The Monthly Memo

Please visit our web page. The site address is heab.state.wi.us.

Points of Interest:

1. I thank those of you who responded to last month's memo asking for feedback related to HEAB no longer accepting "adds" submitted via File Maintenance. Based on your thoughts we determined that it is necessary to do the following:
   1. Effective March 5, 2001, we will expand our production schedule and begin loading all File Maintenance and ISIR records received to date on both Tuesday and Friday nights of each week just prior to vouchering. Currently we load ISIR data every other Monday night prior to the notification run on Tuesdays.

   2. We will have an "exception processing system" in place effective March 20, 2001, for "exception adds." We expect to have a newly designed template that will require all data element information necessary for our student record to be included. This template will be available for use when extraordinary circumstances occur and will need to be submitted directly to the Program Coordinator for their review.

   3. Currently the majority of schools receive an electronic version of the notification list. We are in the process of working with the remaining schools who receive paper lists so that all schools receive the electronic notification list. Once all schools have converted to the electronic notification list, it is our intention to eliminate paper notification lists. Sending electronic notification lists to all schools and eliminating all paper lists will allow us to send the notification list once a week.

   With these changes in place we will no longer accept File Maintenance "adds" as of noon on March 20, 2001. We believe that with the above changes, concerns that have been provided through your feedback will be addressed. We will continue to accept all File Maintenance "changes." Only the acceptance of "adds" will be discontinued. We expect to obtain all new record or student information via Federal ISIR files. Please let me know as soon as possible if you believe the changes above will not address any of your concerns with the elimination of the acceptance of "adds."

2. The Board met recently and approved 2001-02 specific formulas or formula concepts for the various programs. Formula information will be sent to you under separate cover. A Report on Financial Aid Programs for Higher Education in the State of Wisconsin as well as a report on Wisconsin College Student Financial Aid Applicants, Recipients, and Funding Reported by Legislative District were presented and discussed. These documents will be sent to you also under separate cover. These reports as well as HEAB 2001-03 Budget Talking Points are being provided to legislators by HEAB staff, board members, sector representatives, and others as legislative visits are being made. The board also approved the Policy/Procedure Manual. An electronic version of the manual along with a participation agreement will soon be sent to your institution for your response. The next Board meeting will be held April 20, 2001.

3. Based on most current data it appears that funding will be available for 2000-01 supplemental grants for the UW and WTC WHEG Programs. You will receive more information within the next two weeks about the supplemental grant funding. The 2000-01 Tribal College WHEG Program and the WTG Program continue to have waiting lists. Again I thank all of you who have been working with our agency providing data and feedback.

Points Related to Processing:

2000-01

1. 2000-01 notification lists and associated reports are scheduled to print 3/6/01 and 3/20/01.

2. We will continue to run the 2000-01 vouchering process on Tuesday and Friday nights of each week. Just a reminder that we cannot guarantee that your request can be loaded on the same day it has been received if the information arrives after 12NOON. Please keep in mind that it takes two to three business days after the vouchering process runs before checks are physically printed. So please plan accordingly. Please only voucher funds for students who are registered for coursework. Contact me if you have any questions.

3. 2000-01 award commit for WHEG and WTG is as follows:

   UW WHEG Award Commit	=	119.90%	(last year at this time it was 132.05%)
   UW WHEG Spent	=	85.29%	(last year at this time it was 88.53%)
   WTC WHEG Award Commit	=	155.13%	(last year at this time it was 152.72%)
   WTC WHEG Spent	=	93.56%	(last year at this time it was 89.60%)
   WTG Award Commit	=	119.87%	(last year at this time it was 110.65%)
   WTG Award Spent	=	95.72%	(last year at this time it was 85.11%)

4. Please remember to submit TIP nomination forms to Sandy Dercole.

Other Points:

PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE ARE VARIOUS POINTS THAT WERE INCLUDED IN PREVIOUS MONTHLY MEMOS. THESE CONTINUE TO BE INCLUDED ONLY BECAUSE THEY ARE GOOD REMINDERS.

1. Here are a few tips for bringing in your electronic Notification Files:
   1. set all margins to 0.25"
   2. set paper orientation to landscape
   3. set font to Courier (or Lucida Console if you have it)
   4. set point size to 9

2. If you encounter problems opening the file directly from email, try saving it to your server or hard drive using either Notepad or WordPad to open it. If this doesn't work, please give Barb Moermond a call at (608) 266-3091 and she will work with you to try to find a solution.

3. If your school transfers data to HEAB via an FTP site, please notify Barb Moermond at barbara.moermond@heab.state.wi.us as soon as possible whenever any changes in your FTP set-up, software, IP, etc. occur. Once notified, Barb will make all the necessary changes that need to be made at our end in order for HEAB to continue to be able to transfer data to and from your school.

4. To all schools using the HEAB templates for file maintenance and voucher requests: Please refer to the Information for Financial Aid Administrators section on the HEAB web page (http://HEAB.state.wi.us) where you will find the formatting guides for both templates. Please use the guides and verify that both templates are formatted exactly the way the guides indicate. There have been an increasing number of problems with files not being formatted properly when they had been fine previously and this means that the file maintenance changes and/or voucher requests that have been submitted aren't going through. Please contact Barb Moermond (barbara.moermond@HEAB.state.wi.us) if you have any questions.

5. Please note that when sending file maintenance, all "adds" must be sent as "adds" and all "changes" must be sent as "changes." Therefore, please remember to code students who do not appear on your notification list (these are students being added to your school) as "EA" and to code students who do appear on your list (you are making changes to their records) as "EC". Think of these codes as Edit Add and Edit Change. If the information is not sent under the correct code, the change or add may be rejected.

6. There have been a number of schools who have been sending file maintenance for students who are not enrolled at their school. Therefore, new awards keep recalculating based on file maintenance sent in by the school where the student is not attending. The school where the student is attending has to keep sending file maintenance to correct what the other school has sent. To eliminate this problem, please only send file maintenance for students who you know are attending or plan to attend your school.

7. When you send file maintenance, which includes contribution changes, you must always include the SC and PC along with the new EFC for dependent students. This is important for maintaining our internal student system particularly when working with the TIP grant.

8. Please be aware that it is not necessary for schools to submit an award amount via file maintenance. This information is not used. Including this information consumes resources both at HEAB and at your school. Awards are calculated prior to each voucher and re-calculations are triggered by changes to any of the five key fields (dependency status, year in school, marital status, household size and EFC).

9. Please note that the only proper procedure for correcting a student's Social Security number is to submit a separate email to the general HEAB address ( heabmail@heab.state.wi.us). Please include the student's name, the incorrect number, and the correct number. Also, please remember that when you submit a Delete for a student, you are deleting your school from the student's record, NOT the student's record from our system.

10. For schools whose students receive WTG funding: If you have students with "special tuitions," please identify those students with their special tuition WTG code each time file maintenance is submitted for them.

11. If your school receives the electronic report file of the notification list, please note that a 1 or a 2 in the child support column means that the student is delinquent (1 or 2 = DELQ).

12. Please be aware that if you request a disbursement of less than $250 for a term or a semester or if the student has used nine semesters of eligibility, the voucher request is manually handled through a "special voucher" which is run on Wednesday nights.

13. Also be aware that you cannot voucher funds for a student you just sent FAFSA changes for to the federal processor. Please voucher funds for students after they are reflected on the notification list. Our agency will calculate an award the Tuesday or Friday night after file maintenance is received or after the student is loaded from the federal record (which we draw down daily). However, the notification list which communicates the student award to you is run every other Tuesday. Please keep all of this in mind when you are making student record changes or vouchering funds. Please also keep in mind that we calculate awards on the most recent information that is received either through file maintenance or from the federal processor.

14. Just another reminder that students can receive up to ten semesters of a combination of WHEG/WTG rather than ten semesters of each.

15. Please be aware of the following errors that have been made in the processing of refunds. The errors fall into two categories:
    1. Schools returning more money for a student than was originally vouchered.
    2. Schools sending in duplicate refunds.

    Please take a moment before sending in refunds to check and make sure that:

    1. You are returning the proper amount.
    2. You have identified the proper program.
    3. That the same refund has not been sent to us previously.

16. The next training sessions will be held:
    March 15, May 17, and July 19

    The program begins at 10:00 a.m. and ends no later than 3:00 p.m. It is held at the HEAB offices at 131 W. Wilson St, Suite 902, Madison, WI. We have room for up to 6 people at each session.

    If you want to register for a session or need more information, please call Jim Buske at (608) 267-9865 or send email to james.buske@heab.state.wi.us.

Jane Hojan-Clark, Executive Secretary
Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board