1. DIRECT LOAN RECONCILIATION It IS as easy as 1-2-3!

2. PRESENTERS Eric E. Lane Subject Matter Expert – FA WEST NC Community College System lanee@nccommunitycolleges.edu 828-694-4709 Karen Britt Statler Subject Matter Expert– FA EAST NC Community College System statlerk@nccommunitycolleges.edu 919-209-2181

3. Bandit

4. NC Community College System Established in 1963 800,000 Enrollment 58 Colleges 1000 Curriculum Programs 246 Virtual Learning Center Programs 4 Direct Loans schools in 09/10 25+ schools will migrate beginning 10/11

5. PURPOSE To provide financial aid professionals information and tools necessary to assist them in reconciling Direct Loans. 8/30/20155

6. OBJECTIVES 1.Direct Loan Reconciliation obligations to the Department of ED 2. Preparing for Reconciliation & the SAS Report 3. Resources for Reconciliation

7. WHAT IS RECONCILIATION? The process by which records from one system are compared to records from another, and any discrepancies are identified and resolved. Example Example: Balancing a checkbook 8/30/20157

8. DIRECT LOAN RECONCILIATION The process by which the Direct Loan Cash Balance recorded on the Department of Education system is reviewed and compared with a school’s internal records on a monthly basis. The school must: identify and resolve discrepancies, and document reasons for their Ending Cash Balance 8/30/20158

9. WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING “Reconciling our Direct Loans is no more difficult than reconciling our Pell program. Since all records are within our system, we can track disbursements and cash at any time. By monitoring activity frequently, reconciling records monthly has been simple.” Tony Erwin, Northeastern University “Reconciliation of the Direct Loan program was relatively easy for my previous institution. We were able to reconcile a $90 million+ program to zero every year with little effort and time. I look forward to using the same strategies at my new institution where the loan program is significantly smaller. I don’t anticipate a need for more staffing to perform this function.” Michelle Saigh, Mt. Vernon Nazarene College, OH " The COD website offers wonderful tools to make the reconciliation easier. One example is the 'Pending disbursement list" which can be used to identify disbursements to be used in funding calculations". Christine Porchia, Fayetteville Tech, NC

10. WHY RECONCILE? Schools that participate in the Direct Loan Program are required to reconcile funds received (from the G5 system) to pay its students with the actual disbursement records that it has forwarded to the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) system. A school is expected to reconcile monthly and complete final reconciliation and Program Year Closeout as soon as possible after the end of the award year on June 30, but no later than the final Program Year Closeout Date (13 months after the end of the award year). So, for the 2010-2011 program year, you have until July, 2012 to complete the closeout.

11. WHO IS INVOLVED? Financial Aid Office Business Office Common Origination and Disbursement G5 8/30/201511

12. COMMON ORIGINATION & DISB COD is person-centric – Pell, ACG, SMART, TEACH, DL School sends information to COD COD processes/edits and returns response 12

13. SUBMITTING RECORDS TO COD Document – COMMON RECORD – Via SAIG mailbox – Picked up by periodic “sweeps” – Typically transmits many student records Online at COD Web site – Transactions almost “real time” – Involves one student record at a time 13

14. Understanding COD Process 8/30/201514 VENDOR SAIG MAILBOXCOD TDCLIENT EAI BUS

15. Disbursement Award Person Entity Information Common Record Response 15

16. G-5 Maintains school’s Direct Loan account Allows schools to request money via the G-5 Web site 16

17. G5 – RETURNING FUNDS Returning funds electronically through G5 is preferred – Amounts > $100,000 must use G5 Designated Refund Bank Account COD Disbursement Record may need updating 17

18. 18 VIEW ACCOUNT BALANCES

19. G5 Online Training 19

20. WHO RECONCILES? Reconciliation is required on a monthly basis and at the end of the Program year Who will perform this function at your school? Which office will reconcile the cash detail or will it be a coordinated effort? Which systems will be used for the reconciliation process? i.e. Financial aid, Business office, COD, General Ledger, and G5

21. School Receives SAS Match ? Resolve Issues Compare Cash Detail Compare Loan Detail NO YES Resolved ? Compare Cash Summary DONE RECONCILIATION PROCESS FLOW NO 21 (Documentation)

22. GET READY Set up SAS Report Options on COD Export loan data (CODE) Import (DOEI) Problem Solve – – Run COD Missing Response Report (CDMR) – Run Direct Loan Variance Report (DLVR) – Run DL COD Reject Report (DCRR) – Export/Import

23. SET SAS OPTIONS Set your SAS options correctly on COD:  School  Report Selection  Modify SAS Options IF COLLEAGUE, MUST BE SET TO:  FIXED LENGTH  YEAR TO DATE  DISBURSEMENT DETAIL

24. SAS OPTIONS DSDF DSLF

25. DL RECONCILIATION Monthly activity – School reconciles internally, FAA and Business offices – School reconciles externally with COD Reconcile cash, loan summary, and loan detail – Document your reconciliation Aids to Reconciliation – COD screens and reports – School Account Statement (from COD) – Direct Loan Tools Software (FSA Download site) – COD Reconciliation specialists 25

26. SCHOOL ACCOUNT STATEMENT School Account Statement (SAS) Report of all disbursement records on COD Generated by COD the 1 st weekend of month Sent to SAIG mailbox with a message class of DSDF and DSLF Must be imported into your system Contains data through the end of the previous month Separate SAS for each open award year Example: DSRR Form in Colleague Generates reports comparing imported SAS data to Colleague data on AIDE-AR-COD Response

27. TOOLS AND RESOURCES School Account Statement COD Website DL Tools Student Files Financial Aid Office Reports Business Office Reports 27

28. COD Customer Service – Customer Service Representative – Reconciliation Team – Weekly monitoring e-mails – Issue identification and resolution – Adhoc Reports – 1-800-848-0978 ‒COD website, https://cod.ed.govhttps://cod.ed.gov TOOLS 28

29. TOOLS Direct Loan Tools Release 9.0 software available on www.fsadownload.ed.gov www.fsadownload.ed.gov – Cash Management – Import External Disbursements – Internal Ending Cash Balance Vendor Software (Colleague) – Disbursement Variance – DL SAS Reconciliation – COD Rejects & Missing Responses

30. TOOLS 30 day Warning Report (COD) Booked Status Report (EDExpress or custom) Pending Disbursement List (EDExpress List – Anticipated Disbursements, Pending Actual Disbursements) Actual Disbursement List (EDExpress List – Actual Disbursements, Booked and Unbooked) Disbursement Measurement Tool Report (DL Tools) Cash Summary Report (DL Tools – optional) Ledgers, Bank Statements, Cancelled Checks Other Internal School Reports 30

31. SAS REPORT OPTIONS

32. SCHOOL SUMMARY INFORMATION Watch your cash balance on COD.

33. SCHOOL SUMMARY FINANCIAL INFO Another screen that shows a good picture of the status of your disbursements.

34. Cash Activity 34

35. ENDING CASH BALANCE Total Net Drawdowns – Total Net Booked Disbursements = Ending Cash Balance

36. SCHOOL BALANCE CONFIRMATION When you are reconciled to a ZERO cash balance – Complete the School Cash Balance Confirmation on COD This completes your PROGRAM YEAR CLOSE SAS for that year will be discontinued You will no longer send or receive records for that year You will receive a Close Out Letter from ED

38. Disbursement Information 38

39. 39

40. Importing SAS Data Direct Loan SAS data is imported from SAIG (DOEI) Setup of SAS import flag (FAUP) Other set up required for your system??

41. THE COLLEAGUE PERSPECTIVE

42. Setting flag on FAUP form

43. Updates Colleague database Removes existing data and updates new data in the FA.DL.SAS file which contains all the reconciliation data for the entire processing year. Note: If you select ‘Both’ Monthly and Year to Date for your SAS Report setup, and you import the Monthly after the YTD, you will overwrite the YTD info.

44. DL SAS RECONCILIATION REPORT The DSRR report will show the amount of a Disbursement on AIDE, on the student account, the COD response, and the SAS report.

45. DSRR NOTES Report Display Option – A All Shows all loans in the system – C COD (COD vs. SAS) Shows only mismatches between the COD response and the SAS report. – T Transmit (Xmit vs. SAS) Shows only mismatches between the AR and the SAS report.

46. DSRR NOTES Loan Type – S Subsidized only – U Unsubsidized only – P PLUS only – Leave blank for ALL School Code – Leave blank or enter DL school code. Booked/Unbooked – B Booked only – U Unbooked only – A All SSN Display Option – S Show SSN – L Last 4 Digits – N No SSN

47. DSRR REPORT

48. MAINTENANCE REPORTS There are several COD reports available to assist you in your loan management in Colleague. The CDMR, DCRR and DLVR should be run regularly.

49. COD MISSING RESPONSE REPORT Use this report to be sure you have received all of your responses from COD.

50. DL COD REJECT REPORT Use the DCRR report to pinpoint rejected records and correct them.

51. DIRECT LOAN VARIANCE REPORT The DLVR report is a quick way to see records that are out of sync with COD. They are usually new or changed records that need to be exported.

52. RESOURCES – http://www2.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/DirectLoan/p articipating.html http://www2.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/DirectLoan/p articipating.html – www.ifap.ed.gov www.ifap.ed.gov – www.studentloans.gov (resource for students) www.studentloans.gov – www.cod.ed.gov www.cod.ed.gov – www.direct.ed.gov www.direct.ed.gov 8/30/201552

53. RESOURCES Federal Government: – http://www2.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/DirectLoan/p articipating.html http://www2.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/DirectLoan/p articipating.html – www.ifap.ed.gov www.ifap.ed.gov – www.studentloans.gov (resource for students) www.studentloans.gov 8/30/201553

54. RESOURCES – www.direct.ed.gov/participating.htmlwww.direct.ed.gov/participating.html Complete setup information – CODSupport@acs-inc.com Request completion of FSA setup 800-848-0978 – DLEnrollment_FSA@ed.gov FSA Transition Team 54

55. RESOURCES DL TOOLS SUPPORT: Phone: 800/330-5947 TDD/TTY services: 800/511-5806 Email: CPSSAIG@ed.govCPSSAIG@ed.gov Representatives are available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET