# Presentation: 478712

## Session C-11

**Operational Update:****Pell Grants, ACG and National SMART Grants**
- Kathleen Wicks
- Dan Sullivan
- U.S. Department of Education

## Session Agenda

**Pell Grants, ACG & National SMART Grant Overview**
**Institution & Student Eligibility**
**Edit Statistics**
**COD Updates**
**HEOA Updates**
**Resources**

**Session Agenda**

## ACG: Eligibility Reason Code

| ACG Reason Code | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 01: HS Programs | 121,147
(38.8%) | 169,029
(41.2%) |
| 02: AP/IB | 13,840
(4.4%) | 18,286
(4.5%) |
| 03: Coursework | 176,878
(56.7%) | 223,011
(54.3%) |

*Data accurate as of  8/11/2008.*

## ACG:  Year in School

| Year in School | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 00 | 136,574
(42.9%) | 198,103
(47.0%) |
| 01 | 105,347
(33.1%) | 122,555
(29.1%) |
| 02 | 76,760
(24.0%) | 101,048
(23.9%) |

*Data accurate as of  8/11/2008.*

## National SMART Grant Statistics

| CIP | 2007 | 2008 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 01 - Agriculture | 1,609 | 1,923 |
| 11 – Computer Science | 10,292 | 10,326 |
| 14 -Engineering | 13,586 | 14,202 |
| 15 -Technology | 3,090 | 3,052 |
| 16 – Foreign Language | 632 | 749 |
| 26 – Life Sciences | 22,768 | 24,005 |
| 27 - Mathematics | 4,337 | 4,284 |
| 29 – Military Technologies | 1 | 1 |
| 30 – Multi/Interdisciplinary | 1,771 | 1,805 |
| 40 – Physical Science | 6,203 | 6,457 |
| 41 – Science technologies | 135 | 154 |

*Data accurate as of  8/11/2008.*

## National SMART Grant: Year in School

| Year in school | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 03 | 32,051
(45.3%) | 34,194
(45.5%) |
| 04 | 38,679
(54.7%) | 41,036
(54.5%) |

*Data accurate as of  8/11/2008*

## Session Agenda

**Pell Grants, ACG & National SMART Grant Overview**
**Institution & Student Eligibility**
**Edit Statistics**
**COD Updates**
**HEOA Updates**
**Resources**

**Session Agenda**

## Institutional ParticipationReviewing Self-Identified Applicants for ACG

- A special flat file is sent to the schools containing ACG self-identification responses
- File Name: 2010 ACG DATA FILE
- Message Class: ED2010OP  for 2009-2010 award year
- Student Specific information is available using FAA Access

**Institutional Participation**Reviewing Self-Identified Applicants for ACG

## Institutional ParticipationFor ACG and National SMART

**Institutional Participation**For ACG and National SMART

- All schools that participate in Pell Grants and offer an eligible educational program must participate in ACG and National SMART Grants
- No new Program Participation Agreement (PPA)
- Must review self-identified applicants
- IG audit results
- Audit of the Department’s Process for Disbursing Academic Competitiveness Grants and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grants
- Control Number ED-OIG/A19H0011

**Notes:**
Finding: FSA Needs to Improve its Oversight of School Compliance with the Mandatory Institutional Participation Requirement. Specifically,  FSA needs to establish a program of administrative action under 34 C.F.R. Part 668, Subpart G, to include fines and suspension or termination from the Federal Pell Grant program, for schools that offer eligible programs and enroll eligible students but do not participate in the ACG and/or National SMART Grant programs

FSA Action: After determining eligible schools that have not participated, FSA will send emails to identified schools and request a certification stating whether it (1) has no eligible students, (2) has identified eligible students and will send origination and disbursement records by a specified date, or (3) will not be participating in the ACG and/or National SMART Grant program(s) and will consequently withdraw from the Federal Pell Grant program. Schools with no eligible students will also be asked to indicate whether they have procedures in place to review all students who may be ACG or National SMART Grant-eligible in future award years.  

From the data collected with the emails and certifications, by the end of 2008-2009, non-compliant schools will be referred to the School Eligibility Channel and be subject  to administrative action.

## Institutional Eligibility For ACG and National SMART Grant

**Institutional Eligibility**** **For ACG and National SMART Grant

- Offers a 2- or 4-year degree program
- Program length in COD System
- 5,6,7,8,11,12 for ACG
- 6,7,8 for National SMART Grant
- See *School Information*, “General” page at COD Web site (cod.ed.gov)

## Student may not receive ACG or National SMART Grant concurrently from more than one school
The MRR will be automatically generated for all applicable schools
Student must receive ACG (or National SMART Grant) and Pell Grant from the same award year
For ACG:
HS graduation after 1/1/06 (ACG Level 1)
HS graduation after 1/1/05 (ACG Level 2)

- Student may not receive ACG or National SMART Grant concurrently from more than one school
- The MRR will be automatically generated for all applicable schools
- Student must receive ACG (or National SMART Grant) and Pell Grant from the same award year
- For ACG:
- HS graduation after 1/1/06 (ACG Level 1)
- HS graduation after 1/1/05 (ACG Level 2)

**Student Eligibility****Additional Criteria**

## Transfer Student Eligibility

- ACG/National SMART Grant Programs require award information from previously attended schools to properly award transfer students
- Calculation for eligibility used
- Where to obtain necessary information

## Determining Transfer EligibilityEligibility Used, Total Eligibility Used

**Determining Transfer Eligibility*****Eligibility Used, Total Eligibility Used***

-  **EU% = 100% × Sum of Actual Disbursements of Award ÷ Scheduled Award Amount***
**TEU% = Sum of all EU%’s at each applicable Academic Year Level** Across award years and Schools**
*** **Scheduled Award Amount is the maximum award amount by Academic Year Level and award year
**** **The COD System considers Academic Year Levels 0 and 1 to be the same when calculating TEU %

## Eligibility Used,Total Eligibility Used Example 1

**Eligibility Used,****Total Eligibility Used ***Example 1*

- A student in Academic Year Level 3 is awarded an 08-09 SMART Grant for $3000, $1250 in actual disbursements.
**EU% **= 100% × ($1250 ÷ $4000) = **31.2500%**

| Grade Level | award year | Award Amount | Anticipated Disb Amount | Actual Disb Amount | Scheduled Award Amt | Eligibility Used |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 3 | 2009 | 3000 | 1000 | 1250 | 4000 | 31.2500% |
| Total Eligibility Used (Sum of all EU's) – Academic Year Level 3 |  |  |  |  |  | 31.2500% |

## Eligibility Used,Total Eligibility UsedExample 2

**Eligibility Used,****Total Eligibility Used***Example 2*

- A Student in Academic Year Level 4 is awarded an 08-09 SMART grant. However the student’s second disbursement would have caused his actual disbursements to exceed his award amount so the _disbursement_ *is rejected with Edit 137*.

| Award Number | Disb Number | Academic Year Level | award year | Award Amount | Actual Disb Amount | Scheduled Award Amt | Eligibility Used |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 001 | 1 | 4 | 2009 | 4000 | 1050 | 4000 | 26.2500% |
| 001 | 2 | 4 | 2009 | 4000 | 3000 | 4000 | N/A |
| Total Eligibility Used (Sum of all EU's) – Academic Year Level 4  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 26.2500% |

- The student’s second disbursement would cause EU to equal
**EU% **= 100% × [($1050 + $3000) ÷ $4000] = **101.2500%**

**Notes:**
Since the disbursement would cause EU to exceed 100%, it is rejected.
The award and first disbursement is accepted by the COD system.

## Determining Transfer Eligibility

- Now that you know the calculation..... where can you obtain the information you need?
- ISIR
- COD to NSLDS
- COD

## Determining Transfer EligibilityISIR Record

**Determining Transfer Eligibility***ISIR Record*

- NSLDS data elements added/changed for ACG and National SMART Grant
- Scheduled award
- % eligibility used by scheduled award
- Total % eligibility used by academic year level
- Award year
- Academic year level

## Determining Transfer Eligibility – COD to NSLDS - data fed daily

- Award year
- OPEID
- Transaction number
- Award amount
- Amount paid to date
- Date posted to COD
- Academic year level
- Award ID
- Major CIP code

- ACG eligible payment reason code
- ACG high school program code
- Scheduled award
- Percent eligibility used
- Total eligibility used

## Determining Transfer EligibilityNSLDS

**Determining Transfer Eligibility***NSLDS*

**Notes:**
This is a screenshot of the existing AID screen.
Schedule Amount and % Scheduled Used will be added to the ACG and National SMART Histories.
It is likely that column positions will be similar to what currently exists for Pell to ensure consistency across the Grant programs.

## Transfer Student Monitoring

- NSLDS will monitor changes made by other institutions to Pell/ACG/National SMART Grants and alert the informing school
- Monitoring is across award years
- Changes made to any one of the following will trigger an alert:
- Award amount
- Amount paid to date (disbursement amount)
- Latest disbursement date

## Transfer Student Monitoring

- The alert process continues to send schools an alert email notification and the alert data via Web only or Web and Batch
- Schools designate the alert method on the School Transfer Profile page setup

## Underlying Pell Grant Requirement For ACG and National SMART

- If student has an ACG or National SMART Grant and is not a Pell recipient, the student will lose the ACG/National SMART Grant
- A special de-obligation job will be run twice in spring and late summer/early fall

## “No Pell De-obligation” Statistics

| Program | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| ACG | Schools:40
Students: 58
Total: $150,145 | Schools: 51
Students: 58
Total: $133,660 |
| SMART | Schools: 183
Students: 276
Total: $156,618 | Schools: 264
Students: 519
Total: $279,009 |

## Determining Transfer EligibilityCOD Website

**Determining Transfer Eligibility***COD Website*

**Notes:**
Talk.

## COD Web: Person Information Webpage

**COD Web: Person Information Webpage**

**Notes:**
Same applies to Pell and ACG

## Session Agenda

**Pell Grants, ACG & National SMART Overview**
**Institution & Student Eligibility**
**Edit Statistics**
**COD Updates**
**HEOA Updates**
**Resources**

**Session Agenda**

## Grade Level Edits

- Must deliberately report grade level!

| Program | Grade Level |
| --- | --- |
| ACG | 0, 1, 2 |
| National SMART Grant | 3, 4 |

## Edits 56, 58

**Preventable - for the most part!**

| Edit | Block | Message | ACG Hits | SMART Hits | Pell Hits |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 056 | Disbursement | Sequence Number Not In Sequential Order | 45,591 | 13,140 | 498,746 |
| 058 | Disbursement | Duplicate Disbursement Information On File | 32,838 | 7,419 | 352,149 |
| Total      |  |  | 78,429 | 20,559 | 850,895 |

*Data accurate as of  8/1/2008.*

## Edit Statistics: 2007-2008

| Edit | Error Message | ACG Hits | SMART Hits | Pell Hits |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 014 | Citizenship Status is not eligible for this award | 6,445 | 3,107 | 2,566 |
| 041 | Changed Award Amount Is Less Than Total Disbursements | 1,564 | 446 | 0 |
| 048 | School is Ineligible | 265 | 45 | 6,754 |
| 051 | Disbursement Date With Payment Trigger Set to True Outside of Allowable Window | 8,305 | 1,296 | 25,596 |
| 123 | Incorrect Student Level for ACG/National SMART Grant Awards | 6,481 | 2,955 | 0 |
| 994 | Missing Value | 10,557 | 1,648 | 61,239 |
|  | Total Error Messages for Program for 2007-2008 | 2,322,481 | 488,794 | 27,313,038 |

*Data accurate as of  8/1/2008.*

## Pell Edit Statistics: 2007-2008

*Data accurate as of  8/1/2008.*

| Edit | Error Message | Pell Hits |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 015 | Corrected Value Same as Original Value (Warning) | 21,065,195 |
| 024 | Reported CPS Transaction Number Does Not Match CPS | 61,785 |
| 038 | Student not Pell eligible | 34,525 |
| 039 | Incorrect Award Amount | 290,332 |
| 040 | Changed Award Amount is Less Than Total Disbursements | 19,632 |
|  079 | Incorrect Adjustment to Payment Trigger | 88,601 |
|  | Total Error Messages for Program for 2007-2008 | 27,323,038 |

## ACG Edit Statistics: 2007-2008

| Edit | Error Message | ACG Hits |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 127 | Missing Rigorous High School Program Code | 8,571 |
| 129 | Invalid Rigorous High School Program Code | 2,854 |
| 130 | Award Amount Exceeds Maximum Scheduled Award for ACG | 21,283 |
| 135 | Disbursement exceeds scheduled award for ACG at your school | 5,644 |
|  | Total Error Messages for Program for 2007-2008 | 2,322,481 |

*Data accurate as of  8/1/2008.*

## SMART Edit Statistics: 2007-2008

| Edit | Error Message | SMART Hits |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 131 | Incorrect CIP Value | 3,323 |
| 132 | Award Amount Exceeds Maximum Scheduled Award for National SMART grant | 2,743 |
| 137 | Disbursement exceeds scheduled award for National SMART grant at your school | 2,361 |
|  | Total Error Messages for Program for 2007-2008 | 488,794 |

*Data accurate as of  8/1/2008.*

## Edit StatisticsPOP Edits for 2007-2008

**Edit Statistics****POP Edits for 2007-2008**

| Edit | Message | Hits |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 134 | Disbursement exceeds scheduled award at all schools for ACG during the same or multiple award years  | 23,647 |
| 136 | Disbursement exceeds scheduled award at all schools for National SMART Grant during the same or multiple award years  | 19,205 |
| 068 | Potential Over award Project – Notice Sent Separately (Pell) | 30,312 |

*Data accurate as of  8/1/2008.*

## Session Agenda

**Pell Grants, ACG & National SMART Overview**
**Institution & Student Eligibility**
**Edit Statistics**
**COD Updates**
**HEOA Updates**
**Resources**

**Session Agenda**

## Operational Updates for ACG and National SMART

**Rigorous Secondary Programs of Study, and Eligible Majors**
- No change for 08-09 award year
- Check for update on IFAP for the 09-10 award year

**Operational Updates for ACG and National SMART**

## Pell Cost of Attendance Field

- Places a default value of $99,999.99 in the COA field
- Returns a correcting edit 993 (missing value)
- Accepts the common record
- Beginning in March 2009, the COD system will:
- Place no default value in the COA field
- Return a rejecting edit 994 (missing value)
- Will reject the common record

**Pell Cost of Attendance Field**

## COD Schema

- Currently, schema version 2.0e may be used for Pell Grant, ACG, National SMART Grant, and Direct Loan
- The COD system began to accept and process data from new XML Schema 3.0a in June 2008
- Currently, schema version 3.0a is required for TEACH Grant processing

## COD Schema

- Beginning March 2009 schools must use the 3.0b schema version for all programs for award year 2009-2010 and forward
- Schema version for system generated responses for award years prior to 09-10 may be set on the COD Web site - School Options page
- Web responses are ALWAYS sent in the highest schema version

## Recap of Schema 3.0a Changes

- Entity ID attributes removed
- Person Identifier attributes removed
- Multiple changes to Contact and Address blocks
- New TEACH Grant block
- Refer to the March 11, 2008 IFAP posting for all changes

## Summary of Schema 3.0b Changes

- 	New Counseling block added for TEACH Grant Counseling Acknowledgements
- 	New enumeration values for Agreement to Serve Status Code to include “C” for Closed. Values already returned are “A” for Accepted and “P” for Pending”
- 	Updates/Changes for future use (to allow two Pell awards in an award year):
- New tags within the Pell Award block:
- FinancialAwardNumber
- FinancialAwardID
- AdditionalEligibilityIndicator

**Notes:**
Refer to July 25th IFAP posting

## ACG and National SMART for Eligible Non-Citizens

- Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) of 2008 changes the ECASLA effective date from January 1, 2009  to July 1, 2009
- Effective July 1, 2009, COD will allow eligible non-citizens to qualify for an ACG award or a National SMART award
- COD will accept ACG and National SMART records for eligible non-citizens disbursed on or after July 1, 2009

**Notes:**
As mandated by the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008 (ECASLA) and mandated by the Higher Education Reauthorization
The effective date for this change was amended by HEA.

## Edit Changes

| Edit | Description of Change | Message | Condition |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 014 | HEOA – Updated to allow for eligible non-citizen code of ‘2.’ | Citizenship Status is not eligible for this award  | For ACG, National SMART Grant, and TEACH Grant, Student’s Citizenship Status Indicator is not “1” for U.S. Citizen or “2” for eligible non-citizen.  |

## Citizenship

- The inclusion of a Citizenship Status Code in the Person Block is optional
- If no Citizenship Status Code is provided in the Person Block, COD will pull the value from CPS
- Documentation held by the school
- Citizenship Status Code **must** be included if it differs from the value on CPS
- In March 2009, additional values from CPS will be factored into the citizenship edit (014)
*Look out for more rejects!*

**Notes:**
For example, if school has accepted documentation that student is a U.S. Citizen AND the CPS contains a different code, school must report a code of “1” in the citizenship status field

## National SMART for 5th Year Undergraduates

- Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) of 2008 changes the ECASLA effective date from January 1, 2009 to July 1, 2009
- Effective July 1, 2009, 5th year undergraduate students will be eligible to receive a National SMART award
- COD will accept National SMART records for 5th year undergraduate students disbursed on or after July 1, 2009

**Notes:**
As mandated by the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008 (ECASLA)
The effective date for this change was amended by HEA.

## Edit Changes

| Edit | Description of Change | Message | Condition |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 123 | HEOA – Updated to allow for National SMART Student Level 5.
 | Incorrect Student Level for ACG/National SMART Grant Awards  | The Student Level submitted for the award is not valid based on award type.  Valid values per award are:
For National SMART Grant: 3, 4, 5 |
| 132 |  | Award Amount Exceeds Maximum Scheduled Award for National SMART grant  | Award amount originated at a single school exceeds the maximum scheduled award for the award year.
For National SMART Grant:Student Level 3, 4, 5 - $4000  |
| 136 |  | Disbursement exceeds scheduled award at all schools for National SMART Grant during the same or multiple award years  | Disbursement amount distributed across one or more schools exceeds the maximum scheduled award for the most recent award year.
For National SMART Grant:Student Level 3, 4, 5 - $4000  |

## Session Agenda

**Pell Grants, ACG & National SMART Overview**
**Institution & Student Eligibility**
**Edit Statistics**
**COD Updates**
**HEOA Updates**
**Resources**

**Session Agenda**

## HEOA Updates

**Provides for “Year-round” Pell Grants**
- Allows students to receive two Pell Grants during a single award year to allow them to accelerate their progress towards their degree or certificate
- They must be enrolled at least half-time and be enrolled in a program of instruction at a school that awards an associate or baccalaureate degree or a certificate

## HEOA Updates

**Maximum Duration of Eligibility for Pell **
- Limits the time students can receive Pell Grants to up to 18 semesters or its equivalent for students who first receive a Pell Grant on or after July 1, 2008
- Only the percent of time that a student is enrolled will count against that time limit

## HEOA Updates

**ACG and National SMART Grants**
- Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) of 2008 changes the ECASLA effective date from January 1, 2009 to July 1, 2009
- Students can be enrolled less than full-time but must be enrolled at least half-time
- Proportionally reduces maximum awards the same way Pell does for part-time students

## HEOA Updates

**ACG and National SMART Grants**
- Students in certificate programs eligible, if program is at least one year in length and offered at a two or four-year degree granting institution
- Awards based on student’s grade level instead of “academic year”
- Requires grant awards and payments to be determined on the same basis as Pell

## HEOA Updates

**National SMART Grants Only**
- Authorizes grants to students at institutions that offer a single liberal arts curriculum leading to a baccalaureate degree but at which students are not allowed to declare a major in a particular subject area by the institution
- Look for new approved majors on IFAP

## Session Agenda

**Pell Grants, ACG & National SMART Overview**
**Institution & Student Eligibility**
**Edit Statistics**
**COD Updates**
**HEOA Updates**
**Resources**

**Session Agenda**

## Resources

**Resources**

- COD Technical Reference_[http://ifap.ed.gov/cod/0910CODTechRef.html](http://ifap.ed.gov/cod/0910CODTechRef.html)_
- Webinars_[http://ifap.ed.gov/IFAPWebApp/currentCPresentationsYearPag.jsp?p1=Additional+FSA+Presentations&p2=c](http://ifap.ed.gov/IFAPWebApp/currentCPresentationsYearPag.jsp?p1=Additional+FSA+Presentations&p2=c)__ _
- COD Computer-Based Training
- COD Initiated Activity Handout

## Related COD Sessions

| Session C-23 | COD Web for Grants (Hands-on Session) |
| --- | --- |
| Session C-12 | Title IV Funding to Schools:  From COD through G5 (For Pell Grants, ACG, and National SMART) |
| Session C-13 | Requirements for Federal Grant Programs - Pell, ACG and National SMART |
| Session C-06 | Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 – An Update |
| Session FF-12  | COD Basics |

## Slide 55

## Contact Information

**Kathleen Wicks**Director, Grant Operations_[kathleen.wicks@ed.gov](mailto:kathleen.wicks@ed.gov)_(202) 377-3110
**Dan Sullivan**Program Specialist, Grant Operations** **_**[daniel.sullivan@ed.gov](mailto:daniel.sullivan@ed.gov)**_(202) 377-3114