The Monthly Memo

Please visit our web page. The site address is: heab.state.wi.us.

Points of Interest:

1. Assembly and Senate budget conferees did complete their work on the 1999-2001 biennial budget and passed it to the Governor for his signature. In terms of funding increases, the committee adopted the Senate version except that they increased the UW WHEG and the TIP funding increase from 6% to 9.6%. The Governor then used his veto power to change the TIP and WTG funding to 7% annually. He also eliminated language that tied the UW WHEG and TIP funding increases to previous year tuition increases and eliminated the language that changed the appropriations for the UW WHEG and TIP to sum sufficient. The following chart illustrates the funding levels that are in the 1999-2001 Biennial Budget the Governor signed October 27, 1999:

   Financial Aid Funding, 1999-2001 Final Budget

   Program	1998-1999	1999-2000	Increase Over Prior Year	2000-2001	Increase Over Prior Year
   WHEG Tribal	NA	$400,000	NA	$400,000	0.0%
   WHEG UW	$17,244,800	$18,900,300	9.6%	$18,900,300	0.0%
   WHEG WTC	$11,749,600	$12,454,600	6.0%	$13,201,300	6.0%
   WTG	$18,375,900	$19,662,200	7.0%	$21,038,600	7.0%
   TIP	$3,933,800	$4,209,200	7.0%	$4,503,800	7.0%

2. The Higher Educational Aids Board met October 28, 1999, and approved final 1999-2000 formulas for the three WHEG programs and the WTG program. Agency staff members are working directly with the two tribal colleges in order to implement the new 1999-2000 Tribal WHEG program. It was determined that given the committed, spent to date, and reconciliation figures the WTC WHEG formula will not be adjusted for 1999-2000. The formula that was distributed last spring to schools who participate in the WTC WHEG program will not be adjusted. The 1999-2000 UW WHEG and WTG formulas were adjusted. I have attached the new formulas for the UW WHEG and WTG programs to this document. Continuing student TIP recipient awards will not increase in 1999-2000. However, you will receive separate notification that will indicate an increase in funds that can be used to increase the TIP awards of initial award recipients or to provide more awards to new students.

   The revised UW WHEG and WTG awards will be reflected on the 11/9/99 notification list. The fall semester award difference can either be requested now or it can be requested along with the spring semester or the next term award request (with the exception of the fall awards for December graduates which would need to be requested now).

3. The reports related to the October 28th board meeting can be found on our web site. HEAB has completed and submitted its 1997-99 Biennial Report, which will be available on our web site later this month.
   [Please follow this link to the October 28, 1999 Board Report.]
   [Please follow this link to the 1997-1999 Biennial Report.]

4. HEAB's Fiscal Officer, Lowell Maves, recently retired and Sherrie Nelson has assumed his responsibilities. As you know Sherrie has been responsible for coordinating the TIP Grant for a number of years. Given the circumstances, John Whitt has been given the responsibility of coordinating the TIP Grant. Even though John is responsible for the program and will assist you in any way he can, Sherrie will also be available for questions if needed. Sherrie's former position was renamed to Office Manager. We expect to post this position along with a full time Clerical Assistant position (which was approved in the 1999-2001 biennial budget) soon.

5. TRAINING OPPORTUNITY
   HEAB is pleased to announce that a one-day training program has been developed for new and continuing financial aid staffers. Recently, nine financial aid administrators from four different schools attended this program. The feedback was very positive. We thought others might benefit too so we decided to offer the program on a consistent basis.

   The training session covers all aspects of the programs administered by HEAB, including:

   How To Voucher
   How To Do File Maintenance
   An Overview of the Individual HEAB Programs
   A Review of HEAB Reports

   The program is being offered:

   November 11, 1999
   January 20, 2000
   March 16, 2000
   May 18, 2000

   The program begins at 10:00 a.m. and ends no later than 3:00 p.m. It is held at the HEAB offices at 131 W. Wilson St, Suite 902, Madison, WI. We have room for up to 6 people at each session.

   If you want to register for a session or need more information, please call Jim Buske at (608) 267-9865 or send email to james.buske@heab.state.wi.us.

6. As you know, we moved to one hard copy of the notification list and accompanying reports per school last month. Electronic copies of the reports are available in either a report form or a flat file and are being sent via Email or FTP. Barb Moermond, who many of you have been working with through this transition, offers the following tips.

   Here are a couple of hints for the electronic Notification Files:

   1. set all margins to 0.25"
   2. set paper orientation to landscape
   3. set font to Courier (or Lucida Console if you have it)
   4. set point size to 9

   Also, if you encounter problems opening the file directly from email, try saving it to your server or hard drive using either Notepad or WordPad to open it. If this doesn't work, please give Barb Moermond a call at (608) 266-3091 and she will work with you to try to find a solution.

7. Just a reminder that students can receive up to ten semesters of a combination of WHEG/WTG rather than ten semesters of each.

8. Please be aware that if you request a disbursement of less than $250 for a term or a semester or if the student has used nine semesters of eligibility, the voucher request is manually handled through a "special voucher" which is run on Wednesday nights.

9. Also be aware that you cannot voucher funds for a student you just sent FAFSA changes for to the federal processor. Please voucher funds for students after they are reflected on the notification list. Our agency will calculate an award the Tuesday or Friday night after file maintenance is received or after the student is loaded from the federal record (which we draw down daily). However, the notification list which communicates the student award to you is run every other Tuesday. Please keep all of this in mind when you are making student record changes or vouchering funds. Please also keep in mind that we calculate awards on the most recent information that is received either through file maintenance or from the federal processor.

10. Just a reminder that the WISSIS report is due November 15th. If you have any questions about how to complete the report, please feel free to contact me.

11. A number of staff members will be out of the office the first few weeks of this month presenting at one of the dozen High School Counselor Workshops that are being held around the state or attending the fall WASFAA conference.

Points Related to Processing:

1999-2000

1. 1999-2000 notification lists and other associated reports are scheduled to print 11/9/99 and 11/22/99.

2. We continue to run the 1999-2000 vouchering process on Tuesday and Friday nights of each week. Just a reminder that we cannot guarantee that your request can be loaded on the same day it has been received if the information arrives after 12NOON. Please keep in mind that it takes two to three business days after the vouchering process runs before checks are physically printed. So please plan accordingly. Please only voucher funds for students who are registered for coursework. Contact me if you have any questions.

3. 1999-2000 award commit for WHEG and WTG is as follows:

   UW WHEG Award Commit	=	114.21%	(last year at this time it was 121.15%)
   UW WHEG Award Spent	=	37.56%	(last year at this time it was 45.83%)
   WTC WHEG Award Commit	=	134.92%	(last year at this time it was 136.92%)
   WTC WHEG Award Spent	=	39.42%	(last year at this time it was 40.13%)
   WTG Award Commit	=	111.25%	(last year at this time it was 117.33%)
   WTG Award Spent	=	36.12%	(last year at this time it was 48.19%)

   NOTE: The 1999-2000 Spent figures have been calculated using the new appropriation figures that just passed.

Jane Hojan-Clark, Executive Secretary
Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board