same day they are processed by the Federal Pell Grant Program. The
school/servicer retrieves the origination acknowledgement batches
following their placement on the network.

### Origination Acknowledgement Records

Origination acknowledgement records contain the data reported by the
school/servicer on the origination records, edit/comment codes, and any
corrections or reject reasons applied during Federal Pell Grant
processing of the origination records.

The school/servicer must review each origination acknowledgement batch
for corrections applied and for rejects; then correct the data as
required. The school/servicer corrects origination acknowledgements by
transmitting a new origination record for each student whose data
requires changes.

Duplicates are not rejected records, but should be reviewed by schools/
servicers for any problems or software issues.

## Disbursement Records

Disbursement records are used to report student Pell Grant disbursement
data to ED. They also determine and commit the amount of Federal Pell
Grant funding available to each school.

As in prior award years, each school under the advance payment method
receives an initial authorization as start-up funding. For example, if
the initial authorization amount established by the Department is
\$100,000 and the school reports disbursements totaling \$101,000, that
school's authorization will increase by \$1,000. Schools receive
Electronic Statements of Account (ESOA) for each adjustment to their
authorization, after the disbursements exceed the initial authorization.

Schools prepare and submit disbursement records to RFMS for each
disbursement made to a recipient, using EDExpress or their own software.
Each student disbursement record must have a unique reference number. In
assigning these numbers, it is recommended that schools start with
number one (01) for a student and use consecutive numbers for each
additional disbursement transaction submitted to the Department for that
student. (Note that 91-99 are reserved for ED use.)

> RFMS receives and edits the disbursement record against accepted
> origination records. If an origination record match is not found, RFMS
> rejects the disbursement record. If a disbursement exceeds the
> accepted origination record annual award or 100% of the student's
> eligibility across all schools, RFMS corrects the record by adjusting
> it downwards.

### Disbursement Acknowledgement Records

After RFMS processes disbursement records for a school, it sends the
school a disbursement acknowledgement. These acknowledgements provide
schools with an accurate and timely status of their accepted Federal
Pell Grant disbursements. With this information, schools can reconcile
their disbursement records with the Department.

If disbursement records are submitted with origination records, RFMS
processes the origination records before the disbursement records. If
RFMS rejects the origination record, it will also reject the
disbursement record. It is recommended that schools send origination
records to RFMS early so that records can be edited and problems
resolved before schools make disbursements to students.

## Printing the ESOA

The Department of Education specified format for printing ESOAs is
provided in the ESOA Print Format and Specifications found in the Custom
Layouts Section 1.

EDExpress checks the ESOA record to ensure that an ESOA for the correct
award year is printed by the correct software. If you develop your own
software, you need to implement the same check.

## Data Request Records

The Data Request record is submitted by the school to request
information files from RFMS. These files are Multiple Reporting,
Statement of Account, Year-to-Date, and Reconciliation data. The
Multiple Reporting Record and Statement of Account are sent throughout
the Award Year by RFMS automatically as they are generated. By using the
data request, schools can also obtain this information on demand. The
Year-to-Date file must always be requested by the school.

A Data Request may be sent electronically, as a file, or may be
submitted through the RFMS Web page (www.pellgrantsonline.ed.gov). If a
school submits a Year-to-Date or Reconciliation request with all zeroes
(0) in the attended campus field, the file is generated for the
reporting campus as well as all attended campuses under the reporting
campus. If a school submits a request and leaves the attended campus
field blank, the request will be rejected. If a school enters a valid
attended campus ID associated with the reporting campus, a Year-to-Date
or a Reconciliation file will be generated for that campus.

**Data Request Acknowledgement Records**

After RFMS processes the Data Request records, a Data Request
Acknowledgement record is sent back to the institution for all data
requests received.

#### Institution Data Records

The Institution data record contains changes to the school's data.

## Multiple Reporting Records

The Multiple Reporting Record (MRR) process provides information to a
school about a student's origination and disbursement status at other
schools and the amount of the scheduled award disbursed. This new
function allows schools to identify the two primary types of multiple
reporting conditions: concurrent enrollment and eligibility overaward.
MRRs may be requested at any time by submitting a data request record.

An MRR can be system generated automatically by RFMS or requested if a
disbursement record is submitted and the system detects a Potential
Overaward Project (POP) condition. POP is a process that prohibits an
eligible student from receiving more than the maximum Federal Pell Grant
scheduled award amount when two or more schools report disbursements for
the same student.

### Multiple Reporting Record Process

Schools prepare and submit origination records for eligible students to
RFMS using EDExpress or their own software. After a school receives an
Origination Acknowledgement, it may submit a data request record with a
type code of "M" (for multiple). RFMS receives and edits the MRR data
request to verify that the student has been originated at that school
and that the physical layout of the record is accurate. If the record
passes these edits, RFMS will search the database to identify all other
originations and disbursements submitted by other schools for the
students requested on the MRR. RFMS returns the data requested or
rejects the request. If the request is rejected, RFMS acknowledges the
receipt of the request and identifies the reason for its rejection.

For example:

-   If a data request record containing correct data is submitted after
    the school has processed origination records, RFMS will accept the
    record and return an MRR for every student the school has originated
    that has been originated by another school.

-   If a school submits a data request record but RFMS cannot find
    originations or disbursements to return on the MRR, RFMS will
    produce a rejection indicating there was no data.

-   If a school specifies an MRR type code 2 of "S" (for student) and
    leaves the student identifier blank, RFMS will reject the record and
    produce an acknowledgement telling the school the request was
    incomplete.

Schools are encouraged to request MRRs prior to requesting disbursements
to reduce the number of problems with POP.

A copy of the edits that RFMS uses to process data request records is
included at the end of this section in Appendix D.

To provide additional assistance in submitting data requests records and
the most effort-free process as possible, many of the RFMS edits have
been incorporated into the EDExpress software.

### Requesting Multiple Reporting Records

There are several options available to you when requesting a MRR. A
school can submit a data request created in either EDExpress, their own
software, or on the RFMS Web page (www.pellgrantsonline.ed.gov).

The requesting school must submit their data request in any of these
platforms with the following information:

-   Attended campus

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-   Multiple Reporting Request Code 1 = indicates the school is
    requesting data about Originations or Disbursements

-   O = Send Origination information

-   D = Send Disbursement information

-   Multiple Reporting Request Code 2 = indicates the school is
    requesting data for a selected student, a selected school or all
    students

-   S = Send other schools for selected student

-   I = Send students for selected schools

-   A = Send all students

-   MRR Student ID = The Student SSN and Name code is required if a
    selected student was indicated in Multiple Reporting Record Code 2,
    otherwise leave blank.

-   MRR Institution Pell ID = The Pell ID for the selected school that
    was indicated in Multiple Reporting Record Code 2, otherwise leave
    blank.

In order to ensure that you receive the data that you are requesting
caution should be used when building your request.

Most schools will be requesting the Multiple Reporting Request Code 1--D
and Multiple Reporting Request Code 2--A. This will provide a listing of
all of the school's students who have received funding from any other
school in the current award year.

A request for Multiple Reporting Request Code 1--O and Multiple
Reporting Request Code 2-A will result in a tremendous amount of data
and is not recommended. This request will provide a listing of all of
the school's students who were originated at any other school in the
current year. A student may send their FAFSA to as many as six schools
and all six schools may send an origination record and this would be
multiplied by the number of students at the requesting school.

The following are the guidelines for which combination of Multiple
Reporting Request Code 1 and Multiple Reporting Request Code 2 to use:

-   O + A Originated students for all schools

-   O + S Selected originated students

-   O + I Originated students for selected schools

-   D + A Disbursed students for all schools

-   D + S Selected disbursed students

-   D + I Disbursed students for selected schools

### Types of Multiple Reporting Records Produced by RFMS

The two primary types of multiple reporting conditions that RFMS will
identify are concurrent enrollment and eligibility overaward. In the
case of concurrent enrollment, RFMS automatically generates and sends
each school an MRR with a type code of "CE." In the case of eligibility
overaward, RFMS sends the blocking school an MRR with a type code of
"PB" and the blocked school an MRR with a type code of "PR." Because
concurrent enrollment and eligibility overaward can occur
simultaneously, RFMS produces combination codes of "RC" to the blocked
school and "BC" to the blocking school.

## Reconciliation File Record

For 2001-2002, a new Data Request type record, the Reconciliation File
record, has been added to the RFMS record layouts. This type of request
can be a request for an individual student or an entire school.

The Reconciliation file is a one record summary of the data RFMS has for
the student. This record is similar to the old Student Payment Summary
(SPS) record that was produced from PGRFMS. This record can be used to
reconcile the total disbursement amount per student with RFMS. If the
amounts do not match then there is information on the Reconciliation
record that should help to determine where the discrepancy is located.

## Potential Overaward Project (POP)

When schools submit a disbursement request, RFMS searches the database
to determine if another school has submitted a disbursement for the same
student. If RFMS finds another disbursement, the system checks the
enrollment date reported by that school and calculates the total amount
of the scheduled award disbursed. If the enrollment date at the other
school is within 30 days of the enrollment date the requesting school
has reported, or if the total Pell Grant award disbursed plus the
disbursement being requested exceeds the student's scheduled award, RFMS
produces an MRR for both schools and, if necessary, reduces the amount
of disbursement.

Using the new RFMS, schools submit disbursement records only when they
disburse funds to students and POP conditions are reported daily.
Schools now have the capability to identify possible POP problems before
they disburse funds by requesting an MRR. If schools do not identify POP
situations before disbursing funds to students, RFMS automatically sends
MRRs to the disbursing school and the other school(s) when it processes
overaward disbursement records.

## Electronic Requests for RFMS Data Batches

To assist schools in maintaining their student information within the
EDExpress software databases, the Department makes available:

1.  Reposting individual acknowledgement batches within six months of
    posting in Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG, formerly Title IV
    WAN), and

2.  A complete file of origination and disbursement data records
    processed year-to-date by the RFMS.

> To have an acknowledgement batch reposted, contact SAIG.
>
> You may send a request for the YTD electronically, via a feature in
> the EDExpress software. The request is built and sent to SAIG by the
> software. The screens showing this feature will lead you through the
> process. The RFMS picks up the request, validates the request, then
> builds and sends the requested data back to the requesting
> school/servicer through the SAIG.

**Note:** You may continue to use current methods of calling the Pell
Customer Service, or submitting a letter to request the data.

To help schools reconcile their databases with the RFMS master files,
Year-to-Date (YTD) data is available electronically. The EDExpress
software compares each student's RFMS record against the corresponding
record in your database and alerts you of any differences. The
Department discontinued sending SPS' on paper and/or tape to schools
automatically with the beginning of the 1998-99 processing year.
Instead, YTDs are provided in the media that the school requests when
they submit their requests.

The Year-to-Date records are copies of all of the data for a student in
RFMS. The YTD can be used to rebuild a database.

**Note:** All schools are required to transmit electronically.

You can use the RFMS Web page at
[**www.pellgrantsonline.ed.gov**](http://www.pellgrantsonline.ed.gov/)
or refer to the RFMS Record Layouts to populate the data request record
for submission to SAIG.

## 2001-2002 RFMS Record Layouts

The remainder of this section includes the following: 2001-2002 RFMS
Record Layouts:

#### TIVWAN (SAIG) Transmission

-   TIVWAN (SAIG) Transmission Header Record Description

-   TIVWAN (SAIG)Transmission Batch Header Record Description

-   TIVWAN (SAIG) Transmission Batch Trailer Record

-   TIVWAN (SAIG) Transmission Trailer Record

#### Creating an Origination Record and Receiving Acknowledgement

-   Grant Batch Header Record Description

-   Grant Batch Trailer Record Description

-   Origination Record Description

-   Origination Acknowledgement Record Description

#### Batch Reject Reasons

-   Origination and Disbursement Record Batch Reject Reasons

-   Disbursement Record Batch Reject Reasons

-   Data Request Record Batch Reject Reasons

#### Creating a Disbursement Record and Receiving Acknowledgement

-   Disbursement Record Description

-   Disbursement Acknowledgement Record Description

#### Receiving and Processing ESOAs

-   ESOA Record Description (Summary)

-   ESOA Record Description (Detail)

#### Printing the ESOA

-   2001-2002 ESOA Print Format

-   ESOA Printing Guidelines

-   Institution Data Records and Acknowledgements

-   Institution Data Record Description

-   Institution Data Acknowledgement Record Description

#### Electronic Data Requests

-   Data Requests: Multiple Reporting, Reconciliation, SOA, YTD Record
    Description

-   Data Request Acknowledgements Record Description

-   Multiple Reporting Record Description

-   Reconciliation File Record Description

-   Year-to-Date Record (Origination) Description

-   Year-to-Date Record (Disbursement) Description

-   Year-to-Date Record (Summary) Description

#### Importing Data to Populate Databases

-   External Origination Add/Change Record Description

-   External Disbursement Add/Change Record Description