verification and satisfactory academic progress
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Verification and Satisfactory Academic Progress. Jamie Malone Marty Guthrie U.S. Department of Education. Today’s Agenda. Resources Verification Regulations Federal Register Notice Satisfactory Academic Progress Dear Colleague Letter Questions?. Resources. For information, consult: - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Verification and Satisfactory Academic Progress
Jamie MaloneMarty Guthrie
U.S. Department of Education
Today’s Agenda
• Resources
• Verification Regulations
• Federal Register Notice
• Satisfactory Academic Progress
• Dear Colleague Letter
• Questions?
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Resources
For information, consult:• Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM),
published 6/18/10– Describes all changes to current reg
• Final Rule, published 10/29/10– Responds to comments and describes changes to
NPRM– Not a comprehensive review of all reg changes
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Verification Regulations
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Verification
• Effective date delayed until July 1, 2012– 2012-13 award year
• Institutions may need time to make changes to their institutional processing systems
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Verification: General Changes
• Emphasizes updating requirements through change to subpart heading
• Removes references to individual programs• Defines “subsidized student financial
assistance programs” and “unsubsidized student financial assistance programs”
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Verification: General Changes• Subsidized—
– Eligibility uses EFC
– Verification applies
– Pell Grant, FSEOG, FWS, Perkins, Direct Subsidized Loan
• Unsubsidized—– Eligibility does not use EFC
– Verification does not apply
– TEACH Grant, Iraq & Afghanistan Service Grant, Direct Unsubsidized Loan, Direct PLUS Loan
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Verification: General Changes
• Uses “FAFSA information” instead of “application”
• Defines “specified year” as base year or year prior to base year– Allows for option of using income data from
a different year– No plans to exercise this option at this time
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Verification: General Changes
• Must complete verification prior to exercising professional judgment
• Codifies long-standing policy in regulations
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Verification: Selection
• Eliminates 30% limit• Department targeting error-prone items to
select applications to verify• Institutions must verify all applicants we
select
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Verification: Selection
• Institutions must continue to resolve conflicting information they believe is inaccurate
• Institutions keep flexibility to select additional information or applications for verification
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Verification: Exclusions
• Removes certain exclusions• Clarifies provisions applicable to—
– Applicants– Parents of dependent applicants– Spouses of independent applicants
• Lists specific situations when parent’s or spouse’s information is not subject to verification
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Verification: Updating
• Applicant required to update all changes in dependency status throughout the award year, except changes resulting from a change in the applicant’s marital status
• Applicant’s responsibility, not institution’s
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Verification: Updating
• FAA may require applicant to update marital status to address inequity or to reflect more accurately the applicant’s ability to pay
• Documentation not required if the information has not changed during subsequent verification of household size and number in college
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Verification: Items to Verify
• Annual Federal Register notice– Items to verify– Documentation
• Initially, will include the current five data elements
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Verification: Documentation
• Specified as acceptable in annual Federal Register notice
• Retained current documentation requirements with technical changes
• Added option to retrieve electronic data from IRS
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Verification: Documentation
• For applicants with tax filing extension– May require completed tax return when
filed– Must re-verify AGI and taxes paid, when/if
the tax return is submitted
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Verification: Documentation
• Tax return not signed by the tax filer– Must be signed, typed, printed, or stamped
by the tax preparer and– Contain the preparer’s SSN, EIN or PTIN
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Verification: Interim Disbursements
• Technical and conforming changes• May make a disbursement after completing
verification but prior to receiving a corrected valid SAR or valid ISIR if the changes would not change the amount of aid
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Verification: Interim Disbursements
• To avoid liability, must ensure necessary corrections are submitted to ED
• Valid SAR or valid ISIR required before disbursement can be made for all Title IV programs
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Verification: Deadlines
• Require institutions to follow cash management procedures for Direct Loans
• Removed the requirement to pay Pell Grant on the higher EFC
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Verification: Fund Recovery
• Requires institutions to reimburse program account if disbursement made without receiving corrected valid SAR or ISIR
• Requires recovery of overpayments that occur from interim disbursements for students employed under the FWS Program
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Verifications: Corrections
• Removed $400 tolerance• Require all corrections over $25 to be
submitted• Require all corrections of nondollar items
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Federal Register Notice
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Federal Register Notice
• Published Spring/Summer 2011• Describes 2012-2013 verification items• Outlines acceptable documentation• Lists other verification resources
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Satisfactory Academic ProgressRegulations
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Satisfactory Academic Progress
• Previously, SAP requirements and references were included in 3 regulatory sections– Administrative capability §668.16(e)– Student eligibility §668.32(f)– Satisfactory progress §668.34
• Now all requirements are in §668.34 with cross references in §§668.16(e) and 668.32(f)
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SAP: New Regulations
New regulations provide—• Continued flexibility for institutions to
establish their SAP policies• Additional flexibility for institutions that
monitor SAP more often than annually• Definitions for “warning” and “probation”• In general, a student who is not making SAP
is no longer eligible for Title IV aid
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SAP: Policy Requirements
Specified in §668.34 and include—• Measurement of student’s progress at each
evaluation—– Can take place each payment period,
annually, or less often than each payment period
– Must occur at the end of a payment period
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SAP: Policy Requirements
• GPA that a student must achieve at each evaluation (qualitative standard)
• Pace of progression at each evaluation (quantitative standard)
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SAP: Details on Standards
• Qualitative standard: required GPA– For programs more than 2 academic years: at the
end of 2 years, at least a 2.0 or academic standing consistent with requirements for graduation
• Quantitative standard: pace at which a student must progress to complete within the maximum timeframe– Calculate by dividing cumulative successfully
completed hours by cumulative hours attempted
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SAP: Policy Requirements
• How student’s GPA and pace are affected by incompletes, withdrawals, repetitions, or transfers of credits
• Must count transfer hours accepted toward completion of the student’s program as both hours attempted and hours completed
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SAP: Defined Terms
• Must incorporate the terminology used in these regulations
• Must explain terms and use consistently with these regulations
• Must make sure conditions of each term are clear to students
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SAP: Defined Terms
Defined Term: Financial Aid Warning• Status assigned to a student who fails to
make SAP at an institution that evaluates SAP at the end of each payment period
• Student may continue to receive Title IV aid for one payment period
• No appeal necessary
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SAP: Defined Terms
Defined Term: Financial Aid Probation• Status assigned by an institution to a student
who fails to make SAP, who has appealed, and has had eligibility for Title IV aid reinstated
• May impose conditions for student’s continued eligibility to receive Title IV aid
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SAP: Defined Terms
Defined Term: Maximum timeframe• For an undergraduate program—basically
150% of the published length of the program• For a graduate program—a period defined by
the institution that is based on the length of the educational program
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SAP: Defined Terms
Defined Term: Appeal• Process by which a student who is not
meeting an institution’s SAP policy petitions the institution for reconsideration of the student’s eligibility for Title IV aid
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SAP: Defined Terms
Defined Term: Appeal (more)• Must specify the conditions under which a
student may appeal including—– Why the student failed to make SAP; and– What has changed that will allow the
student to make SAP at the next evaluation
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SAP: Frequency of Review
• Regulations are organized by frequency of SAP evaluation—– At the end of each payment period, or – Less frequently
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SAP: Payment Period Review
Evaluating at each payment period:
If student fails to make SAP, student—• Loses eligibility for Title IV aid• May be placed on Financial Aid Warning for
one payment period• Must make SAP or may be placed on
Financial Aid Probation after a successful appeal
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SAP: Payment Period Review
Evaluating SAP each payment period (more)• After Financial Aid Probation, student—
– Must be making SAP, or – Must be successfully following an
academic plan
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SAP: Academic Plans
About academic plans—• Not regulated• General or specific• Flexibility to address student situation• Appeal needed to implement or change
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SAP: Annual Review
Evaluating less frequently:
If student fails to make SAP, student—• Loses eligibility for Title IV aid• May be placed on Financial Aid Probation
after an appeal• After Financial Aid Probation, must be making
SAP or successfully following an academic plan
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SAP: Notifications
Notifications• Results of SAP review that impact the
student’s eligibility for Title IV aid• Specific elements required to appeal SAP, if
appeal process is used• Process for reestablishing eligibility for Title
IV aid, if no appeal process is used
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SAP: Questions
People asked about…• Using different rates of assessment for
different classes of students• Evaluating one factor at end of each payment
period and another annually• Implementing SAP for the 2011 summer
crossover payment period
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SAP Dear Colleague Letter
• Expected in summer 2011• Will include questions and answers clarifying
the SAP provisions in the 10/29/10 regulations
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Contact Information
We welcome your feedback. You may contact us at:
• Phone: 312-730-1528• Email: [email protected]• Fax: 312-730-1520
• Phone: 202-219-7031• Email: [email protected]• Fax: 202-502-7874