Arkansas Department of Higher Education Universal Financial Aid System

Arkansas Department of Higher Education Universal Financial Aid System  Launched on January 1, 2010  Search and apply for all ADHE administered scholarships and grants at one time  Receive status notifications  Available all year, but deadlines built into processing  Connects to multiple government datasets to reduce applicant input and error.  Manage your account 24/7 to include: Updating personal information and college Reviewing transcript and test score information

EVERY ELIGIBLE TRADITIONAL STUDENT WAS AWARDED A SCHOLARSHIP – More awards than budgeted. – More going to Universities than projected. EVERY ELIGIBLE CURRENT ACHIEVER STUDENT WAS AWARDED A SCHOLARSHIP – $41.5 million was budgeted for current achievers. – Fewer students met this criteria than projected. 4,986 NONTRADITIONAL STUDENTS – $12 million was budgeted for nontraditional students. – A priority/ranking system is in place for : 70% closeness to degree, 20% GPA, 10% high demand field of study. The Good News

By Friday evening we anticipate that: EVERY ELIGIBLE 2 YR COLLEGE NONTRADITIONAL STUDENT WILL BE AWARDED A SCHOLARSHIP – EARN-INS (currently enrolled) – DELAYED (Adults going to college for the first time) EVERY ELIGIBLE 4 YR NONTRADITIONAL DELAYED STUDENT WAS AWARDED A SCHOLARSHIP – Waiting list for Earn-ins More Good News

The Good News A total of 25,815 students have been awarded the Academic Challenge scholarship for Fall Arkansas will triple the amount of students receiving the academic challenge scholarship from 8,282 last year. There are 4 types of student receiving funding: – 4,906 are students who were awarded the Academic challenge in previous years. – 12,451 traditional students have been offered the award Of the 37,049, nontraditional students: – 4,987 met the Current achiever definition and were offered the scholarship – 4,986 will be offered the Nontraditional scholarship. Of those not receiving funds, 27,305 applications are ineligible to date.

High School 16,903 Student Issues: Missing transcripts Missing ACT Missing FAFSA Smartcore Not responding to s or reviewing accounts Academic Challenge (Traditional) 16,905 Paper Transcripts 4,801 From Private and home school Electronic 12,104 From Public high schools FAFSA Citizenship: US & AR Register for Draft No loan default Matching up Records Process Issues: Could not determine what was missing until paper transcripts reviewed Missing ACT Missing FAFSA Multiple scholarship criteria As of July 30, All traditional students notified of their status Every student who qualifies will be funded –even if later.

High School Process High School Student process worked rather well. Issues were/are: – Some student data from a few school districts did not correctly populate the ADE database. Most of these issues were discovered early. – Home school and private school transcripts are paper and require manual review. Largest complaint: – 2.5 and ACT 19 or equivalent for non-Smart Core students.

Process Issues: Could not determine what was missing until paper transcripts review ed Nontraditional and Current Achievers 37,049 Student Issues: Missing transcripts; Missing ACT/or other Missing FAFSA Not response to s or reviewing accounts Academic Challenge (Nontraditional) 37,049 Paper and ‘electronic transcripts’ from public and private colleges have to be reviewed to determine what category: FAFSA Citizenship Register for Draft No loan default Matching up Records Current achiever legislation category required revision of software: available June 15 15k applications from May 15-May 30 Sorting of transcripts: 1. Multiple transcripts; 2. determine current achiever; 3. prioritization

New category added as part of the 2010 Legislative changes to the Lottery Act Students had already applied Required extensive edits to the software program. Current Achiever criteria Full-time in college since high school and 12 hours have to be at an approved institution – Have to look at every term to determine At least 2.5 GPA Prioritization: closeness to degree, GPA, workforce need Issues All transcripts had to be manually processed. Multiple transcripts Recalculated GPA and hours attempted for those with many transcripts Incomplete applications Have to process all applications before ranking Nontraditional/Current Achiever Process

Addressing the Volume of Applications Early on ADHE redirected 5 FTE to work with the scholarship staff in processing applications. In early June, ADHE hired 3 temporary workers to assist with filing transcripts. In July, ADHE contracted for 48 fulltime people under that arrangement. In July, ADE provided 9 staff members to help review transcripts.

Current Achiever: – Limited funds and thus prioritization of applicants is required. Adult Learners – 70% is closeness to degree, 20 % is GPA, 10% is major – Current achievers who did not meet the full CA criteria were considered for the nontraditional earn-in funding. Addressing the Volume of Applications

Academic Challenge Scholarship (Traditional) Total: 16,903

Academic Challenge Scholarship (Non-traditional/Current Achiever) Total: 37,049

Arkansas Academic Challenge Lottery Scholarship Funding EXPENSE DETAIL Cohort StudentsAnnual Expenditures Traditional12,451 $ 55,722,500 Challenge Pipeline4,944 $ 23,479,500 Current Achievers4,987 $ 24,137,500 Non Traditional4,986 $ 17,900,000 Grand Total27,368 $121,239,500 We anticipate spending the balance of the $41.5 million allocated for Current Achievers in either the Current Achievers or Nontraditional categories prior to June 30, This will increase the total expenditure to $132.6 million. Expenses

Things to think about... – Budgets are for a fiscal year and the year has just begun – Funding required to be available for the November 1 deadline – Funding students in the pipeline through to graduation

Moving Forward There will be additional expenditures for the academic year New awards to students who have a previous Academic Challenge award, due to processing summer school credits Error corrections will add to student awards Current Achiever and Non Traditional students may apply for spring awards until November 1, increasing the number of awards