The Monthly Memo

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

Points of Interest:

1. The Joint Committee on Finance recently reviewed the various student financial aid programs HEAB administers as part of the 2001-03 biennial budget process. There was a great deal of discussion and debate. The process resulted in no cuts and no increases. Two motions that did pass include the statutory language elimination that references the maximum WTG and the option for high schools to offer one of their AES scholarships to the top international baccalaureate diploma graduate. To date, all programs have been level funded with the exception of the Tribal WHEG, Indian Student Assistance Grant and Dental Capitation Programs. Next, the budget will pass to the Senate and Assembly for review/revision before a final version goes to the Governor for signature.

2. The 2000-01 academic year is quickly coming to an end. As you are aware, there are some programs that have had supplemental spending or in some cases summer awarding. Due to the various approaches taken, close to the full appropriated amounts have been spent or will be spent in almost all of the programs. Your close work with program coordinators is greatly appreciated. As you work to complete 2000-01 processing, please keep the following in mind:
   • TIP initial award spending ended May 29th. Awards for continuing students have been expanded and limited funds for summer have been made available.
   • Tribal WHEG program has essentially been fully spent with the release of some "wait list" students.
   • UW WHEG supplemental and summer awards continue to be vouchered and will until June 15th.
   • WTC WHEG supplemental awards continue to be vouchered and will until June 15th.
   • WTG "wait list" has for the most part been eliminated. Please continue to voucher funds for students who have been released.

Points Related to Processing:

2000-01

1. 2000-01 notification lists and associated reports are scheduled to print 6/15/01 (please note that this is a Friday rather than a Tuesday). The final 2000-01 notification lists will run July 24, 2001.

2. We will continue to run the 2000-01 vouchering process on Tuesday and Friday nights of each week until June 15, 2001. June 15th will be the last day to voucher for 2000-01. 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. 2000-01 award commit for WHEG and WTG is as follows:

   UW WHEG Award Commit	=	134.66%	(last year at this time it was 138.65%)
   UW WHEG Spent	=	98.37%	(last year at this time it was 84.32%)
   WTC WHEG Award Commit	=	171.43%	(last year at this time it was 156.95%)
   WTC WHEG Spent	=	98.31%	(last year at this time it was 84.32%)
   WTG Award Commit	=	120.74%	(last year at this time it was 109.50%)
   WTG Award Spent	=	99.26%	(last year at this time it was 83.94%)

Other Points:

PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE ARE VARIOUS POINTS THAT WERE INCLUDED IN PREVIOUS MONTHLY MEMOS. THESE CONTINUE TO BE INCLUDED ONLY BECAUSE THEY ARE GOOD REMINDERS.

1. Here are a few tips for bringing in your 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

2. 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.

3. If your school transfers data to HEAB via an FTP site, please notify Barb Moermond at barbara.moermond@heab.state.wi.us as soon as possible whenever any changes in your FTP set-up, software, IP, etc. occur. Once notified, Barb will make all the necessary changes that need to be made at our end in order for HEAB to continue to be able to transfer data to and from your school.

4. To all schools using the HEAB templates for file maintenance and voucher requests: Please refer to the Information for Financial Aid Administrators section on the HEAB web page (http://HEAB.state.wi.us) where you will find the formatting guides for both templates. Please use the guides and verify that both templates are formatted exactly the way the guides indicate. There have been an increasing number of problems with files not being formatted properly when they had been fine previously and this means that the file maintenance changes and/or voucher requests that have been submitted aren't going through. Please contact Barb Moermond (barbara.moermond@HEAB.state.wi.us) if you have any questions.

5. HEAB is no longer accepting "adds" submitted via File Maintenance effective March 20, 2001.
   1. Effective March 5, 2001, our production schedule began loading all File Maintenance and ISIR records received to date on both Tuesday and Friday nights of each week just prior to vouchering. In the past ISIR data was loaded every other Monday night prior to the notification run on Tuesdays.

   2. An "exception processing system" was put in place effective March 20, 2001, for "exception adds." We expect to have a newly designed template that will require all data element information necessary for our student record to be included. This template will be available for use when extraordinary circumstances occur and will need to be submitted directly to the Program Coordinator for their review.

   3. Currently the majority of schools receive an electronic version of the notification list. We are in the process of working with the remaining schools who receive paper lists so that all schools receive the electronic notification list. Once all schools have converted to the electronic notification list, it is our intention to eliminate paper notification lists. Sending electronic notification lists to all schools and eliminating all paper lists will allow us to send the notification list once a week.

   We believe that with the above changes, concerns that have been provided through your feedback will be addressed. We will continue to accept all File Maintenance "changes." Only the acceptance of "adds" has been discontinued. We expect to obtain all new record or student information via Federal ISIR files.

6. There have been a number of schools who have been sending file maintenance for students who are not enrolled at their school. Therefore, new awards keep recalculating based on file maintenance sent in by the school where the student is not attending. The school where the student is attending has to keep sending file maintenance to correct what the other school has sent. To eliminate this problem, please only send file maintenance for students who you know are attending or plan to attend your school.

7. When you send file maintenance, which includes contribution changes, you must always include the SC and PC along with the new EFC for dependent students. This is important for maintaining our internal student system particularly when working with the TIP grant.

8. Please be aware that it is not necessary for schools to submit an award amount via file maintenance. This information is not used. Including this information consumes resources both at HEAB and at your school. Awards are calculated prior to each voucher and re-calculations are triggered by changes to any of the five key fields (dependency status, year in school, marital status, household size and EFC).

9. Please note that the only proper procedure for correcting a student's Social Security number is to submit a separate email to the general HEAB address ( heabmail@heab.state.wi.us). Please include the student's name, the incorrect number, and the correct number. Also, please remember that when you submit a Delete for a student, you are deleting your school from the student's record, NOT the student's record from our system.

10. For schools whose students receive WTG funding: If you have students with "special tuitions," please identify those students with their special tuition WTG code each time file maintenance is submitted for them.

11. If your school receives the electronic report file of the notification list, please note that a 1 or a 2 in the child support column means that the student is delinquent (1 or 2 = DELQ).

12. 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.

13. 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.

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

15. Please be aware of the following errors that have been made in the processing of refunds. The errors fall into two categories:
    1. Schools returning more money for a student than was originally vouchered.
    2. Schools sending in duplicate refunds.

    Please take a moment before sending in refunds to check and make sure that:

    1. You are returning the proper amount.
    2. You have identified the proper program.
    3. That the same refund has not been sent to us previously.

16. The next training sessions will be held:
    July 19

    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.

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