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. As of 4/23/98 the following reflects what has been spent for the 1997-98 WHEG and WTG Programs:

   UW WHEG:	95%
   WTC WHEG:	97%
   WTG:	100%

   Please send refunds in as soon as possible. Funds have been carried back from 1998-99 to cover what remains to be vouchered from the WTG Program. Therefore, it is particularly important that schools who participate in the WTG program send refunds in as quickly as possible so 1998-99 funds can be replenished. Summer school grants will not be processed for either WHEG or for WTG. If funds do remain at the end of 1997-98, they will be carried forward to 1998-99.

2. 1997-98 notification lists and other associated reports were printed 4/7/98 (mailed 4/8/98) and 4/22/98 (mailed 4/22/98). May print dates have been scheduled for 5/5/98 and 5/19/98. Please continue to cross reference your student record data with the notification list information.

3. The 1997-98 Indian Grant Program is fully committed. Sandy has sent out correspondence asking you to let her know whether or not funds will be vouchered for the students who have been committed Indian Grant assistance. Please respond as soon as possible so that funds can be redistributed if necessary.

4. 1998-99 notification lists and other associated reports have been scheduled to print 5/12/98 and 5/26/98.

5. Please be aware that two reports, which were recently mailed, are mislabeled. Please cross out 1998-99 indicated on the "Graduate, Non Resident, No SS" report dated 4/16/98 and replace it with 1997-98. Also cross out 1997-98 indicated on the "Graduate, Non Resident, No SS" report dated 4/23/98 and replace it with 1998-99. Please let me know if you have questions about these two reports.

6. May'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. Requests must be in our office by NOON on 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. This will ensure that available funds are spent.

   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. File layouts for FM and V requests have not changed for 1998-99. As you know, we no longer accept FM or V requests sent via paper, tape, or cartridge; which started with the 1998-99 academic year. 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.

9. You should have already received a packet of information and applications to be used for 1998-99 that was sent along with the first notification list. Please let me know if you have any questions about any of the information that was sent to you.

10. The Academic Excellence Scholarship (AES) maximum for 1998-99 seniors will be determined as soon as the University of Wisconsin System tuition is set; which will most likely be in June. Most recent projections indicate that the increase will be between five and six percent. Statutes related to the AES have recently been revised. Existing AES statutes have been changed so that the grade point average necessary for continued AES eligibility must be an absolute 3.000 rather than a 3.0 rounded up from 2.99. The statutes have also been changed to reflect that colleges and universities must "agree to participate until further notice" rather than "agree to participate each year."

11. There have been a few questions related to how the 1998-99 TIP allotment calculation was made. The allotments were based on the method that was established in 1990-91. The method takes the three year average use of the TIP and the percentage of zero contributions weighted against the other schools within each system (UW, WTC, and Independent).

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

13. The Board recently met on April 24th. The next meeting is set for July 24th. The Board's primary focus is the 1999-2001 Biennial Budget. Some of the issues being discussed include:
    1. Program funding requests
    2. The future of SSIG
    3. The minimum TIP Grant moving from $600 to $1,000
    4. Exploring the possibility of moving from a biennial appropriation to a continuing appropriation
    5. Identifying obsolete or antiquated statutory language that needs to be eliminated or changed
    6. The expansion of the WTG which included students attending Tribal Colleges

    If you have any questions or thoughts about any of these issues, please feel free to contact me, Sr. Marybeth Kornely, MaryJo Green, or Steve Van Ess who are Board members.

14. John Whitt has recently joined the HEAB staff. He will work with the Teacher Education Loan Program, in the systems area, and with refund processing. Please join me in welcoming him! His telephone number is 608.266.1665. Unfortunately, Gabe Westmaas is leaving HEAB. He has been replaced with Meghan Jackson.

15. 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.