The Monthly Memo

Dear Colleagues,

Again, I encourage the submission of names of other staff members within your department or school who would like to be included on the mailing list for this monthly memo.

1. We are still in the process of updating our school contact list. Please provide the name, address, telephone number, and email address of the individual/s who handle the day to day processing of the various state programs in the Office of Student Financial Aid and in the Office of the Bursar or Business Office. Please also indicate the responsibilities that person has related to the state programs e.g. "processes refunds." I thank those of you who have already responded to this request.

2. As of 4/1/98 the following reflects what is spent for the 1997-98 WHEG and WTG Programs:

   UW WHEG:	94.38%
   WTC WHEG:	96.94%
   WTG:	99.38%

   Please send refunds in as soon as possible. Since the WTG is so close to being completely spent, it is particularly important that schools who participate in the WTG program send refunds in very quickly. Currently, I do not expect to have summer school programs for WHEG or WTG. If funds do remain at the end of 1997-98, they will be carried forward to 1998-99.

3. 1997-98 notification lists and other associated reports were printed 3/3/98 (mailed 3/4/98,) 3/17/98 (mailed 3/18/98,) and 3/26/98 (mailed 3/27/98.) April print dates have been scheduled for 4/7/98 and 4/21/98. Please continue to cross reference your student record data with the notification list information.

4. 1998-99 notification lists and other associated reports have been scheduled to print 4/14/98 and 4/28/98.

5. April's vouchering jobs (for 1997-98) have been scheduled for Tuesday and Friday nights. The last day to request funds for 1997-98 is 6/12/98. Please plan accordingly. Please be aware that we cannot guarantee that your request can be loaded on the same day it has been received if the information arrives after 12NOON. Keep in mind that it takes two to three business days after the vouchering process runs before checks are physically printed. Contact me if you have any questions. It is very important that you request funds for students who are registered or who you know will indeed be attending your school. This will assist in reducing the number of refunds that are processed. Please refer to your October Monthly Memo, under point three, which references the timeframe in which funds must be returned. PLEASE RETURN REFUNDS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, ESPECIALLY FOR SOME OF THE SMALLER PROGRAMS, IN WHICH REFUNDS APPEAR TO BE DOWN, AND THE WTG PROGRAM. This will ensure that available funds are spent.

6. When sending refunds to HEAB please include the following:
   • School Code
   • Student's Name
   • Student's Social Security Number
   • Amount of money that is being returned for the individual student
   • Type of program the funds have been disbursed from and the Disbursement Code
   • What semester or term the funds were originally disbursed for
   • Voucher Number

   HEAB staff has been spending an increasing amount of time trying to determine some of the details mentioned above which is causing a delay in processing. Thank you in advance for providing this level of information.

7. For those interested, we have put together a template to be used for the return of refunds. Please let me know if you are interested in using this process. We have already had a very positive response. I thank those of you who have shown an interest.

8. Schools who have not spent the 1997-98 TIP funds available for first time recipients enrolled at their school (and have indicated that the funds would be spent) need to do so as soon as possible. If you have questions please contact Sherrie Nelson.

9. Available 1997-98 AES funds should be vouchered as soon as possible. If you have questions please contact Alice Winters.

10. Periodically we are asked by Financial Aid Administrators to indicate what a student must provide to prove he or she has a "satisfactory child support payment status." It is our understanding based on statutes and based on conversations with staff members from the agency that monitors child support delinquency statuses that the individual must provide a statement from the Clerk of Courts which shows the person's name, social security number and indicates that he or she is not delinquent in any court ordered payments for child support or maintenance and does not owe past support, medical expenses or birth expenses. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact me.

11. It still appears that we are not receiving all of the records that are being processed by the federal processor. We believe that we have isolated the reason and expect to make the necessary changes prior to 4/14/98 when we run the first 1998-99 notification list. There also appears to be some isolated cases where FM updates made are not reaching our student records. We believe that we have also isolated the reason for this and expect to make changes prior to 4/14/98.

12. Please DO NOT send any changes for 1998-99 academic year yet. We have had a few callers asking if we are processing 1998-99 at this time. We are not. We will begin processing 1998-99 data on 4/15/98. You will receive along with the first notification list that will be sent out 4/15/98, information and applications related to the various programs we administer. Since we will be processing 1997-98 and 1998-99 academic year information at the same time beginning 4/15/98, it will be very important that all data, etc. sent to us is labeled very clearly. If we receive file maintenance that is not labeled at all, we will assume it is for 1997-98. Please label everything that is sent to us by academic year! Thank you!

13. File layouts for FM and V requests will not change for 1998-99. As you know, we will no longer accept any FM or V requests sent via paper, tape, or cartridge beginning with the 1998-99 academic year. Many of you are already using FTP, email, or diskette as your mode of communication. We have also had a good response from schools who would like to use the Advantis Hook-up option. If you have not already established how you will submit FM or V requests to HEAB in 1998-99, please feel free to contact me to discuss the options that are available.

14. You should have already received correspondence that outlined the 1998-99 formulas for WHEG or an update on the WTG Program. I hope to have a final 1998-99 formula for WTG out to you prior to the 4/15/98 processing begin date. Let me know if you have any questions.

15. The 1998-99 voucher process will begin August 4, 1998. You may begin sending in voucher requests the last week in July.

16. Just a reminder that our general HEAB email address that all file maintenance changes, adds, and voucher requests should be sent to is:
    HEAB@mail.state.wi.us

I thank you once again for your feedback! I appreciate your thoughts! My phone number is 608.264.6181, FAX: 608.267.2808, EMAIL: hojanj@mail.state.wi.us and snailmail: HEAB, P.O. Box 7885, Madison,WI 53707-7885.