9.2 | ctcLinkfinaid List Serv | FA Weeklyish Bulletin Archive
Listed below is a copy of the monthly ctcLinkfinaid List Serv e-mail messages in date order, with most recent on top.
Did You Know . . . ?
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Pell COD Files / Message Class The Pell files craa and crpg are two different message classes used in ctcLink/COD. Though both message classes work for the Pell program, there are differences in the files:
- The crpg file is a Program Specific, Non-Award Year Specific file. This means only Pell records will be in this file, and they could contain data from more than one aid year.
- The craa file is a Non-Program Specific, Award Year Specific file. This means that programs other than Pell can be in the file, i.e. Direct Loans, but the data is aid year specific.
- Is there a preferred file to use for the Pell program? If you can, please use crpg files for Pell outbound/inbound information. Switching to the usage of crpg files instead of craa files helps FA Support when troubleshooting file errors in the file servers. If you have been using craa files, you can just make the switch to crpg next time you outbound.
Reminder . . .
- Known Issues QRG A reminder that we are still updating the FAFSA Simplification 2024-2025 Known Issues in ctcLink QRG. Please check back with this document at least once a week. New bug findings are being added to it as we find them. This document contains the issue at hand, potential workarounds, and timelines expected to resolve the issues.
Upcoming Financial Aid Learning Opportunities
Calendar invites with web ex log in information already sent out to the ctcLinkfinaidsupport list serv.
Session: Aid Year Rollover Prep
When: Thursday, 10/24/2024, 1:00PM 3:00PM
Audience: Financial Aid staff responsible for preparing for 2025/2026 Aid Year Rollover
Presenters: Connie Burrow, Senior Functional Analyst (Financial Aid)
Session Description:
- Join us in a Fin Aid Work Session on how to prepare for AYRO. Your attendance is important as potential decisions or later needed decisions may be required. This work session will include the review docs and checklist processes.
Session: Advanced Fin Aid Training: Pell & Loan Message Log Review
When: Tuesday, 11/05/2024, 9:00AM 10:00AM
Audience: Financial Aid staff responsible for Pell & Direct Loan processing and troubleshooting
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- Understand how to download the Message Log detail
- Understand how to search in the Message Log detail
- Understand how to determine what needs further review in the MDLA and Manage Pell Payment pages
Session: Intermediate Fin Aid Training: Multiple Record Report (MRR) Process Refresher
When: Tuesday, 11/19/2024, 9:00AM 10:30AM
Audience: New Financial Aid Staff (and current staff needing a refresher) who are responsible for managing Pell payment
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- Understand and work the steps in the Pell MRR Process
- Upload/Download Files
- Import Federal Data Files
- Import Pell Phase-In Data
- Run Pell MRR Batch Report
Action Required: Prior to the session, please ensure you are receiving the PGMR message class file in your SAIG mailbox (EdConnect). You may have to contact COD to request this file type if you do not already see this file in your inbox. You should be getting these files in your SAIG mailbox as POP (Pell Over-Payment) students are identified in your Pell Processing.
Session: PLUS Loan Processing Refresher
When: Tuesday, 12/3/2024, 9:00AM 10:30AM
Audience: New Financial Aid Staff (and current staff needing a refresher) who are responsible for processing PLUS loans in ctcLink
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- Understand awarding the PLUS Loan
- performing a credit check
- brief discussion about using loan request form vs. PLUS Loan application on studentaid.gov
- Understand how to establish the Parent Record in ctcLink
- Understand how to establish a student parent relationship
- Understand how to link the parent record to the PLUS Loan record
- Understand how to work with PLUS-denied students by awarding addt'l unsub
Session: Advanced Fin Aid Training: Processing Negative Disbursement Files
When: Tuesday, 12/10/2024, 9:00AM 10:00AM
Audience: Financial Aid staff responsible for Pell processing and troubleshooting Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- Understand what crnd Negative Disbursement files are
- Understand why these files appear in your EdConnect queue
- Understand how to reduce the occurrence of these files from appearing in your EdConnect queue
- Understand how to review and read the Manage Pell Payment page when these files are loaded
- Understand how to process Negative Disbursement (crnd) files in ctcLink
Didn’t receive the calendar invite and you want to be included on these email updates/calendar invites? Subscribe to the ctcLinkfinaidsupport list serv.
Also, as a reminder, you can go to the SBCTC Calendar (filter by Calendar ctcLink Learning Opportunities > Financial Aid) to get the information and block out your own calendar for this time.
Team Updates
FA Support Team
- The FA Support Team is currently preparing for the Aid Year Rollover Prep Work Session, working tickets and planning/testing for the next PUM image.
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.
Guide Updates
Pell Processing Business Processing Guide
- Updates to the Pell Processing Business Processing Guide have been made to include a process for Pell Negative Disbursements. An overview and the steps are on or around pg. 40 45. There is a training on this new process in December. See the above Learning Opportunities section for more information.
Just ‘Cuz
Next week we celebrate Financial Aid Day! October 16, 2024 (Wednesday), we celebrate everyone’s contributions to the Financial Aid profession! All the thanks to you, in our Financial Aid community, for all your hard work, dedication and just all-around AMAZINGNESS for helping Washington’s Community College students attain their college and career goals!
TGIF,
FA Support & Training
A Financial Aid Focus
Reminders . . .
- Financial Aid Pell MRR .pdf Files A reminder The SSN field no longer displays on the Pell MRR pdf report. You can review individual MRR records and the necessary identifiers through Financial Aid > Pell Payment > Multiple Reporting > Review MRR >> Pell Multiple Report tab You can Search by EC Transaction ID: PGMR25OP. You can limit your search if you have the Pell Batch ID or you can leave it blank and search wide open, then find your most recent batch.
- Financial Aid History Files & More A reminder to staff responsible for managing NSLDS Transfer Student Monitoring (TSM) Alerts, Pell Over Payments (POPs), and Pell Multiple Report Records (MRR): Please remember to also request and load Financial Aid History files! If you are requesting and processing NSLDS Transfer Monitoring (TRALRTOP), the Financial Aid History Files (FAHEXTOP) and the Pell MRR (PGMR) files, working these files keeps your Pell reconciliation more up to date and much, much cleaner. If you are not loading and working these required files and reports, you will see an influx of CRND (COD Response Negative Disbursement) files in your EdConnect queue. The CRND files contain the disbursement(s) COD has automatically reduced or cancelled if you are not working rejects, NSLDS TSM Alerts, POPs and MRRs in a timely manner. Not working the required TSM Alerts, POPs and MRRs in a timely manner may result in inaccurate awards and disbursements, as well as complicates reading the Manage Pell Payment page.
Financial Aid Learning Opportunities
Calendar invites with web ex log in information already sent out to the ctcLinkfinaidsupport list serv.
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 Federal Financial Aid 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
Session: Advanced Fin Aid Training: Pell & Loan Message Log Review
When: Tuesday, 11/05/2024, 9:00AM 10:00AM
Audience: Financial Aid staff responsible for Pell & Direct Loan processing and troubleshooting
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- Understand how to download the Message Log detail
- Understand how to search in the Message Log detail
- Understand how to determine what needs further review in the MDLA and Manage Pell Payment pages
Session: Intermediate Fin Aid Training: Multiple Record Report (MRR) Process Refresher
When: Tuesday, 11/19/2024, 9:00AM 10:30AM
Audience: New Financial Aid Staff (and current staff needing a refresher) who are responsible for managing Pell payment
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- Understand and work the steps in the Pell MRR Process
- Upload/Download Files
- Import Federal Data Files
- Import Pell Phase-In Data
- Run Pell MRR Batch Report
Action Required: Prior to the session, please ensure you are receiving the PGMR message class file in your SAIG mailbox (EdConnect). You may have to contact COD to request this file type if you do not already see this file in your inbox. You should be getting these files in your SAIG mailbox as POP (Pell Over-Payment) students are identified in your Pell Processing.
Didn’t receive the calendar invite and you want to be included on these email updates/calendar invites? Subscribe to the ctcLinkfinaidsupport list serv.
Also, as a reminder, you can go to the SBCTC Calendar (filter by Calendar ctcLink Learning Opportunities > Financial Aid) to get the information and block out your own calendar for this time.
Calendar invites forthcoming:
SAVE THE DATE! FA Work Session: 2025/2026 Aid Year Rollover Prep
When: Thursday, 10/24/2024, 1:00PM 3:00PM
Audience: Financial Aid staff responsible for setting up and maintaining Aid Year Rollover tables
Presenters: FA Support
Join us for the Aid Year Rollover Prep session for the 2025/2026 AY. Details forthcoming.
Team Updates
FA Support Team
- The FA Support Team is currently planning out Aid Year Rollover dates for colleges to “Roll” into 25/26! Stay tuned on this list serv in the coming weeks for further information.
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.
Just ‘Cuz
Dare you dress up for Halloween this year? MU-AH-AH-AHHHH! Already planned out your look months in advance? EEEE-HEE-HEE-HEE! Or do you wait until the last minute to throw something together? WOOOOOOOOO!
Welp, of course there’s a buzzfeed quiz for what Halloween costume you should wear:
What Should Your Halloween Costume Be? Personality Quiz (buzzfeed.com)
I’ll just be over here, haunting hotels . . . 👻
TGIF,
FA Support & Training
A Financial Aid Focus
In Case You Missed It . . .
- From Debbie’s 09/19/2024 email Please update the following settings on your ISIR Data Load Parameters and the NA 2024-2025 Global Options pages in ctcLink (see attached email)
Updates to the 2024/2025 ISIR Data Load Parameters page include:
- Insert a new row of today, and
- On the ISIR Load 1 tab, uncheck the Store SAI Calc Request checkbox
- On the ISIR Load 3 tab, select the Never Call SAI Calc radio button
Updates to the NA 2024-2025 Global Options page include:
- In the Calculation Parameters group box, change the Data Source to Institutional Data and the Calc Type to Institutional Methodology
- Recording Available! An SF Work Session on Refunding Part 1 The Why/When/Who & Prior To was held on Thursday 09/19/2024
Select the recording below to review 😊
Query Corner
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Update! The following queries have been updated to include Enrollment Intensity values:
- CTC_FA913_LOAD
- CTC_FA913_LOAD_ENROLLED_NOTSAP
- CTC_FA_AUTHORIZED_LTFT
- CTC_FA_DISBURSED_BY_DATE_UNITS
- CTC_FA_TERM_ITEM_TYPE_AWARDED
- CTC_FA_ENROLL_AFTER_CENSUS
- QCS_FA_CENSUS_INFO
-
Query Not Working Alert!
- QCS_FA_NEED_TERM_OVERAWARDED - The query looks at the monthly EFC table (1-Month EFC, 2-Month EFC, 3-Month EFC, etc.) to determine term need overawards. SAI is not prorated so there are no values in the EFC table for aid year 2025. There are no plans to fix the query at this time.
Financial Aid Learning Opportunities
Calendar invites with web ex log in information already sent out to the ctcLinkfinaidsupport list serv.
New Session: Census Refresher
When: Tuesday, 10/01/2024, 9:00AM 10:30AM
Audience: New Financial Aid Staff (and current staff needing a refresher ) who are responsible for processing Census in ctcLink
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- Understand the steps on the Census Process
- Update the Run Equation with AY and term
- Update the AY and terms on the Build FA Term page Run Controls for Census
- Update the AY and terms on the Census Run Equation
- Understand how to update the Census JobSet
- Understand which Census Queries are available
- CTC_FA_LOAD_COMP_BETWEEN_DATE
- QCS_FA_CENSUS_DATE_LIST
- The following item types were also added to query criteria: 912000000105(WCG Connect), 920000000010 (Passport) and 920000000020 (Passport Incentive)
- QCS_FA_LOAD_DECREASE_B4_CENSUS
- The following item types were also added to query criteria: 911000000030 (Iraq Afghanistan Service Grant), 912000000105 (WCG Connect) ,912000000160 (National Guard Grant), 912000000250 (WA Bridge), 913000000100 (Need Based Tuition Grant)
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 Federal Financial Aid 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
Session: Advanced Fin Aid Training: Pell & Loan Message Log Review
When: Tuesday, 11/05/2024, 9:00AM 10:00AM
Audience: Financial Aid staff responsible for Pell & Direct Loan processing and troubleshooting
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- Understand how to download the Message Log detail
- Understand how to search in the Message Log detail
- Understand how to determine what needs further review in the MDLA and Manage Pell Payment pages
Session: Intermediate Fin Aid Training: Multiple Record Report (MRR) Process Refresher
When: Tuesday, 11/19/2024, 9:00AM 10:30AM
Audience: New Financial Aid Staff (and current staff needing a refresher) who are responsible for managing Pell payment
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- Understand and work the steps in the Pell MRR Process
- Upload/Download Files
- Import Federal Data Files
- Import Pell Phase-In Data
- Run Pell MRR Batch Report
Action Required: Prior to the session, please ensure you are receiving the PGMR message class file in your SAIG mailbox (EdConnect). You may have to contact COD to request this file type if you do not already see this file in your inbox. You should be getting these files in your SAIG mailbox as POP (Pell Over-Payment) students are identified in your Pell Processing.
Didn’t receive the calendar invite and you want to be included on these email updates/calendar invites? Subscribe to the ctcLinkfinaidsupport list serv.
Calendar invites forthcoming:
SAVE THE DATE! FA Work Session: 2025/2026 Aid Year Rollover Prep
When: Thursday, 10/24/2024, 1:00PM 3:00PM
Audience: Financial Aid staff responsible for setting up and maintaining Aid Year Rollover tables
Presenters: FA Support
Join us for the Aid Year Rollover Prep session for the 2025/2026 AY. Details forthcoming.
Team Updates
FA Support Team
- The FA Support Team is currently planning out Aid Year Rollover dates for colleges to “Roll” into 25/26! Stay tuned on this list serv in the coming weeks for further information.
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.
- Trainings for the remainder of the 2024 calendar year have been planned out and invites sent out. Did you not receive an invite? As a reminder, you can go to the SBCTC Calendar (filter by Calendar ctcLink Learning Opportunities > Financial Aid) to get the information and block out your own calendar for this time.
Just ‘Cuz
Guess what day it is today?? It’s NATIONAL QUESO DAY!
Yep, September 20th is National Queso Day, so this means you need to get some more chili con queso dip in your life today!
How can I do that, you ask?
- Go out for queso after work! Woohoo, cheese!
- Try making a new queso recipe!
- Some restaurants will do free queso in favor of National Queso Day! Get that Google Machine working towards some warm, cheesy goodness!
A Financial Aid Focus
- A Reminder about Self-Service options & Award Letter Codes The rule to update the Award Letter Code in the Self-Service Options screen never used to function, but now it does! This is your reminder to please update your Odd-Year Award Letter Code in your Self-Service Awarding tab. Going forward for 25/26, we will remind you to update it from Odd-Year to Even-Year as part of Aid Year Rollover.
Nav: Set Up SACR > Common Definitions > Self Service > Financial Aid > Self Service Options > Awarding Tab
- A FWS Reporting & FISAP Reminder In order for the FISAP processes and the queries in the FWS Calendar Earnings to COD Guide to work accurately, work study awards need to be reconciled. The External Award Process outlined in the FISAP Guide is used to post students’ actual work study earnings as “Disbursed” on the student award page.
Also, in Case You Missed It . . .
-
From Stephanie’s 9/6/2024 email In May, when the CBS Eligibility Checker layout was implemented in ctcLink, the new status of 2-Year/ Transfer for OK to Award and OK to Pay was not included in the CBS equation engine criteria. In the past, CBS equations have looked for OK to Award and OK to Pay=Y. The CBS equations have been updated in PRD.
- The CBS and WA Bridge packaging equations have now been updated to include:
CBS should package in a status of Offered when:
- MFI is less than or equal to 65%
- Ok to Pay= No or Verify
- Ok to Award=Yes or 2-Year/Transfer
CBS should package in a status of Accepted when:
- MFI is less than or equal to 65%
- Ok to Pay= Yes or 2-Year/Transfer
WBG should package when:
- MFI is less than or equal to 65%
- Ineligible for CBS:
- Student does not have a CBS Eligibility page OR
- CBS Eligibility page exists but Ok to Pay and Okay to Award= No or Verify
To identify students who may have been missed in awarding, please run the CTC_FA_CBS_ALL_RECORDS query to identify students with a status of 2-Year/ Transfer.
- From Stephanie’s 09/06/2024 email - The 2024-2025 WCG Interim Report is now available in Production!
Updates for 2024-2025 include:
- Family Size, Number in College and Family Income columns report blank values.
- Enrollment Status will display the number of credits the student is enrolled in. This value is pulled from FA Units Taken in FA Term.
- CBS Award Amount now includes Offered CBS awards.
- WCG Award Amount will include students awarded the WCG Connect item type if the student has an ISIR/WASFA. In cases when a student does not have an ISIR/WASFA on file, we are still working on an alternate solution.
- For 2023-2024 reporting, logic was added to blank out CBS (to not report $0) when a student did not exist with CTC_OK_TO_PAY=Y on the CBS Eligibility page. This was an over correction to the logic and has been removed for 2024-2025.
Note: Updates to the ctcLink WCG Interim Reporting Business Process Guide are in progress. The processing guide on the Reference Center remains applicable to generating the report and troubleshooting.
Financial Aid Learning Opportunities
Calendar invites with web ex log in information already sent out to the ctcLinkfinaid list serv.
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 Queryfor 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
New Session: Census Refresher
When: Tuesday, 10/01/2024, 9:00AM 10:30AM
Audience: New Financial Aid Staff (and current staff needing a refresher ) who are responsible for processing Census in ctcLink
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- Understand the steps on the Census Process
- Update the Run Equation with AY and term
- Update the AY and terms on the Build FA Term page Run Controls for Census
- Update the AY and terms on the Census Run Equation
- Understand how to update the Census JobSet
- Understand which Census Queries are available
- CTC_FA_LOAD_COMP_BETWEEN_DATE
- QCS_FA_CENSUS_DATE_LIST
- The following item types were also added to query criteria: 912000000105(WCG Connect), 920000000010 (Passport) and 920000000020 (Passport Incentive)
- QCS_FA_LOAD_DECREASE_B4_CENSUS
- The following item types were also added to query criteria: 911000000030 (Iraq Afghanistan Service Grant), 912000000105 (WCG Connect) ,912000000160 (National Guard Grant), 912000000250 (WA Bridge), 913000000100 (Need Based Tuition Grant)
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
Didn’t receive the calendar invite and you want to be included on these email updates/calendar invites? Subscribe to the ctcLinkfinaidsupport list serv.
Team Updates
FA Support Team
- The FA Support Team is currently planning out Aid Year Rollover dates with a Aid Year Rollover Prep Session to be announced for October. Stay tuned on this list serv in the coming weeks for further information.
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.
- Trainings for the remainder of the 2024 calendar year have been planned out and invites sent out. Did you not receive an invite? As a reminder, you can go to the SBCTC Calendar (filter by Calendar ctcLink Learning Opportunities > Financial Aid) to get the information and block out your own calendar for this time.
Just ‘Cuz
Work stress? I haz it. We all do. Here’s some common stress signals and tips on how to manage it:
- 👀 Become aware of it
- Signs of stress:
- Headache (hello, Tylenol)
- Insomnia (can’t. put. phone. down)
- Change in appetite (pass the entire bowl of peanut M&Ms please)
- Digestive issues (hmm how did that happen, peanut M&Ms, I thought we were friends)
- Rapid heart rate (every time the phone rings)
- Sweating (well, it’s hot out)
- Etc. the list goes on . . .
- Signs of stress:
- ✍️ Write down your stressors, connect with them, get to know them, befriend them, even:
- As you write, ask yourself,
- How did this make me feel? (I feel so <insert emotion here> i.e., let down, when x, y, z happened . . .)
- Try not to go into the story or thought/logic of it, but just acknowledge your feeling
- What was my reaction to that feeling? (My stomach sank at the weight of all those M&Ms and the feeling of being let down)
- What are some ways to resolve it? (Get to understand yourself-- why you felt that feeling-- normalize it and neutralize it)
- How did this make me feel? (I feel so <insert emotion here> i.e., let down, when x, y, z happened . . .)
- As you write, ask yourself,
These are just some of the ways we can mitigate work stress. Journaling our feels when we are at work, it just takes a few minutes, and it helps us become more aware of what our bodies are trying to tell us.
Source: 14 Tips to Manage Work Stress and Avoid Burnout (healthline.com)
TGIF,
FA Support & Training
A Financial Aid Focus
- From Ana’s 8/22 email: The Calc SAI button will be removed as of Monday 8/26 from the Correct ISIR Records page for most users in ctcLink. Only FA Directors will have this Calc SAI button access.
-
From Stephanie’s 8/22 email: FA PRP 3.1 will be implemented in Production the evening of Thursday, 8/29.
- For those that have FA JobSets or processes scheduled to run between 5pm and 7pm, please cancel those recurring FA JobSets or processes prior to 5pm, Thursday, 8/29. Detailed steps can be found in the Process Take-Down Instructions QRG.
- Once we have validated the migration, we will notify colleges that the OY ISIR JobSets (Aid Year 2024-2025) and processes can be rescheduled.
- IMPORTANT: After this implementation, colleges should not reschedule their EY ISIR JobSet (Aid Year 2023-2024). This is due to a known issue in this PRP (Bug 3688340- FA Term Rebuild Enrollment Intensity to 0 for 2025 Terms). When FA Term is run for Aid Year 2024, the enrollment intensity percent values on 2025 FA Term are changed (in some cases) to zero. In the event colleges need to run 2024, please submit a ticket to FA Support for assistance.
Query Corner
Are you trying to package loans for students, and their loans keep getting X canceled, for the reason of meeting or exceeding aggregate limits? But when you go to check their loan aggregates in NSLDS, COD or in ctcLink, everything is fine, they are not at all near their aggregate limits? What gives? This is an Oracle bug! 🕷️ The bug is causing the dependency status value to be X (dependent students) or Y (independent students) on the STUDENT_AID record.
There is a workaround!
Run this query QCS_FA_LN_DEPEND_STAT_BUG to identify these students, find the students with the incorrect dependency status value of X or Y. Once you have confirmed that a student has not reached their loan aggregates & has met all other eligibility to receive the loans, you should be able to award the loan on the Invoke Professional Judgment page.
To determine if a loan will need the dependency status value updated, navigate toFinancial Aid > Loans > Direct Lending Management > Override Loan Application Data. Select theDirect Loan Demo Ovrdtab. If the dependency status value is X or Y, override it toD(dependent students) orI(independent students).
The override will then be included on your next outbound loan file.
Recall that there is a QRG for other bugs and known issues related to 2024-2025 processing found in the ctcLink Reference Center: FAFSA Simplification 2024-2025 Known Issues in ctcLink | 9.2 FA - Financial Aid Resources | ctcLink Reference Center
Please check this document for potential issues and their work arounds. The document is updated at least once a week.
PS. There will be more information on Oracle bug resolutions during the FA PRP 3.1 OVD Q&A Session on 8/28. Read on below to the FA Support updates to get info on joining the PRP 3.1 Q&A Session for this info:
Financial Aid Learning Opportunities
Calendar invites with web ex log in information already sent out to the ctcLinkfinaid list serv
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 Queryfor 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
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
Team Updates
FA Support Team
- Aid Year Rollover planning is in the works!
- The FA Support Team is also testing PRP 3.1 which contains the FISAP update. Please join the PRP 3.1 Q&A Session because there will be more to come in the session (info below):
- FA PRP 3.1 Q & A Session
- Wednesday, August 28, 2024 2:00 pm | 1 hour | (UTC-07:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)
- Join Session (Please block out your own calendars for this one!)
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.
- Trainings for the remainder of the 2024 calendar year have been planned out and invites sent through the list serv as of last week. Did you not receive an invite? As a reminder, you can go to the SBCTC Calendar (filter by Calendar ctcLink Learning Opportunities > Financial Aid) to get the information and block out your own calendar for this time.
Just for Fun!
Hey, you, yeah YOU! Did you get enough sleep last night? I got a solid 7 hrs. Woot!
Here’s a little brain snack for you, a quick video on How Sleep Affects Your Brain: https://youtu.be/IzQ2siryQrM?si=rR5yCAG135dogzbW (00:01:53)
TGIF,
FA Support & Training
A Financial Aid Focus
-
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 (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 in the ctcLink Reference Center.
- Colleges may upload their csv file to the WSAC Training Portal to address any edits prior to loading the file to the production WSAC Portal.
- 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 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 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.
- The Pell Processing Business Processing Guide has been updated as of 08/15/2024.
- 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)
Query Corner
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.
Financial Aid Learning Opportunities
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 Queryfor 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
Team Updates
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.
Just for Fun!
🎵 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 (SBCTC does not own the rights to this music) 😜
TGIF,
FA Support & Training
A Financial Aid Focus
From FA Support:
The Department of Education recently announced in GEN 24-96 that batch corrections will not available for the 2024-2025 Aid Year. Considering this news, a NASFAA member posted their procedures to performing manual corrections in FPP. Here is a link to those procedures:
Additionally, here are some shared resources from SASFAA include a Corrections recording and a slide deck on manual corrections, which is accessible to non-members via YouTube:
Query Corner
So many new queries abound due to the FAFSA Simplification and Enrollment Intensity! These new queries will be added to guides as time allows. For your convenience, here are all the new queries in one spot in this bulletin, which will also be posted to the ctcLink Reference Center under Financial Aid Resources:
-
New queries in PRD today:
- QCS_FA_LN_DEPEND_STAT_BUG (this query is a workaround for the loan reject dependency 24/25 Known Issue)
- QCS_FA_PRE_REQ_PLANS
- QCS_FA_LOAD_COMP_ENRL_NSC
-
Other queries with enrollment intensity:
- CTC_FA_LOAD_COMP_BETWEEN_DATE
- QCS_FA_CENSUS_DATE_LIST
- QCS_FA_LOAD_DECREASE_B4_CENSUS
- CTC_FA_AUTHORIZATION_DISCREP
-
New queries that have been created for FAFSA Simplification (from Debbie's CtcLink Updates email)
- QCS_FA_SAI_DISCREPANCY- There are many reported bugs where PS's calculation of SAI is different from the FPS SAI coming in from the file, so we built a query to find the discrepancies! 🙂
- QCS_FA_MISSING_NSLDS_LOAN_YEAR- Please make sure to select all required fields mentioned in our QRG ( 9.2 Manually Awarding Aid for a Student without a FAFSA | 9.2 FA - Packaging and Awards | ctcLink Reference Center) when building FA Term manually. Leaving the NSLDS Loan Year field blank will cause the global file review query QCS_FA_FILE_REVIEW_DATA to go to No Success and will also cause a SQL error on the WCG Eligibility page.
- Added note that Assign and Waive checklist queries were added to the most recent JobSet Guide for those that have it/are responsible for the 24/25 ISIR JobSet.
Financial Aid Learning Opportunities
Calendar invites with web ex log in information already sent out to the ctcLinkfinaid list serv
Session: 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
Team Updates
FA Support Team
The FA Support Team are working many tickets related to JobSet failures, FAFSA Simplification things, and the like. Additionally, we are planning out work sessions to pick back up in October. Announcements, calendar invites, and postings to the SBCTC Calendar will be made to the list serv once that is planned out.
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.
Just for Fun!
How do you de-stress at work? Here’s some tips compiled from various articles on how to manage your mental load during the day:
- De-clutter your work area/desk. Recently, I donated a lot of my ‘stuff’. Knick-knacks I’ve collected over the years, all my stuffies, and got rid of old training binders, notes and post-its. I even decluttered my cork board above my desk, all thinned out and simplified. My brain went, “ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh . . .” 🤩
- Remind yourself to take some DEEP breaths several times a day. How many of us get very focused when working on something and you notice how shallowly you’re breathing? 🙋 My shallow breathing makes me so wiped out by the end of the day. Remember to BREATHE! Breathe from your diaphragm and let it fill your lungs so that oxygen gets to your heart and your brain!
- Stretch it out! Raise your arms up, roll your neck, twist your torso in your chair, and/or stretch out your legs! It really helps! Don’t do all those things at once though, you’ll probably strain something 😅
- If you’re able, try “focus” music on your music streaming services. This helps me get into what I’m doing and gets my brain into a mode where I can put a lot of deep work into one project 🎧
- Try mono-tasking. Yes, we all pride ourselves on the ability to multi-task, but lately, I find myself being more mindful and the low-level anxiety melts away when I allow myself to focus on Just. One. Thing at a time. An email came in? It can wait 10 minutes until I finish this task. A Teams message popped up? Leave it unread for a spell while you finish up your troubleshooting. (Dare I mute my notifications?) The phone rang? Give your all to the person on the other end. Reconciling? Put yourself on DND to get it done. 🙉
- Stay well hydrated! Brains work so much better when they’re juicy 😊 I know, I know… there’s water in coffee, but do your brain a favor and really stay hydrated. You’ll find yourself feeling more energized toward the afternoon. 🌊
Sources:
The art of monotasking - Harvard Health
26 Quick Ways To De-Stress at Work and Why It Matters | Indeed.com
TGIF,
FA Support & Training
A Financial Aid Focus
From FA Support:
Please monitor your JobSets, daily (M-F). If a scheduled JobSet fails and/or keeps flipping from “Active” to "Completed", please submit a ticket!
Additionally, please check your processes in your JobSets each day (M-F). JobSets are not a ‘set it and forget it’ thing; they must be monitored. If processes do not run to Success, or maybe they do say Success, but in the Message Text, they say otherwise, please submit a ticket. Always review your message logs! Tip! Review the process status of your nested processes within your JobSet too (CTCFABUD, CTCFAKL, CTCHICOM etc.).
For review on JobSets, please review the following QRGs:
Query Corner
As follow up from the ISIR Processing Refresher held on 03/12/2024, there’s a NEW ISIR QUERY available!
At the training session, it was asked: Is there an easier way to find the ISIR Processing EC Queue Instance number other than scrolling through several hundred rows of Process ISIRs (FAPSAR00) Message Text to find the most recent EC Queue Instance?
Context: The EC Queue Instance number in the Process ISIRs (FAPSAR00) process is used in the ISIR Transaction Source query (CTC_FA_ISIR_TRANS_SRCE), which is designed to assist users with identifying the source by which the ISIR transaction has been generated. The asking college uses the ISIR Transaction Source query to identify their corrections made in ctcLink.
Now there’s a query to find the EC Queue Instance so you don’t have to click, click, click, scroll, scroll, scroll! The query is: QCS_FA_ISIR_FILES_PROCESSED
You can run this query by date range. So, if you last ran corrections on 3/18, and now you want to catch up on those items, you can define your query like so, finding your EC Queue Instance Number to plug into your CTC_FA_ISIR_TRANS_SRCE query. Yesit’s a query for a query, but the result is less looking for a needle in a hay-stack in the Message Text, and the benefit is you know you’re not going to miss an EC Queue Instance Number.
Give it a whirl and see if it suits your fancy!
Financial Aid Learning Opportunities
Calendar invites with web ex log in information already sent out to the ctcLinkfinaid list serv
Session: FA Term & Student Budget Tips & Tricks (23/24 Only)
When: Tuesday, 04/09/2024, 9:00AM 11:00AM
Audience: Staff responsible for FA File Review and Awarding
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- Tips and tricks on the FA Term and Maintain Student Budget pages
- Understand how and when to use the override expiration date feature on FA Term
- Understand how to add a PJ item on Maintain Student Budget
- Understand how to work with the Pell COA field on Maintain Student Budget
- Other items TBD
New! Session: New Process - Updating Canceled Pell Records in Batch
When: Tuesday, 04/23/2024, 9:00AM 10:30AM
Audience: Staff responsible for cleaning up Pell records in ctcLink
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- Understand the steps in Updating Canceled Pell Records in Batch Process:
- Update Pell Origination Status to Canceled
- Update Pell Origination Flag to Pending
- Run PELLOUT
- Understand what fields are being updated in this batch processing
Team Updates
FA Support Team
The FA Support Team is in the thick of testing and planning with Oracle and Dept of Ed updates for FAFSA Simplification 24/25, waiting for JAR files, testing, updating, and wash, rinse, repeat.
Note that for the FAFSA Simplification changes for 24/25, the FA Support team will deliver financial aid support sessions for colleges June 10-21, 2024. Calendar invites forthcoming.
Training Team
Updates to Canvas Training courses are ongoing and will be worked up to include screen updates from the 24/25 FAFSA Simplification. Announcements will be made in Canvas when these updates are completed.
Information on 24/25 learning opportunities are forthcoming . . . Stay tuned!
Just for Fun!
🌷 H O P P Y E A S T E R ! ! ! 🌷
A Financial Aid Focus
Important Need-to-Know Updates from FA Support:
📣 Financial Aid Directors (DPAs): Your FTI-SAIG Enrollment Agreements must be submitted by February 23, 2024. Schools that fail to sign the updated SAIG enrollment agreement will not be able to access 202425 ISIRs.
🤲 Sharing FTI: SBCTC worked with our Attorney General (AG) in addressing the FTI-DDX issue of sharing FTI with SBCTC. The SBCTC agency and FA Support are good to continue working with our FA community when accessing FTI data - business as usual - according to discussions between the agency and our AG. In addition, SBCTC collectively has a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which affords FA Support the ability to exchange highly sensitive information, including FTI. Please direct any concerns on FTI-DDX and FA Support’s ability to continue to work on behalf of our FA community to [email protected]
✅ Other FTI Resources & Set Up Info from FSA Partners:
- Software and Other Tools | Knowledge Center
- SAIG Software Upgrade for FTI Data Transmission Important Information for EDconnect 8.6.0 Users | Knowledge Center
Query Corner
Have you ever run a query and it just times out? Spins and spins and then just stops. Or, do you ever get a Proxy Error message that looks like this?
This proxy error or time-outs in Query Viewer means the query you are running probably has too much data.
Tip! Queries that have many, many results in it, run it in Schedule Queries for best results.
Financial Aid Learning Opportunities
Calendar invites with web ex log in information already sent out
Session: The Adventures of the R2T4 Worksheet Session 2
When: Thursday, 2/22/2024, 1:00PM 3:00PM
Audience: Staff responsible for processing R2T4 calculations & SF Staff who are responsible for maintaining charges
Presenters: Molly Groyer, FA Support Functional Analyst & Charles Sapien, SF Support Functional Analyst
Join us in R2T4 Session #2 for a deeper dive into the R2T4 worksheet in ctcLink. This session will cover where and how institutional charges are configured and how they are accounted for on the R2T4 worksheet.
New! Session: Loan Exit Counseling Refresher
When: Tuesday, 2/27/2024, 9:00AM 10:30AM
Audience: Staff responsible for awarding/managing the Direct loan program
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- Understand the processing steps to run Direct Loan Exit counseling
- Understand the available queries and the specific populations of students the loan exit process is running
Session: ISIR Processing Refresher (23/24 Only)
When: Tuesday, 3/12/2024, 9:00AM 10:30AM
Audience: Fin Aid Staff responsible for loading ISIRs into ctcLink
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- Understand how to set/update User Defaults for the new AY
- Understand the steps in ISIR Processing
- Upload/download process
- FA Inbound
- Process Imported ISIRs
- Understand how to load ISIRs using the File List Driven process and the Single File process
Session: ISIR Corrections Fundamentals (23/24 Only)
When: Tuesday, 3/12/2024, 9:00AM 10:30AM
Audience: Fin Aid Staff responsible for performing file review and correcting ISIRs ctcLink
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- Understand how to make ISIR Corrections on specific scenarios
- Making Corrections on an Alien Registration Number
- Processing Dependency Override/Homeless Youth Determinations
- Processing Special Conditions/Circumstances/EFC Adjustment Request
- Understand how to Process ISIR Corrections in ctcLink using the following steps:
- Process ISIR Corrections
- Create Federal Data File
- Upload/Download File Process
Team Updates
FA Support Team
It’s Aid Year Rollover season! Aid Year Rollover calendar invites have made their way to their intended recipients in the FA offices. Beginning near the end of January, and into March, the Functional Analysts will be working with your college FA team to roll tables and review items for the 2024/2025 Award Year.
Training Team
Updates to Canvas Training courses are ongoing and will be worked up to include screen updates from the FAFSA Simplification. Announcements will be made in Canvas when these updates are completed.
Information on 24/25 learning opportunities and support sessions will be announced soon as we progress through testing . . . Stay tuned!
Just for Fun!
https://youtu.be/Y0xVLGssnwU?si=Huc4RNolulqQEB0F <- Please also enjoy this 70s Disco gem💎(DEW-IT!)
A Financial Aid Focus
We hope it’s been a great start to your winter term!
FA Support would like to share some reminders on what to consider when running Authorizing and Disbursing in ctcLink. We recommend taking extra special care and communication to your SF friends when performing manual Authorization and Disbursements. Manual adjustments should not be happening during the batch processes runningnor prior to SF creating the batch Group Post.
Please bear in mind that when you are running batch Authorization and Disbursements, and a manual disbursement is performed in between batch processes of when Group Post (SF) is run, this can result in having some inadvertent disbursement fallout where the original award amount is disbursed through the batch process, but then the manual amount that is adjusted is creating a disbursement issue.
Consider the following scenario on how Customer Account errors happen:
Timing issues when someone manually adjusts and disburses after batch authorization and disbursement, but before Group Post runs, can result in extra clean up and inaccurate postings to accounts.
- (FA) An Award is reduced on 1/16
- (FA) Authorization is run in batch on 1/19 at 9 AM
- (FA) Disbursement runs in batch on 1/19 at 9:15 AM
- (FA) Winter portion of award is cancelled on 1/19 at 11 AM
- (FA) Manually authorized on 1/19 at 11:15 AM
- (FA) Manually disbursed on 1/19 at 11:16 AM
- (SF) Group Post is run on 1/19 at 1 PM
In the above scenario, it has been discovered that awards needing to have been pulled back entirely will just end up with the amount reduced being credited again to the student account. Please always check Customer Accounts for during the clean-up process until the account is fully reconciled. Take extra special care that batch authorization/disbursement is not running, and all group posts have successfully posted before doing any clean-up work to accounts.
If you find yourself in this situation, please file a ticket with FA Support as soon as you discover the issue.
We know a lot goes on behind the scenes and timing is always of the essence! Keep doing the great work and just keep these timing considerations at the forefront. You got this, FA!
Query Corner
✨ Shining the light on this helpful query! ✨
A QUERY TO HELP WITH CUSTOMER ACCOUNT RECONCILIATION: The query CTC_FA_SF_DISCREPANCY_LIST is a query that will pull students that have aid unapplied to Customer Accounts. This could mean something as simple as Group Post hasn’t yet run, or it could mean something a little deeper to mean that the Payment Priority and/or Charge Priority List need to be reviewed and or adjusted.
The ideal time to run this query is during periods of disbursement, typically once a week.
In the highlighted example, note column Q for Unapplied Amt to Customer Accounts. This is the column you need to find out why a payment has not applied to Customer Account.
You can do a quick sweep with this query to find students who need Customer Account review.
Tip! This query typically has many results in it, so run it in Schedule Query for best results.
Financial Aid Learning Opportunities
Calendar invites with web ex log in information already sent out
Session: The Adventures of the R2T4 Worksheet Session 1
When: Thursday, 1/25/2024, 1:00PM 3:00PM
Audience: Staff responsible for processing R2T4 calculations
Presenters: Molly Groyer, FA Support Functional Analyst
Objectives:
- Identify students to be reviewed for R2T4 by Mass AssigningF03 Service Indicator
- Find a student’s withdrawal information in ctcLink
- Find a student’s institutional charges
- Create & complete an R2T4 worksheet & understand thefunctionality of key fields on the Worksheet
- Adjust federal aid &undisburse/re-disburse
- Add an F05 Service Indicator
- Review available R2T4 queries
Session: Intermediate Loan Processing - Loan Troubleshooting
When: Tuesday, 1/30/2024, 9:00AM 11:00AM
Audience: Staff responsible for awarding/managing the Direct loan program
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- Understand how to work varying examples from the following reports:
- Loans on Hold Report
- Origination Hold
- Origination Changes Hold
- Rejected Originations Report
- Disbursement Errors Report
- Understand which ctcLink pages to navigate and how to read and update them when troubleshooting loan reject and loans on hold messages:
- View Loan Processing Actions page
- View COD Data page
- Hold/SuspendChange Data page
- Override Loan Data page
- Override Processing Status page
New! Session: FA Drop-In Debrief How Did It Go? Using the New Transfer Monitoring UEM Process
When: Thursday, 2/9/2024, 9:00AM 10:00AM
Audience: Staff responsible for managing the NSLDS Transfer Monitoring process in ctcLink
Facilitators: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
This hour-long Fin Aid Debrief Session is a ‘how did it go’ conversation with your Financial Aid colleagues in the system who have run this process for the Winter 2241 term. Come to the session and chat amongst yourselves to talk through what you learned, what were some challenges, personal learnings and/or information you encountered during the new NSLDS Transfer Monitoring UEM process and anything else you think might be helpful to share with your college colleagues.
Additionally, in the session, Kelly Forsberg will briefly walk through the NSLDS Transfer Monitoring Guide to show updates as of 01/18/2024, reflecting the NSLDS technical and enrollment reporting guides so you can familiarize yourself with the information used to optimize your experience in working with TRNINFIN and FAHEXTOP files.
Session: Intermediate Pell Processing - Pell Troubleshooting
When: Tuesday, 2/13/2024, 9:00AM 11:00AM
Audience: Staff responsible for managing Pell payment
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
-
Understand how to read and work examples in the Pell Reports
- Pell Records by Transaction Status
- Pell Records by Status
- Pell Origination Validation Report
- Pell Disbursement Validation Report
- Pell Disbursement Status Report
-
Understand how to perform Pell troubleshooting using various pages in ctcLink
- View COD Data page
- Manage Pell Payment page
Team Updates
FA Support Team
It’s Aid Year Rollover season! Aid Year Rollover calendar invites have made their way to their intended recipients in the FA offices. Beginning near the end of January, and into March, the Functional Analysts will be working with your college FA team to roll tables and review items for the 2024/2025 Award Year.
Training Team
Updates to Canvas Training courses are ongoing and will be worked up to include screen updates from the FAFSA Simplification. Announcements will be made in Canvas when these updates are completed.
The QRGs and BPGs are still currently undergoing a continual overhaul to accommodate the upcoming PeopleTools 8.59 system upgrade. We expect these updates to continue through Aid Year Rollover season. If you have guides or QRGs printed out, please continue to check the ctcLink Reference Center for the most current version.
Just for Fun!
Enjoy a global buffet and your best personality trait will be revealed! Food Quiz: Eat Food Reveal Best Personality Trait (buzzfeed.com)
A Financial Aid Focus
Happy New Year!
Following up from the FA-SF Reconciliation Refresher Training held on 12/05/23, the change to the Security Role ZD SF View Customer Accounts to include the View Payments screen is now in PRD.
FA users that have access to View Customer Accounts can now also see the View Payments page. Before the security role update, Financial Aid staff did not have access to this SF page. The change went into PRD 1/3/24.
As a reminder, this page was demo'd during the FA Recon session as a helpful tool on what CPL was used to pay off a charge at a moment in time.
You can use the View Payments page to do additional drill-down into charges seen in the View Customer Accounts page to include viewing Item Types that paid charges, their Charge Priority List, and their Payment Priority. You can select the grid (highlighted in purple) to download the data into an excel doc to filter and sort to your heart’s content.
A big thanks to our SBCTC SF Team and Security Team to moving this page into view for FA staff with the View Customer Accounts security role!
Nav: Student Financials > Charges & Payments > View Payments
Query Corner
✨ Shining the light on this helpful query! ✨
A QUERY TO CHECK FOR MISSING CBS AWARDS: The query CTC_FA_CBS_ELIG_NOTPKGD is a query that will pull students that have Financial Aid awards who are eligible for College Bound Scholarship (CBS) funding and do not have a CBS award.
The ideal time to run this query is during periods of awarding.
In the highlighted example, note that there is a column for OK to Pay Last Updated and the Award Last Updated. It shows the amount of WCG award, and the MFI percentage.
You can do a quick sweep with this query to find students who need CBS awards added to their aid package.
Financial Aid Learning Opportunities
Session: Intermediate Loan Processing - Loan Troubleshooting
When: Tuesday, 1/30/2024, 9:00AM 11:00AM
Audience: Staff responsible for awarding/managing the Direct loan program
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- Understand how to work varying examples from the following reports:
-
Loans on Hold Report
- Origination Hold
- Origination Changes Hold
- Rejected Originations Report
- Disbursement Errors Report
-
Understand which ctcLink pages to navigate and how to read and update them when troubleshooting loan reject and loans on hold messages:
- View Loan Processing Actions page
- View COD Data page
- Hold/SuspendChange Data page
- Override Loan Data page
- Override Processing Status page
Session: Intermediate Pell Processing - Pell Troubleshooting
When: Tuesday, 2/13/2024, 9:00AM 11:00AM
Audience: Staff responsible for managing Pell payment
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
-
Understand how to read and work examples in the Pell Reports
- Pell Records by Transaction Status
- Pell Records by Status
- Pell Origination Validation Report
- Pell Disbursement Validation Report
- Pell Disbursement Status Report
-
Understand how to perform Pell troubleshooting using various pages in ctcLink
- View COD Data page
- Manage Pell Payment page
Session: The Adventures of the R2T4 Worksheet Session 1
When: Thursday, 1/25/2024, 1:00PM 3:00PM
Audience: Staff responsible for processing R2T4 calculations
Presenters: Molly Groyer, FA Support Functional Analyst
Objectives:
- Identify students to be reviewed for R2T4 by Mass AssigningF03 Service Indicator
- Find a student’s withdrawal information in ctcLink
- Find a student’s institutional charges
- Create & complete an R2T4 worksheet & understand thefunctionality of key fields on the Worksheet
- Adjust federal aid &undisburse/re-disburse
- Add an F05 Service Indicator
- Review available R2T4 queries
Team Updates
FA Support Team
It’s Aid Year Rollover season! Aid Year Rollover calendar invites have made their way to their intended recipients in the FA offices. Beginning near the end of January, and into March, the Functional Analysts will be working with your college FA team to roll tables and review items for the 2024/2025 Award Year.
Training Team
The QRGs and BPGs are still currently undergoing a continual overhaul to accommodate the upcoming PeopleTools 8.59 system upgrade. We expect these updates to continue through Aid Year Rollover season. If you have guides or QRGs printed out, please continue to check the ctcLink Reference Center for the most current version.
Just for Fun!
What’s your work style? https://www.idealist.org/en/careers/quiz-your-work-style
Knowing is Half the Battle
Have you ever heard the phrase, “A stitch in time saves nine”? The expression means that taking immediate action on a task prevents the need for more work later. The original use of ‘stitch in time’involves theprompt sewing of small holes or tears in a garment,saving the need to do more stitching later on. (English-grammar-lessons.com, 2022) A Stitch in Time Saves Nine Meaning, Origin and Usage - English-Grammar-Lessons.com
When it comes to Financial Aid, a stitch in time saves nine when reconciliation is done on time! Did you catch the latest Dept of Ed Dear Colleague Letter? A noteworthy section in the DC-23-05 William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program Reconciliation | Knowledge Center:
Please read through the entire DCL for more regulatory guidance on Direct Loans.
Query Corner
A CLEAN UP QUERY FOR IDENTIFYING INCORRECT OR MISSING PELL AWARDS: The query QCS_FA_PELL_AWARD_REVIEW is a query that will pull students who have a discrepancy between the amount of Pell that is awarded and the expected amount per FA Load according to their primary EFC.
The ideal time to run this query is before disbursement, and after census lock. It’s just yet another tool that may help you identify Pell awards that may be incorrect or missing entirely.
In the highlighted example, note that the Primary EFC = 0, the FA Load and Calc FA Load is F and the Pell Award for Term (column I) is half the amount of what it should be. In column J, the expected Pell Amount for the FA Load is displayed.
Financial Aid Learning Opportunities
Calendar invites with web ex log in information already sent out
Session: Q & A Support Session for the New NSLDS Transfer Monitoring Process Using Term-Based UEMs
When: Thursday, 12/21/2023 9:00AM 10:00AM
Audience: Staff responsible for managing NSLDS Transfer Monitoring
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- In this session, you may bring your specific examples we can help answer general questions on the process, and work through some examples that are not already in tickets. If a ticket is necessary, we can guide on that in this session.
Session: Intermediate Loan Processing - Loan Troubleshooting
When: Tuesday, 1/30/2024, 9:00AM 11:00AM
Audience: Staff responsible for awarding/managing the Direct loan program
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- Understand how to work varying examples from the following reports:
-
Loans on Hold Report
- Origination Hold
- Origination Changes Hold
- Rejected Originations Report
- Disbursement Errors Report
-
Understand which ctcLink pages to navigate and how to read and update them when troubleshooting loan reject and loans on hold messages:
- View Loan Processing Actions page
- View COD Data page
- Hold/SuspendChange Data page
- Override Loan Data page
- Override Processing Status page
Session: Intermediate Pell Processing - Pell Troubleshooting
When: Tuesday, 2/13/2024, 9:00AM 11:00AM
Audience: Staff responsible for managing Pell payment
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
-
Understand how to read and work examples in the Pell Reports
- Pell Records by Transaction Status
- Pell Records by Status
- Pell Origination Validation Report
- Pell Disbursement Validation Report
- Pell Disbursement Status Report
-
Understand how to perform Pell troubleshooting using various pages in ctcLink
- View COD Data page
- Manage Pell Payment page
Session: The Adventures of the R2T4 Worksheet Session 1
When: Thursday, 1/25/2024, 1:00PM 3:00PM
Audience: Staff responsible for processing R2T4 calculations
Presenters: Molly Groyer, FA Support Functional Analyst
Objectives:
- Identify students to be reviewed for R2T4 by Mass Assigning F03 Service Indicator
- Find a student’s institutional determination date & withdrawal date in ctcLink
- Find a student’s institutional charges
- Create & complete an R2T4 worksheet & understand the functionality of key fields on the Worksheet
- Adjust federal aid & undisburse/re-disburse
- Add an F05 Service Indicator
- Review available R2T4 queries
Training Team Updates
The QRGs and BPGs are still currently undergoing a continual overhaul to accommodate the upcoming PeopleTools 8.59 system upgrade. We expect these updates to continue until the end of the year and into the next year through Aid Year Rollover. If you have guides or QRGs printed out, please continue to check the ctcLink Reference Center for the most current version.
Just for Fun!
Which Christmas cookie matches your personality? I’m a sugar cookie!
Which Christmas Cookie Matches Your Personality Quiz (buzzfeed.com)
Happiest of holidays to you all,
FA Support & FA Training
Knowing is Half the Battle
RECONCILIATION: It is strongly recommended that reconciliation of all financial aid programs occur once per month, and at the very minimum, once per quarter. For Pell, you should be looking for those pgrc files in your EdConnect queue, loading and working them in a timely manner.
DEPT OF ED RESOURCES: Electronic Announcement CB-23-16) Reminder FISAP Due Sept. 29, 2023: https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/library/electronic-announcements/2023-08-30/reminder-fisap-due-sept-29-2023
Query Corner
QUERY FOR CENSUS: The query CTC_FA_CENSUS_DATE_LIST identifies students who have a discrepancy between the FA Load captured at the most recent Authorization via the award activity page versus the FA Load in FA Term. This query will only pull students who have a discrepancy between the FA Loads. Item types included in the criteria are: Pell, Additional Pell, SEOG, SNG, CBS, Institution Grant (ex TCC Grant) and Need Based Tuition Waiver.
When you see results in this query, you want to confirm whether these students are still eligible for these awards at that enrollment level. The awards may need to be recalc’d to reflect the correct enrollment intensity.
This query is yet another check and balance tool in the system to prevent incorrect award amounts from being disbursed.
This query should be run daily and the data worked until Census lock.
Workshops, Trainings, Q & As, and Work Sessions
UPCOMING TRAININGS
Session: State Aid Reconciliation Refresher (Real-Time Reporting to WSAC)
When: Tuesday, 09/26/2023, 9AM 11:00AM
Audience: Staff responsible for reconciliation of financial aid and doing the WSAC draw-down of state funds
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
After completing this training, you should be able to:
- Understand what queries are available for state aid recon and what they do:
- CTC _SNG_COMPARE
- CTC_FA_CBS_SNG_NOT_AWARDED
- CTC_FA_SNG_ELIG_NOTPKGD
- Understand the clean-up reports to run prior to running recon
- Fund Roster
- Understand how to run WCG Interim
- Understand how to use the Fiscal Item Types page to help in your recon efforts
- Tips for success & additional resources
Session: CS Cross-Pillar Training FA-SF: FA Award Adjustments and the FARP/FARC process
When: Tuesday, 10/03/2023, 9:00AM 11:00AM
Audience: FA Staff responsible for adjusting awarded aid & SF Staff responsible for correcting Customer Accounts
Presenters: Alec Risk, SF Functional Trainer & Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
After completing this training, you should be able to:
- FA- Understand how to do award adjustments:
- Adjustments for re-calcs
- Adjustments for R2T4
- FA- Understand options on getting adjustments over to Customer Accounts
- Batch Authorization and Disbursement
- Manual Authorization and Disbursement
- Tips and Tricks for each option
- FA/SF- Understand options for blocking FA refunds due to withdrawals
- SF- Understand the FARP/FARC Process and how to do it
- When and why to reverse it
- SF- Upcoming updates
Session: NSLDS Transfer Monitoring Refresher
When: Tuesday, 10/10/2023, 9:00AM 11:00AM
Audience: Staff responsible for managing transfer students
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- Understand the steps in the Transfer Monitoring/FAH Process:
- Assign NSLDS Checklist
- Process NSLDS Transfer/FAH Monitoring
- Upload/Download File Process
- Import Federal Data Files
- Process NSLDS Files
- Review NSLDS Flagged Students
- Run NSLDS Push
- Resolve NSLDS Checklist or UEM (dependent on business process
In Case You Missed It!
From NASFAA:
Federal Student Aid Estimator | Federal Student Aid
Training Team Updates
The QRGs and BPGs are currently undergoing a continual overhaul to accommodate the upcoming PeopleTools 8.59 system upgrade. We expect these updates to continue until the end of the year. Keep your eyes peeled for a new look and feel of the QRGs in the coming months as we work through 4,000 QRGs and guides in the ctcLink Reference Center!
MOST RECENTLY UPDATED 8.59 QRGs/BPGs:
-
QRGs:
- Update Ability to Benefit Fields In Progress
-
BPGs:
- NSLDS Transfer Monitoring Guide Completed
- FA Fund Management Guide Completed
- Census Processing Guide Completed
- Blocking FA Refunds Due to Withdrawals Business Process Guide In Progress
Just for Fun!
More gratitude! Here’s three more things I am grateful for today! What are yours? If you struggle to find something you’re grateful for. . . here’s a list! 101 Things To Be Grateful For In Your Life - Happier Human
- Hoodie season! I am so happy to be able to throw on a warm hoodie on the weekends.
- Pets! I have a tuxedo cat who will be 19 years old in a couple of months, can you believe that?! He just lives to be with us and to go on supuuurrrrrvised visits outside. He loves anything cheesy (Cheetos, string cheese, and Cheez Itz) and treats before bed.
- Movement! I make it a priority to move every day, either with a walk or going to the gym, it’s a must!
Happy Monday,
FA Support & FA Training
Knowing is Half the Battle
- NEGATIVE DISBURSEMENT FILES: Have you ever seen a crnd23op.xxx file in your EdConnect queue? The CRND file is a Pell Grant file that can be loaded into PeopleSoft. The COD system-generated Responses of Document Type ND (Negative Disbursement) are generated for several situations, including Verification Status Code W, Negative Pending Records, Potential Overaward Process (POPs), and Pell LEU deobligation reductions.
Consider the following example. Note the different disbursement amounts of Disbursement 2, there are two different sequence numbers:
The second disbursement and the second sequence, the disbursement has been reduced, perhaps either from a POP, a Pell LEU deobligation . . .
- WHY WOULD I GET THIS FILE IN MY EDCONNECT QUEUE? COD sends you the pgmr file to resolve MRR issues. Schools have 30 days to resolve the issues before COD cancels the award and then subsequently sends the crnd file. If you always resolve your MRR/POP issues on time, you will very rarely see the crnd file in your EdConnect queue.
- HOW CAN I PREVENT THESE CRND FILES FROM APPEARING IN MY QUEUE AND MAKE MY RECONCILIATION EASIER?! Run your MRR/POP processes on time, and often! You will tend not to get the CRDN files in your queue if you are running your Pell MRR/POP processes on time and often.
Think about how often you need to run them and work the NSLDS suspense. If you have open enrollment, or transfer students coming in at a certain time, you may need to run these processes more often than once a quarter. At a minimum, it is recommended you run the Pell MRR/POP process at least once a month. Maybe you’ll only get one or two students on the MRR report, each time you run it, but that’s one less time you will get a Negative Disbursement file (CRND) in your queue.
Hint! Run the Pell MRR/POP and NSLDS TSM processes now; summer is over you may have some students who are coming to you from a header school that may have already received a disbursement in this AY. Prevent MRR, Pell LEU issues and POP issues now instead of later. Make your recon easier going forward.
Query Corner
AWARDING REMAINING AID: Are you still packaging aid for fall students? Have some projected aid left over from summer from students who did not use it and you want to award it to eligible students? Try running this query: QCS_FA_AWARD_FSEOG. The query will pull students who are eligible for FSEOG but do not have any in their award package yet.
Tip: Use filters in the Summer and/or Fall enrollment columns to find the students with the desired enrollment intensities, filtering out the non-enrolled students.
Workshops, Trainings, Q & As, and Work Sessions
UPCOMING TRAININGS
Session: CS Core Refresher: Update a Letter Template with Merge Fields
When: Wednesday, 09/20/2023, 8:30AM 10:00AM
Audience: Staff responsible for communications
Presenter: Tanjagay Martin, CS Core Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- Update a Letter Template
- Merge data from an XML file containing all letter template fields
Session: State Aid Reconciliation Refresher (Real-Time Reporting to WSAC)
When: Tuesday, 09/26/2023, 9AM 11:00AM
Audience: Staff responsible for reconciliation of financial aid and doing the WSAC draw-down of state funds
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
After completing this training, you should be able to:
- Understand what queries are available for state aid recon and what they do:
- CTC _SNG_COMPARE
- CTC_FA_CBS_SNG_NOT_AWARDED
- CTC_FA_SNG_ELIG_NOTPKGD
- Understand the clean-up reports to run prior to running recon
- Fund Roster
- Understand how to run WCG Interim
- Understand how to use the Fiscal Item Types page to help in your recon efforts
- Tips for success & additional resources
Note: There are no FA Work Sessions Scheduled in September happy Fall!🍂
In Case You Missed It!
PRP 4.1 QA and FISAP Walk-Through
- Overview of updates from PRP 4.1 for FISAP 2024-2025
- Overview of updates to the FISAP Processing BPG
- Detailed walk-through of FISAP processing steps (impromptu training)
https://fsapartners.ed.gov/help-center/mailing-lists-listservs
- Have you signed up for the FSA Tech Listserv(s)? Be in the know about processing issues with COD and CPS
Training Team Updates
Thank you for your response to the Training Survey that went out to the list serv on 8/28. Based on your valued feedback, we have planned out Trainings and Work Sessions through May 2024.
Also based on feedback, Trainings and Work Sessions will stay on their normal scheduled day of trainings on Tuesday mornings and work sessions on Thursday afternoons.
Trainings will be twice a month, and Work Sessions once a month.
Stay tuned for calendar invites to upcoming trainings and work sessions coming soon to an inbox near you!
If you are curious, here are the results from the survey:
Just for Fun!
I am sharing with you my three things I am grateful for today! What are yours? If you struggle to find something . . . here’s a list! 101 Things To Be Grateful For In Your Life - Happier Human
- Sunshine!
- Fuzzy warm Ugg boots
- Nature on the weekends (check out this baby deer pic who got SUPER close to me at the park last weekend!- how can that not make you SQUEEEEEE!!!!!) \
Knowing is Half the Battle
UPDATE FROM FA SUPPORT:
- LOAN DEBT LETTERS: Some changes are coming to the Loan Debt Letter template. For Direct Loans, the REPAYE repayment plan has been replaced by the SAVE plan. So, the following updates to the Loan Debt Letter template are being made:
Query Corner
SAP BY STUDENT GROUP: Are you still finding yourself manually checking SAP on different populations of students? Do you have Veteran students you need to check SAP on? Maybe there are other student groups you need to check. There’s a query for that! You can run QCS_FA_STDNTGRP_SAP_STATUS by Term and Student Group. The query will show the Term GPA, Cumulative GPA, Current Attempted Units, Cumulative Attended Units, Current Earned Units, and Cumulative Earned Units, as well as their calculated SAP status for the term.
Workshops, Trainings, Q & As, and Work Sessions
TRAININGS
Session: CS Core Refresher: Update a Letter Template with Merge Fields
When: Wednesday, 09/20/2023, 8:30AM 10:00AM
Audience: Staff responsible for communications
Presenter: Tanjagay Martin, CS Core Functional Trainer
Objectives:
- Update a Letter Template
- Merge data from an XML file containing all letter template fields
Session: State Aid Reconciliation Refresher (Real-Time Reporting to WSAC)
When: Tuesday, 09/26/2023, 9AM 11:00AM
Audience: Staff responsible for reconciliation of financial aid and doing the WSAC draw-down of state funds
Presenters: Kelly Forsberg, FA Functional Trainer
Objectives:
After completing this training, you should be able to:
- Understand what queries are available for state aid recon and what they do:
- CTC _SNG_COMPARE
- CTC_FA_CBS_SNG_NOT_AWARDED
- CTC_FA_SNG_ELIG_NOTPKGD
- Understand the clean-up reports to run prior to running recon
- Fund Roster
- Understand how to run WCG Interim
- Understand how to use the Fiscal Item Types page to help in your recon efforts
- Tips for success & additional resources
Note: There are no FA Work Sessions Scheduled in September happy Fall!🍂
In Case You Missed It!
We are giving a {{ big shout out }} to the SF Team here at State Board who put on a fabulous Charge Priority List (CPL) Work Session last week on 8/23/2023! If you’re ever curious about why your Item Types are behaving a certain way in Customer Accounts, it’s all about your CPL set up.
For example, are you seeing multiple sources of funding in the Customer Accounts, and some of the funding you think should be applying to specific charges is now showing as ‘unapplied’ to the Customer Accountsmeaning, it never picked up the charge?
Check out this previously recorded SF work session (listed below) to get a deeper-dive on how Charge Priority Lists are functioning at your institution.
SF Charge Priority Work Session
- Once logged into the ctcLink Pillar Work Session Information course, navigate to: Modules > Student Financials Work Sessions (2023) > Charge Priority Lists (CPLs) Held on 8/23/2023
- ctcLink Pillar Work Session Information (01:56:55)
Training Team Updates
The QRGs and BPGs are currently undergoing a continual overhaul to accommodate the upcoming PeopleTools 8.59 system upgrade. We expect these updates to continue until the end of the year. Keep your eyes peeled for a new look and feel of the QRGs in the coming months as we work through 4,000 QRGs and guides in the ctcLink Reference Center!
MOST RECENTLY UPDATED 8.59 QRGs/BPGs:
- QRGs:
- NSLDS Suspense Management Completed
- BPGs:
- FA Flow Business Processing Guide Completed
Just for Fun!
Let’s Talk Screen Time! Let’s face it, we spend a lot of time in front of screens. 8 + hours at work, and then maybe we go to watch some television when we get home, and let’s not forget about the scrollin’ on the phones. Our work is blue-screen heavy, so here’s some helpful tips on how to keep your eyes and mind healthy in our digital environments:
- Tip #1) Take a nature break. We live in a state where there is a lot of greenery and scenery. Commit to those walks outside and make sure you’re getting your daily dose of sunshine, even if it is hidden behind the PNW clouds.
- Tip #2) Move more when you’re at your desk. Do some neck stretching, raise your arms up and stretch, do some torso-twisting in the chair.
- Tip #3) Make your sleep domain a sanctuary! Keep electronics charging in the other room so it’s not the last thing we are doing at night and the first thing we reach for in the morning.
- Tip #4) Use orange lighting. I do this at my house, the LED lights are too much for me sometimes, so I use soft orange lighting when I am winding down at night.
- Tip #5) Practice mindfulness at work. Find time to center yourself and breathe when there’s a quiet moment. Close your eyes, remove your glasses if you wear them. Let your eyes rest for a few moments.
- Tip #6) Find time to bond with your teammates and your families. Schedule a team bonding activity where you don’t have to look at the computer. You can make it work-focused, but maybe go old school and use index cards and other paper aids. Haha, even this is a hard one for me. Paper? Ew.
- Tip #7) Rotate out some time for office chores: Schedule a day of the week where you take turns cleaning out the clutter in the office, reorganize the office supply closet, dust the printer drawers and shelves, dust off the filing cabinet. Spend 5 10 mins on one day, a few times a month, and you’ve spent less time looking at a screen and you’re organizing your workspace, clearing your head to be ready for the day.
- Tip #7) Turn down the brightness on your monitor. This is my personal favorite. I always have my monitor and my phone on the dimmest setting. Sure, I may not be able to see it well enough when the sun is shining on it, but that’s what window shades are for yes? My eyes will be thankful later.
For other tips, check out the article below:
Source: 10 Ways to Protect the Brain from Daily Screen Time | Psychology Today
TGIF-eve,
FA Support & FA Training
Knowing is Half the Battle!
Super Helpful Reminders and Tips!
- PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL WITH ENTERING YOUR FILE PATHS WHEN OUTBOUNDING/INBOUNDING COD FILES 😩 When working in Inbound or Outbound pages, and anywhere a file path and file name is required for outbounding or inbounding, please copy the file path from the Upload/Download page and ensure it is for the intended the specific business process step. The file path is case-sensitive and needs to be exact for it to work. If there are hand-keyed typos or errors in the file path, the process stops for ALL 33 colleges in the CTC System. That means no college FA Office will be able to inbound or outbound until the college that keyed in the error works with state board to resolve the issue. ::no pressure!!::
Additionally, if the process fails (check your Process Monitor), STOP (Hammer Time!), then submit a ticket to State Board Help Desk so we can help you get the process working again. Do not run it again until State Board resolves it.
Query Corner!
- Tips to help you get ahead of checklist completion on 2024 AY students: You can run this query QCS_FA_SCC_ISIRVSBIODEMOCIT - Compare Citizen ISIRvsBioDemo to help you find checklists that you may be able to complete pre-emptively based on what the FAFSA and SSA is clearing the student for citizenship. Run the query in Query Viewer (this early in the aid year), and you can sort and filter and find row difference between the citizenship in the ISIR vs. citizenship in the Add/Update a Person page in ctcLink. If the FAFSA is clearing that student’s citizenship status through the SSA check, but the citizenship is different in Add/Update a Person, you can reach out to your records friends to ask them to update the citizenship based on what cleared SSA in the 2023-2024 ISIR. Then, you can resolve the checklist, thereby reducing the number of times a student must come to your office to resolve something they may have already resolved in the prior AY.
More Query Corner!
More query need-to-knows!
-
Fields added to QCS_FA_REPEAT_CRSES query: To address item number 15 from the FAST Maintenance List for SAP-related issues, we have migrated updates to the QCS_FA_REPEAT_CRSES query to Production to display the following additional data sets. The addition of these fields should eliminate the need to do double work and compare this query against the QCS_SR_ENRL_MIN_VARIABLE to differentiate between repeat courses and variable credit courses.
- Variable Credit Indicator on Class (Units Taken, Min Units, Max Units)
- Repeat Grading Basis flag (e.g. RPEX, etc) - display if value exists, but do not filter to only those with this value.
-
Short description changed for QCS_FA_EXPTD_GRAD_HAD_AID query: To address item number 16 from the FAST Maintenance List for SAP-related issues, we have migrated to Production an update to the QCS_FA_EXPTD_GRAD_HAD_AID query. The short description was changed for this query to better define its purpose, and to help colleges differentiate it from the QCS_FA_EXPTD_GRAD_WITH_AID query.
- Previous Short Description: "Exptd Grd Stdnt by Term"
- New Short Description: "StuW/FA TrmActvtn + ExptdGrdDt"
What’s Coming Down the Pike?:
-
FA Training Sessions
- The next FA Training is scheduled for Tuesday, 03/07/23, and will be on an ISIR Processing Refresher. This training is geared to those needing a refresher on the Combined and Single File Process for ISIR Processing. All trainings happening in 2023 have been sent out to the ctclinkfinaidsupport list serv, with a calendar invite that includes Webex log in info.
-
FA Work Sessions
- The next FA Work session is scheduled for Thursday, 03/23/23. The session topic is 3Cs for You and Me, with presenter, Debbie Englehardt! Debbie will present the 3Cs info at an advanced level to help you better understand what’s going on under the hood with your 3Cs. Don’t miss it!
In Case You Missed It:
From NASFAA:
Note, you must be a NASFAA member to take the above NASFAA poll. Link to the Housing Question Poll.
Training Team Updates:
Reminder! On Monday 04/17/2023, the Training Team will offer a cross-pillar training on the end-to-end process of how funds move from FA to SF to FIN-GL. A calendar invite with Webex information is forthcoming in the coming weeks as content and objectives are developed. Also, as we are developing content, please feel free to email [email protected] your specific struggles in reconciliation that you would like to see covered in the session.
Environment Updates:
Reminders!
- The PRD Environment is having scheduled maintenance for OAAP (Admissions):
Date - Saturday, March 11, 2023, 7:00 am 8:00 am
Issue - SBCTC will be performing maintenance on the admissions application (OAAP).
- The Campus Solutions pillar will be unavailable during the maintenance period.
- Admissions (OAAP) and HighPoint HCX mobile pages will be unavailable during the maintenance period.
- Integration between CampusCE and ctcLink will be unavailable during the maintenance period.
- The Portal, HCM, and Finance pillars will remain online during the maintenance period.
- Canvas will not be impacted.
Just for Fun! 😊
This Day in History. March 3rd, 1934 - The notorious gangster John Dillinger used a wooden pistol to break out of prison. Dillinger broke free with another prisoner, Herbert Youngblood. The duo took off to Chicago in a Sheriff's car.
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/12/19/dillingers-wooden-gun/?chrome=1
Knowing is Half the Battle!
Super Helpful Reminders and Tips!
- Is WCG/CBS Awarding giving you rounding headaches? 😩 When you are awarding, do your awards split unevenly and you end up having to correct them with Custom Split? For example, the award distributes to Fall $1490, Winter $1488, and Spring $1488? Like so:
There’s a fix in the set up for that uneven split! From the WCG and CBS Processing Guide, on or around page 10:
So, this means, to get your awards to round evenly, without having to Custom Split the award, you have the discretion to increase or decrease the award set up by $1 or $2 to get your awards to split evenly when auto-packaging:
From the WCG Set Up page, (Set Up SACR > Product Related > Financial Aid > CTC Custom > CTC Interfaces > WA College Grant > WCG Set Up):
Increase the total award amount by $1 or $2 up or down, if it meets the above criteria in the red box, from the WCG and CBS Business Processing Guide. For example, the
First MFI range in the table will split unevenly, when divided by 3: $4466 / 3 = $1488.666666. If you increase the total award set up amount by $1, the award splits evenly: $4467 / 3 = $1489
Continue to adjust all other award amounts in the WCG and CBS Set Up table, up or down by $1 or $2, so the award splits evenly when awarding. This adjustment is permitted, per the WSAC WCG and CBS Program Manual, pg. 30
Example only:
To fully test this adjustment out, please work in PCD. You may also file a ticket with ctcLink FA Support for assistance on getting these tables updated.
Query Corner!
- What are the most commonly used queries in FA? Here they are, all lumped into a QRG for your convenience: NEW! Most Commonly Used Fin Aid ctcLink Queries this ctcLink Reference Center Doc holds all the commonly used queries for each sub-module in FA
What’s Coming Down the Pike?:
Aid Year Rollover Sessions
O FA Support is in the process of rolling your Aid Year over to the upcoming 2023-2024 Aid Year. We will be wrapping up with all colleges’ AYROs by the end of the month in February.
-
FA Training Sessions
- The next FA Training is scheduled for Tuesday, 03/07/23. All calendar invites with Webex log in info are sent out to those subscribed to the ctclinkfinaidsupport list serv. You can track all events in FA and other pillar areas here in the SBCTC Calendar. Tip, you can filter to just FA using the filters on the right side of the SBCTC calendar page.
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FA Work Sessions
- The next FA Work session is scheduled for Thursday, 02/23/23. The session topic is ISIR Suspense Management Best Practices, with guest presenters, Spokane Falls Community College’s very own, Ashley Clark, Rena Tinnell, and Maddie Leutwyler. They will be presenting the goods on how they manage their ISIR suspense and what works for their unique institution. Kelly Forsberg will also review general Best Practices as recommended from State Board. Don’t miss it!
In Case You Missed It:
From NASFAA:
Training Team Updates:
New! On Monday 04/17/2023, the Training Team will offer a cross-pillar training on the end-to-end process of how funds move from FA to SF to FIN-GL. A calendar invite with Webex information is forthcoming in the coming weeks as content and objectives are developed.
Environment Updates:
Reminders!
- PCD Environment Refresh on March 6th, 2023. If you have any data you are testing in the PCD environment, you still have time to build and test before the next refresh.
Just for Fun! 😊
This Day in History. Black History Today states, “On February 10, 1964, the United States House of Representatives passed The Civil Rights Act of 1964 after 70 days of debate. The Act made discrimination illegal on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, and sex in public accommodations, employment, and programs that are federally funded. A substitute bill of this major piece of civil rights legislation was finally approved on June 19, 1964 by the United States Senate after a 50 day filibuster organized by senators from the south. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Act into law on July 2, 1964. Being a law and being an enforced law are two different things, it still took years for many areas of the country to abide by The Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
Knowing is Half the Battle!
Super Helpful Reminders and Tips!
- No Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in Tickets Just a friendly reminder to not list SSNs or other PII in ticket details. When tickets are received here at State Board, emails are generated to SBCTC and to the college. If PII like social security numbers are in the ticket notes, they show up in the emails. If you need to submit SSN detail, you may do so in screen shots; a Solar Winds User will have to log in and authenticate into the system to review the data. Signing into Solar Winds protects client information. You may use directory information in your ticket notes.
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Requesting New Item Types in Tickets When requesting a new Item Type, please use one Item Type Request form. If you have multiple Item Types you are requesting, you can attach a spreadsheet to your ticket detail that outlines your Item Type request. You may use the Multiple Item Type Form Template attached in this email. Less Item Types forms to fill out/sign is a win for you, a win for us!
- Additionally, when opening a ticket to request a new item type, please use the following request type so the ticket gets routed to the proper team:
ctcLink Support > Campus Solution > SF FA > Item Types
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Changing Disbursement Dates in Your Disbursement ID Table Please do not change your Disbursement Dates in your Disbursement ID Tables. Doing so causes problems when you go to undisburse awards with the original disbursement date. Changing the disbursement after awarding begins, it will prevent aid from disbursing if the disbursement has the old disbursement date.
- For example, if a student had a disbursement date of 09/15/2022 on disbursement plan 50, when initially awarded, and then someone went into the Disbursement ID Table and updated the Fall Disbursement Date to 10/15/2022, it will cause a problem in disbursing.
Nav: Set Up SACR > Product Related > Financial Aid > Awards > Disbursement ID Table
Query Corner!
- What are the most commonly used queries in FA? Here they are, all lumped into a QRG for your convenience: NEW! Most Commonly Used Fin Aid ctcLink Queries this ctcLink Reference Center Doc holds all the commonly used queries for each sub-module in FA
What’s Coming Down the Pike?:
Aid Year Rollover Sessions
O FA Support is in the process of rolling your Aid Year over to the upcoming 2023-2024 Aid Year. Check your calendars for your dates!
-
Training Sessions
- 2023 Training sessions and dates are being finalized. Stay tuned to the ctclinkfasupport list serv for calendar invites as to when the sessions will be added. You can also check the SBCTC Calendar for updates.
Training Team Updates:
New! Following up from our Cross-Pillar Training Session on 11/29 for Veterans’ Benefit processing, we are pleased to announce a new resource document on the ctcLink Reference Center called the Veterans’ Education Benefit Resource Guide. Thank you to SBCTC’s Douglas Zeno, Bellevue College’s FA Director Melanie Ruiz, North Seattle College’s Dean Brianne Sanchez, and Bellevue College’s SCO Josh Kienlen who all collaborated on the development and review of this resource document.
Environment Updates:
Reminders!
- PCD Environment Refresh on January 9th, 2023. If you have any data you are testing in the PCD environment, remember that it will be lost in the refresh.
- There is an image overview document (IOVD) from the PUM 27 update on 12/17. You can review the IOVD document here: https://www.sbctc.edu/resources/documents/colleges-staff/it-support/erp/ctclink-accessibility/ctclink-cs-image-27-overview-2022-12.pdf
Just for Fun! 😊
This Day in History. Samuel Morse unveils the telegraph, revolutionizing communication. On January 6, 1838, Samuel Morse's telegraph system is demonstrated for the first time at the Speedwell Iron Works in Morristown, New Jersey. We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?
Knowing is Half the Battle!
Super Helpful Reminders and Tips!
- Funds Not Yet Recorded in the System - Are you still working through this pesky error messages in your Auth Failure Report? Remember, that if you are getting this error message, you likely need to load your crecmyop and crpn files. This message can also appear on direct loans that have not been originated.
Query Corner!
- What are the most commonly used queries in FA? Here they are, all lumped into a QRG for your convenience: NEW! Most Commonly Used Fin Aid ctcLink Queries this ctcLink Reference Center Doc holds all the commonly used queries for each sub-module in FA
What’s Coming Down the Pike?:
Just In Time Trainings (FA Training):
O SAP Processing Refresher (Winter SAP/Fall Grades) 12/20/22 9:00 AM 11:00 AM
O Follow Up Q & A SAP Processing Refresher 12/22/22 9:00AM 11:00 AM
In Case You Missed It:
From NASFAA:
Environment Updates:
Reminder! Planned Service Outage for CS PRD on Saturday, December 17, 2022 7:00 am - 1:00 pm - CS Image 27 & HCX Update
Just for Fun! 😊
Geminid MeteorShower. Look skyward on the nightof December 13 after 9P.M.for a chance to catch a glimpse of theGeminid meteors.The Geminidmeteor shower is the most active shower of theyear. This year, the peak of the meteor shower meets a waning gibbous Moon, meaning that the sky will still be affected somewhat by the light of the Moon. If the sky is clear and temperatures aren’t too chilly, it’s still worth venturing outside to try to see theGeminids. Check out theGeminidMeteor Showerpage for more info.
(Source: The Month of December 2022: Holidays, Fun Facts, Folklore & More | The Old Farmer's Almanac)
Knowing is Half the Battle!
Super Helpful Reminders and Tips!
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PLUS LOANS Can’t link a parent borrower to the student? Getting a ‘reciprocal error’ message? Argh-- parent relationship issues ensue! You might be missing essential steps in the Add/Update a Person page when building the parent record.
- In the Add/Update a Person page in Campus Community, the parent borrower’s Marital Status and Sex cannot be defined as “Unknown”.
- Tip! You can deduce what the parent borrower’s marital status is by checking the Correct 20xx-20xx ISIR Records pageis the parent borrower a Parent 1 or Parent 2 on the FAFSA? If yes, check the Marital Status there, and define.
Campus Community > Personal Information > Add/Update a Person
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SUPPRESSED LOANS Can’t edit a Direct Loan award? Does the loan look suppressed like it does in the image below, and you can’t edit amounts or actions? The reason? You have a loan in transmission status to COD, and it may be awaiting a response file load to ctcLink!
- In the View COD Data page, search by the EMPL ID, and find the COD Document ID for your student. Then run the query QCS_FA_MISSING_COD_RESPONSE and look for the Document ID there is the Document ID listed in the query results? If yes, you have missed uploading or processing a COD response file into ctcLink. Find that file and load it into ctcLink
- Tip! Run the query QCS_FA_MISSING_COD_RESPONSE weekly to ensure you are not missing any file loads.
Financial Aid > Awards > Award Processing > Assign Awards to a Student Award is suppressed:
Financial Aid > File Management > Full COD Participant > View COD Data - View COD Data page with Document ID:
Reporting Tools > Query > Query Viewer - QCS_FA_MISSING_COD_RESPONSE Query results showing Document ID that is missing from being loaded:
Query Corner!
o R2T4 - ARE YOU RUNNING THE LDA (Last Date of Attendance for R2T4) QUERY AND NOT GETTING RESULTS? When running the query CTC_FA_LDA_BY_STUDENT and no results pop up --
§ Grades may not have yet been entered into the Grade Roster for the specified term. The college instructors may be putting grades in later on, so sometimes you do have to flag down your instructors to find last date of attendance for R2T4 purposes. To make this query work in your favor, please define your business process with your instructional department, and records teams to get an ideal time in which to enter grades for students who have vanished or withdrawn.
Training Team Stuff!
- UPDATED Business Processing Guides:
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UPDATED QRGs:
- Awarding a PLUS Loan (Under Construction)
- Added Image 26 Bug 34705206 Information to:
- Making ISIR Corrections
- Making Corrections on an Alien Registration Number
- Creating a Prorated EFC
- Manually Loading ISIRs
- Processing Dependency Overrride/Homeless Youth Determination ISIRs in ctcLink
What’s Coming Down the Pike?:
Just In Time Trainings (FA Training):
- Loan Processing Refresher 11/8/22 9:00 AM 11:00 AM
o Follow Up Q & A for Loan Processing Refresher 11/10/22 9:00 AM 10:00 AM
O RESCHEDULED - Veteran’s Benefit Processing 11/29/22 9:00AM 11:00 AM
Fin Aid Work Session (FA Support):
oNEW! Aid Year Roll Over (AYRO) Prep 11/17/22 1:00 PM 3:00 PM Calendar invite forthcoming
Environment Updates:
Reminder! The next PCD refresh will take place on Monday, November 7. That means you are running out of time for any testing you want to do in PCD. Remember that any processes you have built or students you have staged, will be wiped in the refresh, and replaced with the most recent data in the PRD environment.
Reminder! This notice is for all users of the ctcLink production environment. PRD will be undergoing maintenance on Saturday, November 12 from 7AM - 7:30 AM. SBCTC will be installing critical Oracle patches during this maintenance window:
- The entire ctcLink production environment will remain offline during the maintenance window.
- Users logging into ctcLink will be directed to an offline notice.
- Canvas will not be impacted but users will need to access Canvas directly rather than through ctcLink.
Just For Fun! 😂 Did you Know?
- Spooky season may be over, but I’m not letting it pass without sharing this spooky tale about the islands of haunted dolls!Read on to be rendered weirded out!
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, within the city limits of one of the world’s biggest metropolises, Mexico City, lies one of the last remnants of the Aztecs.
Xochimilco, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a vast network of canals and tiny artificial islands called chinampas, where locals live and grow crops.
One such chinampa, deep in the heart of Xochimilco, houses a few small huts, outnumbered by thousands of mutilated, decaying dolls.
The aptly named Island of the Dolls, or La Isla de las Muñecas, is home to the world’slargest collection of haunted dolls.
The haunting story of the man who built the Island of Dolls | Guinness World Records
Knowing is Half the Battle!
Super Helpful Reminders and Tips!
- WHOOPS! Have you noticed that Run Control IDs can carry from one Search Criteria page to another Search Criteria page when you are first running a process? Take care not to let a Run Control ID for the previous step become your new (and same) Run Control ID for a different step in a process. Work carefully in how you move through ctcLink; as you may be creating duplicate Run Control IDs for the same process. Remember that Run Control IDs are like tattoos, once they’re created, they cannot be removed.
NO RAGRETS 😊
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DID YOU KNOW?
- You can set recurrences on specific processes. For example, if you would like to queue up your Mass Assign F03 process to assign on students who drop classes, and not have you manually run it every day, and you want this to be done on a recurrence, you can set this up in your Process Scheduler:
In Process Scheduler, define your recurrence to how often you want it to run, and select your Distribution link to define who you want the report to go to:
Define your Distribution Detail so that the report can go to you and/or your backup:
- DID YOU KNOW? CONT’D - You can use User Edit Messages (UEMs) to hold disbursements. UEMs work like Service Indicators. UEMs are specific to Fin Aid Processing and aren’t available in any other module. You can use a UEM to hold disbursements on any business process you deem effective. The use of UEMs is optional and is a local process decision.
- Here’s a few QRGs if you want to explore using UEMs
Query Corner!
o ARE YOU HAVING A HEYDAY WITH LOANS? For example, “Why am I getting weird error messages, or why are my loans not splitting into two disbursements for a single-term loan?” The answer? You might have used a grant Disbursement Plan on your loan.
§ CTC_FA_LOANS_WRONG_DISB_PLAN
- Run this query to do a sweep to see who has been assigned a grant disbursement plan. Remember that loans should be awarded using disbursement plans that have the 30, 40 or 50 series attached to them, not 08, 09, or 01 (those are grant disbursement plans). Take care to not choose a grant disbursement plan when awarding loans.
Training Team Stuff!
o UPDATED QRG:
§ 9.2 Assigning a College Financing Plan 9.2 Assigning a College Financing Plan | 9.2 FA - Student Access | ctcLink Reference Center
What’s Coming Down the Pike?:
Just In Time Trainings (FA Training):
- Loan Processing Refresher 11/8/22 9:00 AM 11:00 AM
o Follow Up Q & A for Loan Processing Refresher 11/10/22 9:00 AM 10:00 AM
O RESCHEDULED - Veteran’s Benefit Processing 11/29/22 9:00AM 11:00 AM
Fin Aid Work Session (FA Support):
oNEW! Aid Year Roll Over (AYRO) Prep 11/17/22 1:00 PM 3:00 PM Calendar invite forthcoming
Environment Updates:
Reminder! The next PCD refresh will take place on Monday, November 7. That means you are running out of time for any testing you want to do in PCD. Remember that any processes you have built or students you have staged, will be wiped in the refresh, and replaced with the most recent data in the PRD environment.
🕷️ Bug 34705206! Correct ISIR 20XX-20XX Records Jump to First Record When Going Between Tabs. A bug installed with Image 26 causes the page to switch to a different effective dated row after selecting tabs or the INAS button if the student has more than one ISIR loaded for the aid year. When switching between tabs on the page, it will move to the first (most recent) effective dated row. When selecting the INAS button will move to the last (oldest) effective dated row.
- Impact. An inconvenience. There is no impact to functionality.
- Workaround? Staff can select the correct effective dated row as they move to each tab or after selecting the INAS button
- Status. Fix scheduled for Image 28. Anticipated install into ctcLink Spring 2023.
- Navigation Affected. NavBar > Navigator > Financial Aid > Federal Application Data > Correct 20XX-20XX ISIR records
- Updates to impacted QRGs forthcoming
Just For Fun! 😂 ~Trivia~ Dia de los Meurtos Version
-Dia de los Muertos is different from Halloween. Dia de los Muertos is celebrated after Halloween, on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2
- Dia de los Muertos originated in ancient Mesoamerica (Mexico and Northern Central America) where indigenous groups, Aztec, Maya, and Toltec had specific times when they commemorated their loved ones who had passed away.
- Nov 1 is celebrated to remember children who have departed, and Nov 2 is to honor adults.
- Dia de los Muertos is a celebration of life, an opportunity to remember and celebrate the lives of departed ones. The celebrations are filled with music and dancing.
- The Ofrenda is a central component of these days; the Ofrenda is a temporary alter for family members to honor their loved ones and provide them what they need for their journeyitems that belonged to them, and objects that serve as a reminder of their lives.
- The ofrenda includes the four elements: water, wind, earth, and fire. Water is left in a pitcher so spirits can quench their thirst. Papel picado (paper banners) represent the wind. Earth is represented by food, especially bread. Candles are left so spirits can find their way.
- Flowers, butterflies, and skulls are used as symbols. A cempasúchil is a type of Marigold flower often placed on ofrendas and graves. Monarch butterflies hold the spirits of the departed. Monarchs arrive in Mexico for the winter, typically on Nov 1, which coincides with Dia de los Muertos. Calaveritas de azucar, or sugar skulls, along with toys, are left on alters for departed children. The often-colorful skulls are used as a whimsical reminder of the cyclicality of life.
Five facts about Día de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) | Smithsonian Institution (si.edu)
Knowing is Half the Battle!
Super Helpful Reminders and Tips!
o THOU SHALT NOT (Please? )
- THOU SHALT NOT IGNORE THY JOBSETS
- Please monitor your Jobsets each morning. If any parts of your nested JobSets, or JobSets themselves failed, please reach out to [email protected] immediately so we can help you resolve it.
- PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL WITH ENTERING YOUR FILE PATHS WHEN OUTBOUNDING/INBOUNDING COD FILES
· When working in Inbound or Outbound pages, and anywhere a file path and file name is required for outbounding or inbounding, please copy the file path from the Upload/Download page and ensure it is for the intended the specific business process step. The file path is case-sensitive and needs to be exact for it to work. If there are hand-keyed typos or errors in the file path, the process stops for ALL 34 colleges in the CTC System. That means no college FA Office will be able to inbound or outbound until the college that keyed in the error works with state board to resolve the issue. ::no pressure!!::
The images below display a correct example, and an incorrect example. Can you spot the differences?
Correct:
Incorrect:
Query Corner!
o ARE YOU TRACKING FA LOAD OVERRIDES IN FA TERM? When you run this query, you can check to see who has an override checkbox checked on FA Term.
§ CTC_FA_OVRD_BOX_CHKD_FA_LOAD
- Run this query to do a sweep to see who has a FA Load of F, and see if there are load differences. While reviewing, ask yourself, do any updates need to be made, is data still correct in the award page, the FA Term area, and the student’s enrollment/FA eligible classes?
Training Team Stuff!
o NEW QRG:
§ 9.2 Track Agency Funding https://ctclinkreferencecenter.ctclink.us/m/92420/l/1611225-9-2-track-agency-funding-financial-aid
What’s Coming Down the Pike?:
Just In Time Trainings (FA Training):
o Work Study Processing 10/11/22 9:00 AM 11:00 AM
o Follow Up Q & A for Work Study Processing 10/6/22 9:00 AM 10:00 AM
Environment Updates:
Reminder! The next PCD refresh will take place on Monday, November 7. That means you have time for any testing you want to do in PCD. Remember that any processes you have built or students you have staged, will be wiped in the refresh, and replaced with the most recent data in the PRD environment.
The Campus Solutions Image and HighPoint Mobile HCX 22.2.2 upgrade will be implemented in production on October 15th. SBCTC has created supporting documents that include the changes the user will experience once the upgrades are implemented.These overview documents are now available on the SBCTC website and can be reached at the following links:
- The Campus Solutions Image 26 Overview document includes functional changes for all modules, and an email went out to the list serv on 10/4/2022 which includes the changes to all modules.
Here is a summary for Financial Aid:
- Move 2019-2020 ISIR Components to Financial Aid History
- Simulate 2022-2023 FM INAS
- Award Activity displays User ID for Batch Authorization Bug Fix
- Packaging Message for Recalculated Term Amounts on Pell Awards Bug Fix
Just For Fun! 😂 Did you know these things have names?
-The silent letters in words like ‘knight’ and ‘gnat’ are called apthongs.
- The person with your name who shows up in your Google search results is called your Googleganger
- When every move you can make in the game of chess hurts you, you’re in zugzwang. Think of it as checkmate, but for a pawn, rook, knight, or bishop.
- Scroop is the swooshy sounds ballgowns make, or more generally, the sound produced by the movement of silk.
- Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. Related to pseudodysphagia which is the fear of choking. Can you say arachibutyrophobia with a mouth full of peanut butter?
- A group of donkeys is called a pass.
- A group of wild cats is called a destruction.
- A group of flamingos is called a flamboyance.
- A group of hippos is called a bloat.
- A group of seals is called a harem.
Knowing is Half the Battle!
Super Helpful Reminders and Tips!
o THOU SHALT NOT (Please? )
- DO NOT MANUALLY OVERRIDE LOAN ORIGINATION It has been discovered that there are some occurrences of manually overriding loan origination statuses in the Direct Loan Override page. Please do not do this because manually accepting an origination will not generate again to go out to COD, essentially causing ctcLink and COD to forever be out-of-sync. The loan record will need to be maintained manually in both systems for the rest of the aid year, and this is not the accepted business practice.
- Please use the Validation Error Reports and Loans on Hold Report to work through your loan origination rejects. Once adjustments are made, you can queue the changes up for origination that way. Do not make adjustments in COD and do not manually accept in records in the Direct Loan Override page.
o AWARD LETTERS!
§ EMAIL vs. LETTERS Are you using emails or letters to notify students of their awards?
- The FA Flow Guide has steps for emailing award letter notifications, but you can also mail physical letters out using the download process. The caveat? You must have the letter template set up, or the process will not work in the Communication Generation Step. If you have a letter template set up, here is a quick QRG on mailing out award letters. If you do not have the template set up, please file a ticket, and we can help you get that done. QRG: https://ctclinkreferencecenter.ctclink.us/m/92425/l/1605184-9-2-printing-award-letters-in-batch
- REMINDER THAT YOU CANNOT USE THE COMBINED PROCESS (.txt file) FOR THE “IMPORT COD RESPONSE DATA” STEP
- Please list out your cremyop, crpn, and other related files one at a time, row by row. The Import Federal Data Step does not recognize the combined file process. So, if you have many Funds Not Recorded in the System messages on your Authorization Failure Report, this may also be why, because the step isn’t able to process a .txt file. Please list out the files similar to the example below:
Query Corner!
o HAVING LOAN ISSUES? Putting this query in your arsenal again
§ CTC_FA_MISSING_COD_RESPONSE
- Are you having issues with the “Funds Not Recorded in the System” message on your loans on the Authorization Failure Report? It’s likely you missed loading a COD response file. Run this query to find COD files you may not have loaded. Check your network drive where you saved your files, were any of them missed?
Training Team Stuff!
o UPDATED BUSINESS PROCESSING GUIDE:
§ PELL BUSINESS PROCESS GUIDE Additional language added on page 14 of the downloaded guide that crpg files aren’t the only message class to come through EdConnect for Pell response files, craa files will also come through as response files too
o RECORDINGS POSTED: The FLF & Disbursement Refresher and Census Processing recordings are now available
§ Posted in the FA103 Authorizing and Disbursing Financial Aid Canvas Training course. The recording and slide deck are linked in the Additional Resources Module under the Just In Time Trainings sub-module. Remember, if you get an ‘access denied’ message that means you may not be registered for the course, or you haven’t progressed through the course modules to unlock that module.
What’s Coming Down the Pike?:
Just In Time Trainings (FA Training):
o Track Agency Funding 10/4/22 9:00 AM 11:00 AM
o Follow Up Q & A for Track Agency Funding 10/6/22 9:00 AM 10:00 AM
-
Work Sessions (with college staff guest presenters!):
- File Review Best Practices | Guest Presenter: Sharon Gerlach, Spokane Community College 9/30/22 1:00 PM 3:00 PM
- Top 10 Loan Rejects and Troubleshooting | Guest Presenter: Lorena Saucedo, Tacoma Community College 10/21/22 1:00 PM 3:00 PM (calendar invite forthcoming)
Environment Updates:
- Reminder! The next PCD refresh will take place on Monday, October 3. That means you are running out of time for any testing you still need to do in PCD. Remember that any processes you have built or students you have staged, will be wiped in the refresh, and replaced with the most recent data in the PRD environment.
Just For Fun! 😂 Did you know these things have names?
-The # symbol has a very official name. We might call it the ‘hashtag’, or the ‘pound sign’ if you’re old school. But it actually has a very official name called the octothorpe. #aboutthatfinaidlife
- The fleshy skin around the turkeys neck is called a snood. Still can never find the giblets either. Tip, they’re not in the snood.
- Blackberries and raspberries are among a class of fruits called bramblefruits. Bramble fruits are aggregate fruits, which means they’re made up of smaller units. The units, little bumps on the berries, are called drupelets.
- The bumps on the surface of a ping pong paddle are called pips.
- The prongs on a fork are called tines (why aren’t they just called prongs?) smh
- The foam on the top of a beer is called barm, which is the yeast formed on fermenting malt liquors
- That hard-to-reach spot on your back that you can’t ever seem to reach without a back scratcher? It’s called the acnestis.
- You could call them whiskers, or you could call them vibrissae, which are the stiff hairs that are located on the face and especially about the snout of many mammals.
Knowing is Half the Battle!
- Super Helpful Reminders and Tips!
- ISIR JOBSET MAINTENANCE
-
TERM-BASED RUN CONTROLS: Each quarter, it your responsibility to update your Term-Based run control IDs in your ISIR Jobset.
- What does mean? This means, any Run Control IDs with a term 2225 in them, i.e., Update FA Progress Units, needs to be changed to 2227. Going forward each term, you must make these changes. Please set a reminder in your outlook to remind you that you need to make these changes each term, typically after grades post, and before your next term’s disbursement run. DG6 Trailer colleges, this update does not apply to you for fall, because your terms are already set up for fall since fall is the top of your AYbut it WILL APPLY to you for Term 2231. Please go through your ISIR JobSet and look through all your Run Control IDs, and make sure to update that term from 2225 to 2227.
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IT’S AUTOMAGIC!
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CENSUS & FA TERM: Are you asking yourself, why isn’t FA Load changing to N (No Units) if they’re not registered for classes?
- All your automagic happens when you run the Census Lock Process, on or around your published Census Daythis way, you won’t have to be manually zero’ing out budgets or manually adjusting FA Term when a student tells you they aren’t coming for that term. FA Term will reflect N for No Units once you run Census, if the student is still not registered for classes at that point.
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LOAN DISBURSEMENT DATES: Are you asking yourselfhow do I manually adjust actual loan disbursement dates like I did in FAM?
- The answer? You don’t It’s automagic!! It starts with sending loan origination records out to COD. When you are sending Orig records, you are sending to COD the orig record with the ‘anticipated’ disbursement date. Then, when you disburse loans, and then you send the outbound ‘disbursement records’ to COD. When COD accepts the records, they’ll send you a response, which you load into ctcLink, and voila!the ‘actual disbursement’ loan dates now correctly reflect in the Manage Direct loan Application (MDLA) page. Same thing with Pell, in its respective page. You still have to work those rejects though, which is very not automagic. Run your Validation Error Reports to find and work those rejects.
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CENSUS & FA TERM: Are you asking yourself, why isn’t FA Load changing to N (No Units) if they’re not registered for classes?
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Query Corner!
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TRACKING AUTHORIZATION AND DISBURSEMENT
- CTC_FA_SF_DISCREPANCY_LIST After you disburse aid, run this query to find students who have an amount of aid that has not yet been applied to the student’s View Customer Account page.
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TRACKING AUTHORIZATION AND DISBURSEMENT
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Training Team Stuff!
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UPDATED BUSINESS PROCESSING GUIDE:
-
FA FLOW BUSINESS PROCESS GUIDE The most current version is published to the ctcLink Reference Center as of 9/15/22. The guide is linked here.
- Summary of changes include: Reordering of steps in the FLF Process. Before the layout was to outline Mass Assign FLF and then Mass Remove FLF. We reordered the steps to display Mass Assign FLF, run Service Indicator List query, Adjust Aid, Update Packaging Variables, and then, Mass Remove FLF.
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FA FLOW BUSINESS PROCESS GUIDE The most current version is published to the ctcLink Reference Center as of 9/15/22. The guide is linked here.
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RECORDING POSTED: The FLF & Disbursement Refresher recording is now available
- Posted in the FA103 Authorizing and Disbursing Financial Aid Canvas Training course. The recording and slide deck are linked here. Remember, if you get an ‘access denied’ message that means you may not be registered for the course, or you haven’t progressed through the course modules to unlock that module.
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WHERE ARE ALL THE JUST IN TIME RECORDINGS?
- You can find all the previous training recordings in this new handy-dandy document, your one-stop shop for where all Just In Time recordings live. Just a note, you still need to have completed the respective Canvas Courses to be able to view the recording.
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WHERE ARE ALL THE WORK SESSION RECORDINGS?
- You can find all the previous work session recordings in the Pillar Work Session Information Course.
- You can register for all Canvas Courses here.
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UPDATED BUSINESS PROCESSING GUIDE:
What’s Coming Down the Pike?:
-
Just In Time Trainings (FA Training):
- Packaging Plans 9/20/22 9:00 AM 11:00 AM
- Follow Up Q & A for Packaging Plans 9/22/22 9:00 AM 10:00 AM
- NEW! Census Processing 9/23/22 9:00 AM 11:00 AM (calendar invite forthcoming)
- Loan Refresher 9/27/22 9:00 AM 11:00AM
- Follow Up Q & A for Loan Refresher 9/29/22 9:00 AM 10:00 AM
Support Session (FA Training)
-
Awarding Drop-In Support Session 9/19/22 9:00 AM 11:00 AM
- Come join Kelly Forsberg in a web ex to do some awarding. Are you having some interesting award posting error messages that is preventing you from posting aid? Do you have questions about award sequencing, etc.? Bring your examples to this drop in session, and Kelly will work with you to provide you some awarding support.
- We do realize this is the start of fall quarter for many colleges, but it will be offered again as time allows. Announcements on that will be made here in the list serv.
Environment Updates:
- Reminder! The next PCD refresh will take place on Monday, October 3. That means you have time for any testing you have done in PCD. Remember that any processes you have built or students you have staged, will be wiped in the refresh, and replaced with the most recent data in the PRD environment.
Just For Fun! 😂 Did you know these things have names?
- The space on your hand between your thumb and index finger is called thenar webspace. Also, there’s a pressure point therepress firmly into it with your other thumb and index finger for a moment (remember, a moment is 90 seconds -- it’s supposed to help relieve headaches)
- Have you ever spit out your food when you ate something icky? We’ve all done it. What comes out is called chanking. Ew.
- Did you know the opposite side of a hammer’s striking side is called a peen? Welp, I didn’t know either, and now I feel kind of awkward.
- Ever wonder how much toothpaste the dental assistant puts on that toothbrush wand that polishes your teeth? There’s a name for that measurement of toothpaste-- it’s called a nurdle, which is a tiny dab of toothpaste, aww.
- The lines in the middle of your wrist are called rasceta. Nope, they’re not your heart, love, or success lines; those are on your palm. Wouldn’t it be cool to invent wristitry though, a sub-offering to palmistry?
- The metal part at the end of a pencil is called a ferrule. Use it in a sentence, “In grade school, I was a nervous student; I chewed the eraser AND the ferrule off my pencil.”
- The loop on a belt that keeps the end in place after it has passed through the buckle is called a keeper.
- The infinity ∞ symbol is a mathematical symbol that represents an infinitely long number. It is called a lemniscate.
Knowing is Half the Battle!
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Super Helpful Reminders and Tips!
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AUTHORIZATION FAILURE REPORT TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE
- Are you getting some messages in the Auth Fail Report that you don’t know how to work? Use the Authorization Failure Report Troubleshooting Guide to get started on where to go in ctcLink to resolve messages. The guide is linked here.
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AUTHORIZATION FAILURE REPORT TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE
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Query Corner!
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TRACKING AUTHORIZATION AND DISBURSEMENT
- CTC_FA_AUTHORIZATION_DISCREP Run this query to find students that have discrepancies between what’s been Offered/Accepted and Authorized/Disbursed. You can use this query to track how much aid was authorized and on which students. Recommended to run it after you run Batch Authorization, every time you have a Disbursement run.
- CTC_FA_DISBURSED_BY_DATE Run this query after you run Disbursement, so you can track the amount that you are disbursing. You can share these query results with SF so they know who is going to be in their Group Post batch.
- CTC_FA_LOAD_COMP_BETWEEN_DATE: This query should be run up until census date. The query compares students with different FA Load level when disbursed to date entered in prompt. Can only be run after disbursement.
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TRACKING AUTHORIZATION AND DISBURSEMENT
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Training Team Stuff!
-
UPDATED BUSINESS PROCESSING GUIDE:
- FISAP Business Processing Guide The most current version is published to the ctcLink Reference Center as of 9/8/22. The doc is linked here.
- *Reminder* that colleges in Dual Processing for Spring 2022 or Summer of 2022 will be using Legacy processes for FISAP.
- RECORDING POSTED: The Authorization Refresher recording is now available in the FA103 Authorizing and Disbursing Financial Aid Canvas Training course. The recording and slide deck are linked here.
-
UPDATED BUSINESS PROCESSING GUIDE:
What’s Coming Down the Pike?:
-
Just In Time Trainings (FA Training):
- FLF and Disbursement Refresher 9/13/22 9:00 AM 11:00 AM
- Follow Up Q & A for FLF and Disbursement Refresher 9/15/22 9:00 AM 10:00 AM
- FLF & Disbursement Refresher 9/13/22 9:00 AM 11:00 AM
- Packaging Plans 9/20/22 9:00 AM 11:00 AM
NEW! Support Sessions (FA Training)
-
Awarding Drop-In Support Session 9/12/22 9:00 AM 11:00 AM & 9/19/22 9:00 AM 11:00 AM (calendar invites forthcoming)
- Come join Kelly Forsberg in a web ex to do some awarding. Are you having some interesting award posting error messages that is preventing you from posting aid? Do you have questions about award sequencing, etc.? Bring your examples to this drop in session, and Kelly will work with you to provide you some awarding support.
Environment Updates:
- Reminder! The next PCD refresh will take place on Monday, September 12. That means you have time for any testing you have done in PCD. Remember that any processes you have built or students you have staged, will be wiped in the refresh, and replaced with the most recent data in the PRD environment.
Just For Fun! 😂 Did you know these things have names?
- The five-dot pattern found on dice is a quincunx. Thomas Edison has the five dots tattooed on his left forearm.
- The joy you feel thinking about good things that will happen is called vorfruede. You probably already know the meaning of schaudenfruede. Think of vorfreude as its nicer, more optimistic cousin.
- A person known by one name is mononymous. Think of Madonna, Adele, Voltaire, and maybe even the artist formally known as . . . ?
- As assembly of ferrets is a business. Next time I sign any checks “doing business as”, I might channel my inner ferret.
- A group of jellyfish is called a smack. They sting though, so maybe a ZAP is more appropriate?
- A group of ravens is called unkindness. Apologies to crows and ravens who get a bad rap from the earlier centuries.
- A group of whale is called a gam. Gam is also a pleasant conversation between whalers. Now I am confused because I thought a gam was a good-looking leg. “Get a load of these gams!”
- Three or more goats is called a trip. Who comes up with this stuff anyway??
- Many owls form a parliament. How official sounding!
Knowing is Half the Battle!
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Super Helpful Reminders and Tips!
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FISAP!
- The Campus Solutions Financial Aid PRP 4 upgrade was implemented in production on the evening of July 21st. SBCTC has created a supporting document that includes the changes the user will experience.This overview document is now available on the SBCTC website and can be reached at the following link:
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FISAP!
- If you are interested in learning more about these changes, SBCTC previously hosted one Q&A session which is linked below:
FA PRP 4 Q & A Session Recording
- The FISAP Business Processing Guide will be updated and available by the end of next week. Stay tuned!
-
Query Corner!
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TRACKING AWARDS TO STAY WITHIN COA
- CTC_FA_THIRD_PARTY_PYMNTS run this query to find students that have third-party payments that are set up in SF, but may need to be recorded in the Fin Aid awarding page to ensure the student is not inadvertently over-awarded. For example, if a student is receiving L&I funding or some other agency funding, this needs to be recorded as a non-disbursable award in the Assign Awards to a Student page
- CTC_FA_OVERAWARDED run this query to find students who are over-awarded for the AY. Run this query pre-emptively prior to disbursement. You will also find these students on the Authorization Failure Report, but it’s helpful to review this before Authorization, to reduce the number of students that will appear on your Auth Fail Report. Note, this query is going to also capture students who are not necessarily true over-awards, rather, they just have a zero’d out budget because they have not yet enrolled in classes
- CTC_FA_TERM_OVERAWARDED run this query to find students who are over-awarded by Term. Follows the above description.
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TRACKING AWARDS TO STAY WITHIN COA
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Training Team News
- BUSINESS ANALYST TRAINING: The Training Team delivered/facilitated our first Business Analyst Training Work Session Kick Off on Wednesday 8/31/22. We collaborated with many new Business Analysts at many colleges, as well as Business Analysts with 20 + years’ experience. The experience was enriching to all, and we are excited to continue on this work with the college Business Analysts! The next series is coming in October, and is geared toward security where our SBCTC security team will facilitate our session for our BAs.
- RECORDINGS POSTED: The Pell Reconciliation recording is now available in the FA107 FA-SF Reconciliation Canvas Training course. The recording and slide deck are linked here.
What’s Coming Down the Pike?:
-
Just In Time Trainings (FA Training):
- Authorization Refresher 9/6/22 9:00 AM 11:00 AM
- Follow Up Q & A for Authorization Refresher 9/8 9:00 AM 10:00 AM
- FLF & Disbursement Refresher 9/13/22 9:00 AM 11:00 AM
- Follow Up Q & A for FLF & Disbursement Refresher 9/15/22 9:00 AM 10:00 AM
Environment Updates:
- Reminder! The next PCD refresh will take place on Monday, September 12., not September 5th, as previously scheduled. That means you have an extra week for any testing you have done in PCD. Remember that any processes you have built or students you have staged, will be wiped in the refresh, and replaced with the most recent data in the PRD environment.
Just For Fun! 😂 Did you know these things have names?
- Kummerspeck is the German word for the excess weight gain you gain from emotional eating. The literal translation is: grief bacon (Please pass the Cheez-Itz )
- The triangular bump on the inside corner of your eye is the carncule
- The fold of skin between your nose and upper lip is called the philtrum
- The technical term for the nape of your neck is the niddick
- Obsessive nose-picking is called rhinotillexomania
- The indent on the bottom of a wine bottle is called a punt
- The cardboard sleeve around your pumpkin spice latte (or other favorite hot beverage) is called a zarf
- A group of ponies is called a string
- A group of crows is called a murder
- A group of geese is called a gaggle
Environment Updates:
- Reminder! The next PCD refresh will take place on Monday, September 12., not September 5th, as previously scheduled. That means you have an extra week for any testing you have done in PCD. Remember that any processes you have built or students you have staged, will be wiped in the refresh, and replaced with the most recent data in the PRD environment.
Just For Fun! 😂 Did you know these things have names?
- Kummerspeck is the German word for the excess weight gain you gain from emotional eating. The literal translation is: grief bacon (Please pass the Cheez-Itz )
- The triangular bump on the inside corner of your eye is the carncule
- The fold of skin between your nose and upper lip is called the philtrum
- The technical term for the nape of your neck is the niddick
- Obsessive nose-picking is called rhinotillexomania
- The indent on the bottom of a wine bottle is called a punt
- The cardboard sleeve around your pumpkin spice latte (or other favorite hot beverage) is called a zarf
- A group of ponies is called a string
- A group of crows is called a murder
- A group of geese is called a gaggle
Knowing is Half the Battle!
-
Super Helpful Reminders and Tips!
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TIME TO UPDATE YOUR COLLEGE FINANCING PLAN! The Dept of Ed announced the change to Direct Student Loan Interest rates effective for loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2022 and before July 1, 2023
- Use this QRG to make the updates to your CFP: 9.2 Update Student Loan Interest Rates on the College Financing Plan | 9.2 FA - Loans | ctcLink Reference Center
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VETERANS PROCESSING! Are you aware of the different types of Student Groups for Veterans? Depending on the COE the Veteran submits to the VA Certifying Official, the appropriate SVB_ student group should be applied with an effective date before the start of their first term:
- SVBA Ch30 Montgomery GI Bill
- SVBB CH31 VRE
- SVBD Ch33 Post 9/11 GI Bill
- SVBE Ch33 Child
- SVBF Ch35 Child
- SVBJ Active Duty using TA (should only be assigned if the student has submitted a current TA voucher for the term)
- SVBK Active Duty not using TA
- SVBL Active Duty Spouse (using MyCAA or not, RCAA should be used to indicate active MyCAA Voucher)
- SVBM Ch33 Spouse
- SVBN Ch35 Spouse
- SVBZ Veteran not using VA benefits, if they are using a tuition discount they should be assigned the SW70 or SW71 group
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TIME TO UPDATE YOUR COLLEGE FINANCING PLAN! The Dept of Ed announced the change to Direct Student Loan Interest rates effective for loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2022 and before July 1, 2023
-
Query Corner!
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WORKSTUDY PROCESSING! Do you know how to identify certain populations of students to award Work Study?
- QCS_FA_APPLIED_4_WORKSTUDY_1 and QCS_FA_APPLIED_4_WORKSTUDY_2 Identifies students that are interested in Work Study. Filter the results to review in date order
- QCS_FA_WORKSTUDY_WA_RES Identifies WA State Resident students for SWS awarding
- QCS_FA_WORKSTUDY_UNDER18 Identifies under 18 years old students who may need parental or guardian signatures on HR forms
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WORKSTUDY PROCESSING! Do you know how to identify certain populations of students to award Work Study?
- Training Team News We heard you! At our JIT Training Session on 8/23/22, we heard your need for Authorization and Disbursement Training before Fall Term, and a need for File Review Best Practices. We have changed up the SBCTC Calendar a bit, and are pleased to announce that we have set some dates for those items, along with others to include Work Study training and others! Please check the SBCTC Calendar for updates calendar invites will be sent out to the ctclinkfinaidsupport list serv
What’s Coming Down the Pike?:
-
General
- Business Analyst Work Session Series Kickoff 8/31/22 9:00 AM 11:00 AM
-
Just In Time Trainings (FA Training):
- Authorization Refresher 9/6/22 9:00 AM 11:00 AM
- Follow Up Q & A for Authorization Refresher 9/8 9:00 AM 10:00 AM
- Calendar invites with web ex info are forthcoming to the ctclinkfinaidsupport list serv
Environment Updates:
- Reminder! PCD Refreshes normally take place on the first Monday of every month. They also correspond with image updates. The next PCD refresh will take place on Monday, September 5. That means any testing you have done in PCD, any processes you have built or students you have staged, will be wiped in the refresh, and replaced with the most recent data in the PRD environment.
Just For Fun! 😂 Did you know these things have names?
- The wired cage that holds the cork in a bottle of champagne is called an agraffe
- The ‘na na na’ and ‘la la la’, which don’t really have any meaning in the lyrics of any song, are called vocables
- The space between your nostrils is called columella nasi
- The armhole in clothes, where the sleeves are sewn, is called armscye
- The condition of finding it difficult to get out of bed in the morning dysania
- Illegible hand-writing is called griffonage
- The dot over an “i” or a “j” is called a tittle
- The metal device used to measure your feet at the shoe store is called a Bannock device
Knowing is Half the Battle!
-
Super Helpful Reminders and Tips!
-
File Paths: Are you having more headaches than you would like over your inbound and outbound file paths? Double-check and triple-check your file path and your file naming convention 🤔!!
- Remember that a file going OUTBOUND to COD should follow the format in the specific business processing guides. For example, Pell outbound out should look like CRAA23IN.001 (increase the extension number by 1 each time you outbound) and is in upper case format
- A response file from COD coming INBOUND to ctclink should follow the format in the specific business processing guides. For example, Pell inbound files in should be craa23op.001 (or any other range of numbers) or craa23op.dat file and is in lower case format
- Be sure not to overwrite files you have already outbounded or inbounded
- For example, rename your .dat files with a unique identifier so you are not duplicating/overwriting your files. Sometimes the same file naming convention can appear in your SAIG mailbox (EdConnect). You don’t want to overwrite a .dat file you already brought into ctcLink, so a suggested practice is to change your .dat file with a distinguishing alpha or numeric value to keep the file name unique.
- When in doubt, follow the business processing guides/QRGs as you are progressing through the steps
-
File Paths: Are you having more headaches than you would like over your inbound and outbound file paths? Double-check and triple-check your file path and your file naming convention 🤔!!
-
Query Corner!
-
COD FILES! Are you unsure whether or not you loaded a response file?
- Run the QCS_FA_MISSING_COD_RESPONSE_DATA to see if any inbound COD response files were missed and not loaded into ctcLink
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VETERANS PROCESSING! Are you tracking class changes for your Veteran students in ctcLink?
- Any drops that occur throughout the term need to be reported within 30 days to the VA. This can be checked using the query: QCS_SR_VETERAN_ENRLMNT_CHANGES (the query is also useful when processing the 10th day audit)
- Grades are to be reported to VA 30 days after they are officially released to the student. For every student in the SVB student group run QCS_SR_STUDENT_GROUP_GRADES
-
COD FILES! Are you unsure whether or not you loaded a response file?
-
Training Team News Now that all of the colleges are in the ctcLink system, the Training Team is offering Just-in-Time Trainings, trainings at the time you need them!
- Check the SBCTC Calendar to see what Trainings and Work Sessions are coming up!
- Have an idea for a needed training? Please contact Kelly Forsberg, ctcLink Functional Trainer (Financial Aid) at [email protected] or file a Training Ticket. Currently, Training has identified the need for:
- Processing and Tracking Veterans ED Benefits in ctcLink
- Processing Work-Study in ctcLink
- Training content build is in progress stay tuned for future announcements for these areas and keep an eye out on this list serv and the SBCTC Calendar
- Security Team Updates Have you noticed that some QRGs in the ctcLink Reference Center have the security roles listed to be able to perform the function, and some do not? Our Security Team is going through our QRGs and adding the security roles to them so you and your LSAs can add them to your ctcLink User profile if you need them. Keep an eye out on the Financial Aid QRGs in the coming weeks; security roles will be added to the QRGs!
What’s Coming Down the Pike?:
-
Work Sessions (FA Support):
- COD Credential Cross Reference 8/25/22 1:00 PM 3:00 PM
-
Just In Time Trainings (FA Training):
- Awarding Refresher 8/23/22 9:00 AM 11:00 AM
- Follow Up Q & A for Awarding Refresher 8/25 9:00 AM 10:00 AM
- Calendar invites with web ex info are forthcoming to the ctclinkfinaidsupport list serv
Environment Updates:
- PCD Refreshes normally take place on the first Monday of every month. They also correspond with image updates. The next PCD refresh will take place on Monday, September 5
Just For Fun! 😂 Did you know these things have names?
- The space between your eyebrows is called a glabella
- The way it smells after rain is called petrichor
- The plastic or metallic coating at the end of your shoelaces is called an aglet
- The rumbling of your stomach is called a wamble
- The cry of a newborn baby is called vagitus
- The sheen or light that you see when you close your eyes and press your hands on them is called phosphenes
- The day after tomorrow is called overmorrow
- When you combine an exclamation mark with a question mark, like this ?!, it is referred to as an interrobang
TGIF for all you summer-schedule folks out there, and/or Happy Friday Eve!
Hello Financial Aid ctcLinkers!
There is never a dull moment…or a BREAK for FA Administrators!
We’re already getting questions about changes to verification that were announced in the Dear Colleague Letter “DCL ID: GEN-21-05 SUBJECT: Changes to 2021-2022 Verification Requirements.”
We’re eager to meet with you on this topic.
SPECIAL FA WORKSESSION FAFSA SIMPLIFICATION & CHANGES TO VERIFICATION
Join us next THURSDAY, 7/22 from 1-3 pm to chat about options you have in Peoplesoft for processing, based on your own institutional decisions on verification and waiving verification.
This means our planned work session topic, which was another SAP Work session, will not be covered next week.
Please review the Dear College Letter and be prepared to ask questions and discuss ideas with us and your peers on how to manage this change.
STEPS YOU CAN TAKE NOW:
- Consider what your institutional policy will be around verification
- Consider changes to your internal policies and procedures
- Begin identifying students for which to waive verification checklist items (please see the attached similar guidance)
- If you are already reviewing documentation, and you decide that you want to complete verification for students that have submitted at least one document, consider how to track them
- Decide which checklists you want removed from assignment or if you want to have a staff facing requirement.
- Consider your existing Define Item Type Rules and which checklists you may want to remove from them
- When waiving verification, set the Student’s Packaging Status Summary page “Verification Status” to “Selected Not verified” per the guidance in the announcement (excerpt below).
System Reporting Requirements
Because this change to verification policy is occurring mid-year, many 2021-2022 Central Processing System (CPS) transactions will continue to be selected for verification.
Even if verification is no longer required, institutions must report a valid Verification Status Code for every student selected for verification by the CPS. Institutions should report a “V” (if verification was completed) or an “S”; "blank" is not an acceptable verification status code, except in the case when a student is selected after he or she is no longer enrolled at your institution.
When Verification Is No Longer Required
Institutions are not required to verify students selected under Verification Tracking Flag “V1” as of the date of this letter. We are expanding the applicability of Verification Status Code “S- Selected not verified” to not only students excluded under 34 CFR 668.54(b), but also to all students selected under V1 who are exempt from standard verification under this guidance.
-FA SUPPORT
Happy Friday ctcLinkers!
Dual Processing Extracts and *NEW* Query
FA Support recently implemented a fix to the I-112 Dual Processing Student Career Term Extract process to ensure accurate intent codes are sent over for applied baccalaureate students. This fix was applied to Production on 7/7.
We also added an additional process to identify Unofficially Withdrawn Students while in Dual Processing. A new section in the Business Process Guide “Running the Unofficial Withdraws Query” provides step-by-step instructions.
Pell Reconciliation
We recently made an improvement to the Pell Reconciliation report; the results of records to review should be much smaller (yay!). The report was using the Full-Time Scheduled Pell amount field rather than the actual Pell awarded/originated amount field.This meant anyone not awarded a full-time Pell amount was being returned as a discrepancy. Now the report is comparing what was originated versus what is currently awarded.
ISIR Bio Demo Resolution *NEW* Video
Check out this NEW guide! 9.2 Reviewing and Resolving an ISIR vs Bio Demo Mismatch Checklist Video | 9.2 FA - Managing 3C's | ctcLink Reference Center
New Queries
Query QCS_FA_AWARD_GT_ITMTYP_AMT is in Production. This query can be used to compare the term award amount total to the total of item type charges based on the charge item type numbers you enter in the query prompt.
Reminders
WCG Recalculate eligibility Did you know there is a handy section in the WCG Business Process Guide on recalculating eligibility? Check it out!
Work-Study If you haven’t already, header and trailer schools that are using next year’s funding, ensure timesheets are set up correctly now that the new fiscal year has begun.
Prorating an EFC for 2022 Please recall there is a *BUG* in Peoplesoft on the 2022 ISIR Corrections page. It only affects where you need to go to prorate an EFC. Use the fourth tab on the page and you’re good to go! We wanted to dispel rumors that you cannot send ISIR Corrections from Peoplesoft. Sending ISIR Corrections is NOT impacted by this bug.
FA Support Weeklyish Bulletin Friday 06/25/2021
Good afternoon!
FAFSA SIMPLIFICATION
With the removal of requirements for Title IV eligibility related to Selective Service registration and drug-related convictions (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/06/17/2021-12762/early-implementation-of-the-fafsa-simplification-acts-removal-of-requirements-for-title-iv) in phases starting from the 2021-2022 aid year, colleges can start making changes in PeopleSoft in phases when ready.
1) Update the Selective Service (Exx019) checklist and Drug-Conviction (Exx061) checklist to staff facing only **Checklist Table is NOT aid year specific so only do this update when you are no longer packaging 2020-2021 aid in PS**
Step 1) Go to Set Up SACR > Common Definitions > Checklists > Checklist Table
Step 2) Click the arrow button to add a new effective dated row
Step 3) Change the Checklist Type status to anything but Requirements List to prevent this checklist from populating on the To-Do communications
Step 4) Uncheck the Display in Self Service checkbox so students no longer see it as a To-Do on their Student Homepage
Step 5) Click Save
Example of Before
Example of After
2) Update the Selective Service (Exx019) checklist and Drug-Conviction (Exx061) checklist waive Run Control IDs on your 2021-2022 ISIR jobset
On your Selective Service (Exx019) checklist and Drug-Conviction (Exx061) waive Run Control IDs for 2021-2022, update the query to CTC_FA_PRIOR_YR_CHCKLST_CANCEL (finds the population of students who have the selected checklist in Initiated status).
Query prompts
Aid Yr: 2022
Institution: (your institution)
Checklist: (Exx019 or Exx061 depending on which Run Control you're updating)
Why are we not removing the assignment of the checklists?
The 2021-2022 ISIRs will continue to have the Selective Service issues and drug convictions comment codes, and with the system not yet being set up to ignore them when packaging aid, colleges will need to override the database match on the Packaging Status Summary Page for each affected student. The following QRGs have the steps in overriding the database matches.
- 9.2 FAFSA Simplification - Overridding Selective Service Checklist Item | 9.2 FA - Managing 3C's | ctcLink Reference Center
- 9.2 FAFSA Simplification - Overridding Drug Conviction Checklist Item | 9.2 FA - Managing 3C's | ctcLink Reference Center
We will be working on updating the system for 2021-2022 so that colleges at one point will not need to manually override the database mismatch on these students to package Title IV aid. We'll keep you posted on any updates as we have them.
-FA SUPPORT
FA Support Weeklyish Bulletin Friday 5/21/21
PeopleSoft FYI
FA ERP Support is busy testing the new CS 21 Image Update and bug fixes scheduled to be applied to production the weekend of Saturday, 6/19/21.
Stay tuned for invites to Question and Answer sessions regarding these updates. These are tentatively scheduled for Thursday and Friday 6/10/21 and 6/11/21.
This week in the FA Calendar & Resources
9.2 | ctcLinkfinaid List Serv | Weeklyish Bulletin Archive - Keep an eye on this NEW page for updates and share the link with your staff. We’ll be adding all of the distribution list email blasts to this page so you can go back and find something you might have missed.
FA WORK SESSIONS FOR SUMMER Save the Date!!!
Put a pin in your calendars for the following dates this summer. Work sessions will move to Thursdays to accommodate college summer hours. Invites to follow 😊
- Date: FRIDAY 5/28/21
Time: 1 pm - 3 pm
Topic: SAP Special Fall SAP At the end of Spring there is a Special Fall SAP Process we’ll want you to be familiar with for running end of summer SAP batches.
- Date: THURSDAY - 6/24/21
Time: 1 pm - 3 pm
Topic: Disbursements Prepare for first new aid year disbursement for header colleges & other tips and tricks regarding batch processing.
- Date: THURSDAY 7/22/21
Time: 1 pm - 3 pm
Topic: SAP Prepare for end of summer SAP.
- Date: THURSDAY 8/27/21
Time: 1 pm - 3 pm
Topic: Reconciliation in preparation for Unit Record Reporting and FISAP.
FA Support Weeklyish Bulletin Tuesday 04-20-21
CARES III Global Item Types
The following global item type numbers have been reserved for CARES III funding.
To request these item types be created for your college, please open a Ticket under the following SolarWinds request type: ctcLink Support • Campus Solutions • *SF FA • Item Types.
For those colleges using Dual Processing, do not disburse these funds until you receive confirmation that these FAPCs have been added to your crosswalks.
PeopleSoft FYI
In case you missed it…there were several colleges reporting email send errors. After tracking down the cause (a re-verification process needed to be done by your IT department), we sent out some clean up instructions to get your communications running smoothly again. Please see the attached announcement with instructions 😊.
Training Latest & Greatest
ctcLink Reference Center materials - We’d like to highlight the following two BPGs, in case you didn’t know…check them out!
Track Student Eligibility Business Process Guide
Blocking FA Refunds Due to Withdrawals Business Processing Guide
This week in the FA Calendar & Resources
FA WORKSESSION FRIDAY!
Join us this Friday afternoon for an overview of Packaging.
Awarding and Packaging in a neat little bow!
Date 04/23/2021
Module/s Financial Aid
Primary Audience Financial Aid Staff responsible for awarding
Facilitator/s FA Support
Related QRGs Packaging and Awards Chapter ctcLink Reference Ctr
It’s that exciting time of the year, the new aid year awarding and packaging cycle! Please join FA Support as we unpack the items needed for packaging we will unwrap the packaging “package” by reviewing tips and tricks with self-service, how to identify students who are ready to package, the ins and outs of online packaging, mass packaging and some things you would typically need to do before “lifting the curtain” (self-service) for all students to see their new AY package, all packaged up in a neat little bow!
- FA SUPPORT
Weeklyish Bulletin Friday, 03-26-21
HAPPY FRIDAY ctcLink FA Crowd!
PeopleSoft FYI
Residency Date Bug on Correct ISIR Page: Both Functional Support Analysts and colleges have found a bug where the residency date field label is incorrectly displayed. It is a known issue with Oracle and will be resolved with one of the next Image Releases, PUM20. This release is scheduled for Production the weekend of June 20th.
Training Latest & Greatest
ctcLink Reference Center Materials
New!
Updates to:
Specific notes have been added about reviewing your reporting preferences with COD and NSLDS in order to process NSLDS inbound data and COD Reconciliation Reports.
This week in the FA Calendar & Resources
Item Types REMINDER to please submit your signed item type forms for CARES II and WA COVID Emergency Funding Item types. We’d like to have these ready for you to disburse immediately. Thank you!
ALERT! Run WCG Archive process prior to running spring disbursements!
9.2 WCG and CBS Processing Business Process Guide
End of Term Processing - Take a look at some of our available resources on the ctcLink Reference Center on end of term processes including SAP Evaluation, Tracking Student Eligibility, and preparing for Disbursement
SAP Process and Set Up Business Process Guide
9.2 Financial Aid›9.2 FA - SAP›SAP›9.2 Identifying and Tracking State Aid-Eligible MAXT (Max Time Frame) Students
9.2 Financial Aid›9.2 FA - Packaging and Awards›Packaging & Awards›9.2 Mass Assign and Release Service Indicators
Term Based Run Controls It’s time to take stock of all term based run controls you update at the end of the term (for most processes this is AFTER grades post) and set a calendar reminder for when to change your term values.
Looking Ahead Get ahead of census date!
Census Day Processing Business Process Guide
- FA SUPPORT
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