[ctcLinkfinaidsupport] FA Weeklyish Bulletin 08/16/2024

Fri Aug 16 14:57:31 PDT 2024

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A Financial Aid Focus
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  *   On behalf of the SBCTC Student Support Programs Team there is an exciting policy change!
     *   Effective September 1, 2024, colleges may disburse BFET support services/participant reimbursements via their established refund process. The SBCTC BFET Policy Memo<https://sbctc.instructure.com/groups/471832/files/254578164?wrap=1> (attached) is intended to guide and support colleges who choose to implement. Throughout the document current BFET fiscal and program processes are reviewed in detail. We want to emphasize there are no new processes. The processes included within the policy memo are in alignment with current BFET policy and are what colleges should already be doing. Please review them carefully and make sure you are updating your local policy and procedure manuals.
The only categories that are NOT disbursable (i.e. refunded) directly to students are Tuition and Housing. Tuition will continue to pay charges directly on the student’s account.
Colleges will continue to use in Finance their AP Check, Vendor Payment, P-Card process for Housing.
To keep things streamlined and ensure colleges have the flexibility to choose how they want to provide support services to students, the ctcLink team has created new global item types for BFET that are refundable (attached). The current non-refundable (disburse to the student account, but not directly to the student) and placeholder item types will remain active.

        *   See the attached policy memo that includes Item Type information and other resources and an attached announcement guiding colleges on how to submit new global refundable Item Types

  *   From Stephanie Casino’s 8/16 email- The 2023-2024 Unit Record layout is now in PRD!
     *   Before generating the new URR csv file, be sure to re-map your WCGBridge item type to the correct Award Category WABridge in your Awards Config set up. Instructions can be found in the Unit Record Report Processing Guide for 2023-2024<https://ctclinkreferencecenter.ctclink.us/m/92436/l/798590-9-2-unit-record-report-processing-business-process-guide> in the ctcLink Reference Center.
     *   [cid:image001.png at 01DAEFE7.E8976250]
     *   Colleges may upload their csv file to the WSAC Training Portal<https://portaltraining.wsac.wa.gov/> to address any edits prior to loading the file to the production WSAC Portal<https://portal.wsac.wa.gov/>.
     *   Note: It is recommended that the Supplemental Special Budget Process (Updating Need Duration and Cost of Attendance) steps are done after awards have been reconciled and other edits addressed.

  *   Business Processing Guide Updates!
     *   The Pell Processing Business Processing Guide<https://ctclinkreferencecenter.ctclink.us/m/92436/l/798577-pell-processing-business-process-guide> has been updated as of 08/15/2024.
        *   The guide update includes a change to File Mapping on the Pell Import step for the 24/25 AY as it pertains to the PGSM file (Pell Grant School Account Statement (Monthly Disbursement Level Detail)
        *   The Pell SAS On-Demand file option section was also removed, please only load the PGSM file when working with Pell SAS.
     *   The R2T4 Business Processing Guide<https://ctclinkreferencecenter.ctclink.us/m/92436/l/798579-9-2-r2t4-processing-business-process-guide> has been updated as of 07/01/2024.
        *   The guide updates include more in-depth information on the functions in the R2T4 worksheets in ctcLink.
        *   The State Worksheets section was archived.

  *   REMINDER!  The 2023/2024 Pell reconciliation deadline is coming up on 09/30/2024 (aka. Federal Fiscal New Year’s Eve)  If you need help with Pell recon, please submit a ticket ASAP! Important Dates | FSA Partner Connect (ed.gov)<https://fsapartners.ed.gov/more-info/important-dates>
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Query Corner
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It’s that time of the year where you are getting ready to close out the 2023/2024 AY, yes?  Here’s a helpful query! QCS_FA_FISCAL_ITEM_TYPE_BUDGET.  This query shows you FA Item Type budget balances.  It is typical that Fiscal Item Type budgets are set to 9999999.99 to allow for ample spending on entitlement programs like Pell and WCG, but what you’re looking for in these query results are Offer Net, Paid and Unpaid Offers.  Looking at Unpaid Offers will help you to determine what has been offered and what remains unpaid—does the award need to be disbursed, cancelled, or adjusted?

Tip!  If you have a specific allocation on a specific type of funding, set your Fiscal Item Types - Budgeted amount to your allocation.  Doing this will help you reconcile to ensure that you do not spend more than your allocation.  The Budgeted amount can be increased or decreased for award forecasting due to student attrition throughout the aid year.

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Financial Aid Learning Opportunities
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Calendar invites with web ex log in information already sent out to the ctcLinkfinaid list serv

Session:  Fin Aid Workshop:  Trailer Colleges Only – Loan Set Up for Schema 5.0b and 2024-2025 Loan Processing
When:  Tuesday, 08/20/2024, 9:00AM – 12:00PM
Audience:  Trailer College Financial Aid Staff responsible for Direct Loan Origination and Outbounding
Presenters:  Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Agenda:
Updating/checking Loan Fee Set Up
Updating/checking Loan Fee in Item Types Set Up
Updating/checking the Loan Fee in Create Loan Types pg
Updating the Process Loans Run Control ID parameters to 2025 AY

  *   Break from 10:30 – 10:45      -

Updating the OY Summer Include & Summer Exclude Run Control ID parameters to 2024/2025 dates and AY.
Updating the OY Process Loan Dates Run Control ID to 2025 AY.
Updating the Schema to 5.0b on the OY Generate Direct Loan Data pg.
Updating and/or creating OY Run Control IDs for your Direct Loan Reports

Session:  Advanced Fin Aid Training:  Reviewing the View COD Data page
When:  Tuesday, 10/08/2024, 9:00AM – 10:30AM
Audience:  Financial Aid staff responsible for Direct Loan processing and troubleshooting
Presenters:  Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:

  *   Understand how to do in-depth reading and interpreting the values on the View COD Data page
  *   Understand how to search for Entrance Counseling and MPN info by SSN
  *   Understand how to troubleshoot Direct Loan errors using the View COD Data page
  *   Understand where the link to the Doc ID lives on the Manage Pell Payment page and how that can be found/used in View COD Data
  *   Understand how to read the Doc ID on a raw CRAA and CRDL file

More Upcoming Sessions (calendar invites forthcoming)
Session:  SF/FA BFET Item Type Configuration Training
When:  Tuesday, 08/29/2024, 9:00AM – 12:00PM
Audience:  BFET Administrators and associated staff (Financial Aid, Student Financials, Finance)
Presenters:  Student Financials Support Staff, TBA
Agenda:  Training on learning the ins and outs of the BFET Item Types, including understanding how they apply, how to clean up and set up charge priority, what to expect and look out for, reconciliation, etc.

Session:  Loan Processing Refresher
When:  Tuesday, 09/10/2024, 9:00AM – 11:00AM
Audience:  New Financial Aid staff (and current staff needing a refresher) who are responsible for Loan Processing
Presenters:  Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:

  *   Understand the Loan Origination (Batch and Single Student) Process
  *   Understand the Loan Origination Outbound and Inbound Process
  *   Understand the Loan Disbursement Outbound and Inbound Process
  *   How to Query for Missing COD Files
  *   How to Award and Originate a PLUS Loan
  *   How to Award and Process a Private/ALT Loan

New Session:  FLF Process w/ the New Enrollment Intensity Queries
When:  Tuesday, 09/17/2024, 9:00AM – 10:30AM
Audience:  Financial Aid staff responsible for authorizing and disbursing Financial Aid
Presenters:  Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:

  *   Understand the steps in the FLF Process using the new Enrollment Intensity Queries

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Team Updates
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FA Support Team
It has been decided that there will be no FA Work Sessions for the remainder of 2024 to allow time for Aid Year Rollover planning and for Image testing.  FA Work Sessions will pick back up in 2025.

Training Team
Updates to Canvas Training courses and QRGs are ongoing and will be worked up to include screen updates from the 24/25 FAFSA Simplification.  Announcements will be made in Canvas when as the courses are completed.  This work is expected through December.  Updates to Business Processing Guides will be made as time and resources allows.

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Just for Fun!
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🎵 Please enjoy this last-century ear worm 🎵
Fun fact: it was featured in the PlayStation video game “Gran Turismo” (1998) 😊

The Cardigans - My Favourite Game - YouTube<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIdxtCmrZEs> (SBCTC does not own the rights to this music) 😜

TGIF,

FA Support & Training

[Title: SBCTC logo - Description: Compass]
Kelly Forsberg
ctcLink Functional Trainer | Financial Aid
Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
kforsberg at sbctc.edu<mailto:kforsberg at sbctc.edu> • o: 360-704-1066
sbctc.edu<https://www.sbctc.edu/> • Twitter: @SBCTCWashington<https://twitter.com/SBCTCWashington> • Facebook: @WASBCTC<https://www.facebook.com/wasbctc/>

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