Abstract:
A system for administering an on-line financial-aid service for a plurality of post-highschool education facilities includes a centralized computer, a plurality of school computer servers for a plurality of post-highschool education facilities and at least one user computer of a borrower. Each school computer server includes a Web-site software program providing a graphical user interface representing a Web-site for the respective post-highschool education facility on the computer network, including an address link for connecting the user computer to the centralized computer server. The centralized computer server includes a financial-aid-service software program providing a school-access graphical user interface accessible by each of the post-highschool education facilities and a student-access customizable graphical user interface for each of the post-highschool education facilities, accessible by the borrower. The school-access graphical user interface enables a given post-highschool education facility to establish an account that causes the financial-aid-service software program to enable customization of the corresponding student-access graphical user interface for the given post-highschool education facility.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/165,065, filed Nov. 12, 1999, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     The present application is directed to a system and method for administering financial-aid information and services to potential and existing students of post-highschool education facilities and/or their parents, and more particularly, to a system and method for administering financial-aid information to such parties, where the content and operation of the system and method are customizable by the post-highschool education facilities that utilize the system and method of the present application. 
     Internet users over the age of 16 in the United States and Canada have reached numbers in excess of 90-million the date of this application. Therefore, it is clear that Internet access is becoming universal. Parents and potential students are increasingly using the Internet to communicate and research topics of interest. In fact, 77% of parents polled in a recent research study by the applicant had indicated that they would be interested in obtaining information about financial-aid for post-high school education facilities over the Internet. Additionally, students are increasingly using the Internet while at college. At the time of the present application, 80% of all college students own computers and 60% of all college students check or browse the World Wide Web daily. 
     It is clear, therefore, that parents and potential students are increasingly using the Internet to research colleges as their first research stop. As a result, most colleges and universities include their own Website on the Internet, from which parents and potential students can find virtually anything they need to know about the institution. It is obvious that parents and potential students will begin to expect that colleges and universities to include a dynamic Internet site that provides financial-aid information and services to the students. 
     A problem with this expectation is that many financial-aid offices of universities and colleges do not include the substantial time, money and resources involved with creating such a dynamic Web-based financial-aid information and service product. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present invention provides a customizable Web-based solution for universities and colleges wishing to have a dynamic Web-site to provide financial-aid information and services to potential students and their parents, as well as existing students and their parents. The invention is designed to integrate with the school&#39;s existing Website and processes, and is also robust to meet evolving needs of the school and families of the students. Additionally, the invention provides numerous reporting capabilities in a down loadable or printable format to the schools, to help the schools easily incorporate and process financial-aid records obtained by the invention. 
     A first aspect of the present invention provides a system for administering an on-line financial-aid service for a plurality of post-highschool education facilities that comprises: a centralized computer server operatively coupled to school computer servers for a plurality of post-highschool education facilities via a computer network, where the computer network is operatively coupled to at least one computer of a prospective student, an existing student, or a parent of a prospective or existing student. Each school computer server includes a software program providing a graphical user interface (such as an HTML file(s)) representing a home page or Website for the respective post-highschool education facility, where the Web site includes an address link (such as a hyper-link) for connecting the user&#39;s computer to the centralized computer server. The centralized computer server includes a software program providing a school-access graphical user interface accessible by each of the post-highschool education facilities, and a student-access customizable graphical user interface for each of the post-highschool education facilities, accessible by the borrower. The school-access graphical user interface provides at least one on-line form that includes fields for customizing the content and operation of the corresponding student-access graphical user interface. Each student-access graphical user interface provides at least financial-aid information (and, preferably, financial-aid services) to the borrower that includes the customized content and operation defined using the on-line form of the school-access graphical user interface. 
     Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a method for administering a financial-aid service to a post-highschool education facility that includes the steps of: (a) providing a computer-implemented, customizable student-access graphical user interface accessible by at least one of a group consisting of a student of a post-highschool education facility, a prospective student of the post-highschool education facility, a parent of a student of the post-highschool education facility, and a parent of a prospective student of the post-highschool education facility; (b) providing a computer-implemented school-access graphical user interface accessible by a representative of the post-highschool education facility; (c) the school-access graphical user interface prompting the representative of the post-highschool education facility for content and operation entries; and (d) customizing the student-access graphical user interface with the content and operation entries given by the representative of the post-highschool education facility. 
     Preferably, the method further includes the step of storing the content and operation entries given by the representative of the post-highschool education facility in a record associated with the post-highschool education facility in a database, where the customizing step includes a step of accessing the stored content and operation entries from the record associated with the post-highschool education facility. It is also preferred that the method include the step of accessing the school-access graphical user interface by a plurality of representatives from a respective plurality of post-highschool education facilities, where the prompting and customizing steps are performed for each of the plurality of post-highschool education facilities. 
     Preferably, the student-access graphical user interface is accessible as a Web-site on the Internet and the school-access graphical user interface is accessible as a Web-site on the Internet. It is also preferred that the school-access graphical user interface includes at least one field for customizing the operation of an electronic newsletter service, a financial-aid education service, a financial-aid qualification service, a financial-aid award notification service, a financial-aid product information service, a financial-aid provider information service, or a database record-keeping and reporting service. 
     Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system for administering an on-line financial-aid service for a plurality of post-highschool education facilities; it is a further object that the system is relatively simple and inexpensive for the post-highschool education facilities to administer; it is an object of the present invention to provide a relatively seamless transition between the post-highschool education facilities&#39; Web-sites and the system of the present invention; and it is an object of the present invention that the customizations give the appearance that the system of the present invention is associated with or provided by each of the post-highschool education facilities. It is to be understood, however, that it is not necessary to meet any or all of the stated advantages or objects of the present invention disclosed herein in order to fall within the scope of any claims, since the invention is defined by the claims and since inherent and/or unforeseen advantages of the present invention may exist even though they may not be explicitly discussed herein. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the present invention provides a novel software device  20  operating on a centralized computer server  22  that is operatively coupled to a plurality of school computers or computer servers  24  over a computer network such as the Internet  26 . Also coupled to the computer Internet are a plurality of user computers or terminals  28  belonging to prospective students, existing students, or parents of prospective or existing students of the schools. Each of the school computer servers or computers  24  typically include software (typically comprising of, or generating a graphical user interface of HTML code) providing a Website for the particular school that is accessible by computers (such as user computers  28 ) connected to the Internet using a conventional graphical display program (such as an Internet browser commercially available as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Explorer). Such a Website will typically provide vast amounts of information about the school and the students of the school. The software device  20  operating on the centralized computer server  22  essentially includes two functional modules, providing two primary modes of access over the Internet: (a) a setup, maintenance and reporting module  30 , providing a school-view access, where the representatives of the schools (such as financial-aid offers) can access of the software device  20 ; and (b) and information and service module  32 , providing a student-view access, where the students can access a customized financial-aid information and services of the software device  20 . 
     Generally, the software device  20  provides a plurality of generic HTML-based templates, which can be used to create customized financial-aid information/service Web-pages for any school registering with the provider of the software device  20 . In the exemplary embodiment, the setup, maintenance and reporting module  30  is designed to allow the school representative to setup and customize the financial-aid information/service Web-pages on their own (using an Internet browser) by connecting to the Web-site access to the setup, maintenance and reporting module  30  and then setting up an “account,” or database record, for the representative school in the database  36 . Once the account is set up, the module  30  provides the school representative with Web-pages  34  that include HTML forms and links, which the representative will use to provide information regarding the representative school and used to select custom content and processes for the school&#39;s customized financial-aid information and services. The custom content and process selections entered/selected by the school&#39;s representative are stored in the database record assigned to the representative school. After custom content and process selections have been entered/selected by the school&#39;s representative, one of the modules  30 ,  32  will modify copies of the generic templates with the custom content and process selections entered/selected by the school representative and create exclusive Web-pages  38  for the information and service module  32  providing access to potential or existing students of the school and/or their parents. The school representative is provided with Internet addresses for the exclusive Web-pages  38 , which can be used to create hyperlinks on the Website of the school resident on the school computer servers or computers  24 . 
     In the exemplary embodiment, the provider of the software product  20  is a financial institution providing financial-aid products to students. The provider allows the schools to utilize the software product  20  for no charge, or for a substantially below-market charge, as an incentive for the schools to utilize the software product  20 . In exchange, the provider develops a relationship with the schools utilizing the software product. Additionally, if exclusive Web-pages include information, qualification or acquisition services for specific financial-aid products, the provider will be able to pre-load the exclusive Web-sites with information, qualification and/or acquisition content pertaining to its own financial-aid products—providing a unique vehicle to introduce the provider&#39;s financial-aid products/services to the prospective or existing students of the school and/or their parents. 
     Examples of the financial-aid information and services that can be provided in the exclusive Web-pages  38  for each school include: (a) a newsletter service (electronic or otherwise), providing periodic financial-aid newsletters from the schools to the prospective or existing students of the school and/or their parents; (b) a counseling service providing required training sessions (as is typically required by the governmental agencies who often subsidize financial-aid products) to prospective or existing students of the school and/or their parents; (c) a financial-aid qualification or pre-qualification service that allows prospective or existing students of the school and/or their parents to apply for qualification or pre-qualification for certain financial-aid products; (d) a financial-aid award notification service providing the school with automated electronic (or otherwise) financial-aid award notification tools from which the school has the capability of easily notifying prospective or existing students of the school and/or their parents that they have been awarded or qualify for financial-aid; (e) a financial-aid provider information/selection service that allows prospective or existing students of the school and/or their parents to review and compare information regarding financial-aid products/services from a plurality of providers, and even select specific financial-aid products/services; and (f) a database record-keeping and reporting service that allows schools to access, download and review data, collected by the software device  20 , concerning activities conducted by prospective or existing students of the school and/or their parents on the exclusive Web-pages  38  for the school. The above list is only an exemplary list of financial-aid information and services that can be provided by the exclusive Web-pages  38  and the software product  20 ; and it is within the scope of the invention that other types of information and services may be provided by the exclusive Web-pages  38  and/or software product  20 , as will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. 
     The following is a description of an exemplary embodiment of the software product  20 , providing examples Web-pages  34  that include HTML forms and links from which a school representative will use to provide information regarding the representative school and to select custom content and processes for the school&#39;s customized financial-aid information and services, and also providing examples Web-pages  38 , customized by the school representative, for access by potential or existing students of the school and/or their parents to obtain financial-aid information and/or services from the representative school. It is to be understood that the description of the exemplary Web-pages contained herein are is intended to limit the invention to any precise forms, but to provide examples of the broad range of forms in which the present invention may be embodied. 
       FIGS. 2-4 , provide examples of Web-pages  34  provided by the school-access setup, maintenance and reporting module  30  for allowing the school&#39;s representative set up an account for the representative school or access an existing account setup for the representative school.  FIG. 2  illustrates an example “home” page  40  including a “Register” icon or button  42  (activated, for example, as is known by those of ordinary skill, by placing a cursor or pointer over the image of the icon or button on the user&#39;s computer screen and then hitting/activating a physical switch/key/button/sensor on an input device to the computer, such as an “Enter” key on a keyboard or a button on a mouse). The “Register” button  42  is to be activated by a school representative for a school that has not yet set up an account with the software device  20 . The home page  40  also includes a “Sign In” button  44  to be activated by the school representative for a school already having an account with the software device. If the “Sign In” button is activated, then a username/password window will be displayed, requiring the school representative to enter a correct username and password before allowing the school representative to advance to the main menu page  46  ( FIG. 4 , described below). If the “Register” button is activated, the “Register Your School” page  47  will be displayed as shown in  FIG. 3 . In the exemplary embodiment, however, the school representative will be required to enter a temporary username and password, which is given to the school representative by the provider of the software device, before advancing to the “Register Your School” page  47 . This will keep those parties that are not proper representatives of the school from setting up a bogus account for the school. 
     The “Register Your School” page  47 , in the exemplary embodiment, includes graphical fields, menus and the like that allow the school representative to enter/select the following information: (a) the school&#39;s 6-digit DOE code in field  48 , (b) the school&#39;s password in field  50 , (c) the school&#39;s name in field  52 , (d) the school&#39;s address in field  54 , (e) the school&#39;s phone number (field not shown), (f) the school&#39;s logo, such as a bitmap image entered, for example, by cutting and pasting an image of the logo onto the proper field (not shown) of the page  46 , (g) the school type (i.e., four-year state university, four-year private university, junior college, etc.) selected from a menu (not shown), (h) the school color or colors selected from a menu (not shown), (i) a primary contact name and e-mail (fields not shown), and (j) a technical contact name, title, e-mail and phone number (fields not shown). Once successfully registered, the main menu page will be displayed as illustrated in  FIG. 4 . 
     The main menu page, which may display the school colors, school name  56  and school logo entered/selected in the “Register Your School” page  47 , preferably provides a menu  58  of various information/services that have already been registered for by the school and a menu  60  of various information/services that still need to be registered by the school. The menu  60  of various information/services that still needs to be registered by the school in this exemplary Web page includes a newsletter service selector  62 , a financial-aid award notice service selector  64 , a financial-aid product pre-qualification service selector  66  and a financial-aid counseling service selector  68 . Preferably, the software device  20  is capable of determining or limiting the types of information/services that are available to a school based upon the type of school or upon other factors. 
       FIGS. 6-11  illustrate example Web-pages provided by the school-access setup, maintenance and reporting module  30  for allowing the school&#39;s representative set up an electronic (e-mail) financial-aid newsletter for the representative school. If the newsletter service selector  62  is activated by the representative in the main menu page  47  and if the school is already enrolled for the electronic newsletter service, a newsletter enrollment and setup page  70  is displayed, as illustrated in  FIG. 5 . If not enrolled for the electronic newsletter service, the enrollment page  72  is displayed, as illustrated in  FIG. 6 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 5 , the newsletter enrollment and setup page  70  includes a menu that provides a selector  74  to allow the representative to modify enrollment information, a selector  76  to allow the representative to add or modify subscriber information, a selector  78  to allow the representative to create, customize and/or preview newsletters, and a selector  80  to allow the representative to view subscriber reports. 
     Once advancing to the enrollment page  72  as shown in  FIG. 6 , the representative is capable of initially enrolling the school for the electronic newsletter service, or modifying the enrollment information if the school has already been enrolled. 
     In the exemplary embodiment, the enrollment page  72  for the electronic newsletter service includes a field  82  for entering the first name, last name, title, phone number and email address of a contact for the representative school (which may be the representative himself or herself). The next field  84  requires the representative to enter an Internet address (such as a URL) to where students will be directed upon completing the subscription process for the electronic newsletter. Preferably, the Internet address provided is the URL for the Web-site of representative school. The next field  86  allows the representative to enter email addresses of individuals of the school who should receive notices of available electronic newsletters and copies of the newsletters that are sent to the students by the software product  20 . The enrollment page  72  also includes a hyperlink  88  that will take the representative to another Webpage from which the representative will be able to incorporate a hyperlink (Internet address) on the representative school&#39;s Website so that students can be taken to the exclusive Webpages  38  created by the software device  20  after the electronic newsletter service has been established by the schools representative. Finally, the enrollment page  72  also includes a button  90  to direct the enrollment page  72  to submit the enrollment information provided by the representative in the above fields and to download the information provided to an appropriate database record in the database  36 . 
     If, in the setup page  70 , the representative activates the selector  76 , indicating that the representative wishes to add or modify subscriber information, the representative may eventually be taken to a page  92 , as shown in  FIG. 7 , on which the representative is capable of adding a subscriber to the electronic newsletter service. The page  92  includes fields  94  for entering the new subscriber&#39;s first name, last name, email and zip code; a field  96  which the representative can indicate whether the subscriber is a student or a parent; and a field  98  in which the representative can select the subscriber&#39;s grade level. Finally, the page also includes a button  100  which, upon activation, the information entered above will be downloaded to an appropriate database record in the database  36 . 
     If the representative selects, in the newsletter enrollment and setup page  70 , the selector  78  that allows the representative to create, customize and/or preview the newsletters, the representative may be taken to a page  102 , shown in  FIG. 8 . This page  102  provides a plurality of newsletters for which the representative can customize the content or distribution operations. The page  102  includes a plurality of fields arranged in columns: a delivery date column  104 , a newsletter subject column  106 , and a newsletter status column  108 . The newsletter subject column  106  includes the title of each electronic newsletter that may be sent by the program  20 , where the title is a selector  110  by which the representative can be directed to a page  111  (see  FIG. 9 ) that allows the representative to customize the content and distribution operation of the particular newsletter selected. The newsletter status column  108  provides a plurality of fields  112  that the representative can activate to direct whether the newsletter will be sent to the selected recipients on the stated delivery date or whether the newsletter will not be sent at all. 
     As shown in  FIG. 9 , if the representative wishes to customize the content and distribution operations of a particular newsletter, the representative will be taken to the Webpage  111 . The Webpage  111  includes a field  114  that allows the representative to modify or type-in a newsletter subject for the newsletter; a field  116  that allows the representative to indicate what recipients are to receive this electronic newsletter (in the exemplary embodiment, the representative can select between college freshmen and/or college sophmores); and a field  118  into the which the representative can enter customized text that would appear within the newsletter. The Webpage  111  also identifies the delivery date  120  for the newsletter and static newsletter content  122 . Finally, the Webpage  111  includes a button  124  that the representative can activate that will direct the customizations made above to be stored in the appropriate database record in the database  36 . 
     In the exemplary embodiment, once the button  124  is selected, indicating that the representative wishes to store the customizations made within the Webpage  111 , the program  20  will display a Webpage  126 , as shown in  FIG. 10 , which displays for the representative how the customized newsletter will appear to the recipients. As shown in  FIG. 10 , the Webpage  126  shows that the subject was customized to read “cool stuff you should know” and that the representative added the custom text “custom content.” 
     If, in the setup page  70 , the representative activates the selector  80  indicating that the representative wishes to review subscriber reports, the program  20  will be able to compile various reports for the representative based upon subscriber and newsletter information stored in the database record associated with the representative school. This data can be formulated to be displayed on a Webpage or to be downloaded for viewing or processing by the school.  FIG. 11  provides an example Website  128  illustrating a report that displays the number of newsletter subscribers by grade level. 
       FIGS. 12-14  illustrate example Webpages provided by the school-access setup, maintenance and reporting module  30  for allowing the school&#39;s representative to setup a financial-aid counseling service for the representative school. If the financial-aid counseling services selector  68  is activated by the representative in the main menu page  47  and if the school is not enrolled for the counseling service, the enrollment page  130  is displayed, as illustrated in  FIG. 12 . 
     The financial-aid counselor enrollment page  130  will include a field  132  into which the representative can enter contact information for the individual who will be managing the financial-aid counseling service. The next field  134  is for the representative to provide an Internet address directing the program  20  where to direct Internet browsers after they have completed a counseling session. Field  136  allows the representative to select how the school will be notified that a student had successfully completed a counseling session. Such selections include: (a) adding the student&#39;s name to an electronic roster stored on the database  36 , (b) requiring the students to print out a certificate at their computer which will be submitted to the school, (c) notification to the school by email, or (d) a combination of any or all of the above. Other fields provided by the Website  130  include a field  138  to indicate if the school participates in a certain loan program or programs, a field  140  where the representative can direct the students where to send paper certificates of counseling session completion; a field  142  where the representative will provide an email address to which email notification of student&#39;s counseling session completions will be sent. 
       FIG. 13  provides an additional financial-aid counselor enrollment Website  144  this page  144  includes a field  146  from which the representative can select the testing procedure to test whether students have adequately reviewed the required financial-aid counseling materials. This field can indicate, for example, that the test are to be administered at the end of the counseling session, during the counseling session or not at all. This Webpage  144  also includes a button  148  that the representative will activate to direct the program  20  that all of the customizations entered on Webpage  130  and  144  are to be utilized for that school. Such customizations selected/or entered by the representative will be stored in the appropriate database record in the database  36 . 
       FIG. 14  provides an example of a Website  146  that allows the representative to customize specific counseling information accessible by the students during counseling sessions. This page  146  will include a field  148  into which the representative can enter customized text for the particular counseling session and a field  150  that allows the representative to specify where the customized text is to appear within the static information for the counseling session. The page  146  will also include a button  152  that the representative will activate once satisfied with the customizations made above. Once the button  152  is activated, the program  20  will store the customizations in the appropriate database field in the database  36 . 
       FIG. 15  illustrates an example Webpage provided by the student-access information and service module  32  that allows students to access and review required financial-aid counseling information over the Internet. This page  154  preferably displays the school colors, school name  156  and school logo  158  entered/selected in the “register your school” page  47  by the school representative. The page  154  also preferably includes a “progress meter” graphic  160  that illustrates to the student how much of the counseling program the student has satisfied to that point. In the present example Webpage  154 , a test question  162  is illustrated to test the student&#39;s knowledge of the financial-aid counseling information reviewed previously. The program  20  is designed to provide such a test to the students to certify that the students have adequately reviewed the financial-aid education materials. The program  20  is also configured to provide notification to the students&#39; schools to inform the schools whether or not the students have passed or failed the test. The test results may also be stored in the database  36 , which is accessible by the appropriate school representative for download or review. 
       FIG. 16  illustrates an example Webpage  164  provided by the school-access setup, maintenance and reporting module  30  for allowing the school&#39;s representative to setup a loan pre-approval enrollment application for prospective borrowers to access and fill-out via the student-access information and service module  32 . This Webpage  164  includes a field  166  for the representative to enter the relevant information for a contact person at the school; a field  168  from which the representative can select a preferred guarantor or originator; a field  170  where the representative can provide a computer network address where the student-access information and service module  32  will route the borrowers when the pre-approval form has been filled out; a field  172  from which the representative can select the operation for notifying the prospective borrowers of their approval or denial status; and a field  174  from which the representative can select a desired application/certification processing method. The first processing method directs the program  20  to sent the prospective borrower a pre-printed application with instructions to complete, sign and return to the preferred guarantor/originator once the prospective borrower has filled out the on-line application. From there, the school will certify the loan electronically. The next selectable processing method directs the program to inform the prospective borrower via electronic notification that the school will initiate the application process, where the school will send the preferred guarantor/originator the application information entered by the prospective borrower during the online application process. From there, the school will certify the loan electronically, while the guarantor/originator will mail a preprinted loan application to the prospective borrower for their review and signature. The last processing option requires that the program  20  send the prospective borrower a preprinted application with instructions to complete, sign and return the application to the school. The school will certify the loan and then forward the paper application to the preferred guarantor/originator for additional process. 
       FIG. 17  provides an example Website  176  provided by the student-access information and service module  32  for allowing a prospective borrower to fill out an online application form  178 . Note that this Website  176  preferably includes school colors, a school name  180  and school logo  182  entered/selected in the “register your school” page  47  by the school representative during the registration process described above.  FIG. 18  provides an example email notification to the prospective borrower indicating that the prospective borrower has been approved for the loan and  FIG. 19  provides an example Webpage provided by the student-access information and service module  32  that indicates the prospective borrower has been pre-approved for the loan applied for in the Webpage  176 . 
       FIGS. 20-21B  illustrate example Webpages provided by the school-access setup, maintenance and reporting module  30  for allowing the school&#39;s representative to set up a financial-aid award notice service for the representative school. If the financial-aid award notice service selector was activated by the representative in the main menu page  47  the enrollment page  184  will be displayed as illustrated in  FIG. 20  for the representative to complete. The enrollment page  184  includes a field  186  into which the representative can enter the necessary contact information for the individual of the school who will be managing the electronic award service; a field  188  into which the representative can provide an email for students to use for award questions; a field  190  asking the representative whether or not a student should be sent and email reminder if the student had not accessed their electronic award; a field  192  from which the representative can select how many days should pass between the electronic award and the above reminder if the above reminder is selected; a field  194  into which the representative can provide a network address for students to access the Website of the school from the award notification; a field  196  asking the representative whether or not a link should be provided on the award notification to a Stafford Loan Application if the student is awarded a Stafford loan; and a filed  198  asking whether or not the representative wishes a link to be provided to an online PLUS pre-approval application if the student is awarded a federal PLUS loan in the award statement. Finally, a button  200  is provided for activation by representative when the above fields have been entered in and/or selected. 
       FIGS. 21A and 21B  illustrate an example Webpage provided by the school-access setup, maintenance and reporting module for allowing the schools representative to customize the look and feel of an electronic award notification that will be either transmitted to the student by email or made available to the student for access on the centralized computer server  22 . The Webpage  202  includes a plurality of boxes  204  for activation or for selection or deselection by the representative. Each box pertains to a specific portion of the electronic award notification. For example, box  1  pertains to the reward header information, box  2  pertains to the school address, box  3  pertains to the award letter information, box  4  pertains to the introduction text to the award, etc. If the box  204  is activated, then the award notification will include this section and if the box is not activated then the electronic award will not include the associated section. Additionally, each section includes a selector or hyperlink  206  that will take the school representative to a Webpage for modifying the content, look and feel of the information provided by the particular section. 
       FIG. 22  provides an example email notice  206  from the centralized computer server to the user computer  28  indicating to the user that the student&#39;s financial-aid application has been reviewed and the financial-aid provided is listed on an electronic award letter, which is located on the centralized computer server and accessible by the student activating the hyperlink  208 . 
       FIG. 23  provides and example Webpage  210  illustrating the student&#39;s electronic awards notification information in a format as specified by the school representative who completed the customization form provided in the Website  202  ( FIGS. 21A and 21B , described above). 
     Following from the above description and summaries, it should be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that, while the apparatuses and processes herein described constitute exemplary embodiments of the present invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to these precise apparatuses and processes, and that changes may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the claims. Additionally, it is to be understood that the invention is defined by the claims and it is not intended that any limitations or elements describing the exemplary embodiments herein are to be incorporated into the meaning of the claims unless such limitations or elements are specifically listed in the claims.