Accrediting Agencies: "Current List of Nationally Recognized Accrediting Agencies and the Criteria for Recognition by the U.S. Secretary of Education".

Aids to Promoting Federal Aid: FSA has compiled various publications and information which you may use to promote, advertise or explain federal student aid to your students. All of the many publications are available here.

Application Processing: All documents related to the FAFSA/Renewal application, SAR/ISIR correction process, EFC calculation and interagency matches can be found under this central location. Documents are sorted by processing cycle, beginning with the 2002-2003 period.

Audit Materials: This page provides you with links to the Department's Guidance on FSA/FSA Audits, as well as information about FSA's eZAudit process and website.

Blue Books: Accounting, recordkeeping and reporting by postsecondary educational institutions for federally funded student financial aid programs.

Campus-Based Program Materials: The FISAP Form and Instructions, the Perkins Cohort Default Rate Booklet, the Notification of Campus-Based Final Funding for Federal Work-Study (FWS), Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), and Federal Perkins Loan Programs (FPLP) Default Status Report are available here.

Code of Federal Regulations: The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is a codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the Executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government. Follow this link to the eCFR website.

Common Origination & Disbursement (COD): All information that relates to the newest changes to the Title IV Delivery System is available here.

Conferences and Presentations: FSA/ED presentations given at conferences like the "Electronic Access Conferences" and the annual NASFAA conference are available here, in PDF format.

Counselor's Handbooks: The "High School Counselor's Handbooks" for the most recent 3 award years are available here.

Dear Partner/Colleague Letters: All Dear Partner/Colleague Letters (DCLs) produced by FSA since the beginning of 1995. Or, go directly to the "type" of letter you are looking for by clicking on the appropriate link below:

• Training Announcements (ANN type)
• Campus-based Programs (CB type)
• Disaster Letters Published by FSA
• Guarantor Letters ("G" type)
• FP Dear Partner Letters ("FP" type)
• General Distribution Letters (GEN type)
• Lender Letters ("L" type)
• Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP) Program (LEAP type)
• Pell Grant Program ("P" type)
• State Student Incentive Grants (not used since 1998)

Default Rate Materials: The default rate materials page contains links to the Cohort Default Rates for Schools, lenders and guaranty agencies. In addition, we provide links to the Federal Perkins Cohort Default Rate Booklet (Orange Book), and the Cohort Default Rate (CDR) Guide for the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) and Direct Loan (DL) Programs. And finally, we provide links to various Department of Education websites containing additional information about cohort default rates.

Direct Loan Bulletins: All Direct Loan Bulletins (DLBs) since the first year of the program.

Direct Loan Fact Sheets: Both Direct Loan and Direct Loan Consolidation Fact Sheets are available here.

Direct Loan Newsletters: All Direct Loan Newsletters generated in the early years of the program.

Direct Loan Pamphlets: The Entrance and Exit Counseling Guides (Borrower and Counselor), "The Repayment Book", "PLUS Loan Basics", "A Better Way to Borrow" and other booklets and pamphlets from the Direct Loan Program are available here.

Direct Loan School Guides: All Direct Loan School Guides published beginning with the 1995-96 award year.

Direct Loan Technical Reference: The Direct Loan Technical Reference documents beginning with the 1999-2000 award year can be found here. Earlier versions of the Technical Reference (back to the 1996-97 award year) can be located in the Archived Publications area. Click here to access the Archived Technical References.

Drug Worksheets: The worksheets students use to determine their answers to the drug conviction eligibility question on the FAFSA or the SAR are available here.

EDE Technical References: The most recent three years of the EDE Technical Reference documents can be found here or in the archived publications.

EFC Formula Information: The most recent three years of EFC Formula Worksheets and Tables are available here. For earlier years, the formulas, formula descriptions, worksheets, tables, and case studies for calculating the expected family contribution for Federal Student Aid can be found here .

Electronic Announcements: Bulletins, memos and letters from Senior FSA staff.

FAFSAs and Renewal FAFSAs: FAFSAs and Renewal FAFSAs for the most recent three award years are available here. Also available are images and HTML code for putting FAFSA on the Web banner ads on your own web site. Also, go to the "Completing the FAFSA" website which explains how to properly complete a FAFSA, the purpose of the questions, and how to report information in some unusual cases.

Federal Registers: All FSA related Federal Registers published in the most recent three calendar years are available here. Older Federal Registers are available under the "archived publications"; area which you may access by clicking here .

Federal Student Aid Handbooks: All 'FSA Handbooks' produced by FSA within the most recent three award years are available here. Older versions of the "Handbook" may be found under our "archived publications" area, by clicking here .

FFEL Special Allowance Rates: The average bond equivalent rates for 91 day Treasury bills and quarterly special allowance rates are available here.

FFEL Variable Interest Rates: The variable interest rates applicable to the Federal Stafford, Federal SLS, and Federal PLUS programs are available here.

FSA Assessments: In collaboration with financial aid professionals, FSA has designed management assessment modules to help schools enhance their services. The modules contain links to applicable laws and regulations.

FSA Customer Service Centers: Is a list of various FSA Customer Service Centers, the types of service provided by each and how to contact each one.

FWS Resource Guide: The Federal Work-Study (FWS) Resource Guide outlines what the law requires campuses to do in the area of community service and offers easy how-to instructions to meet those mandates.

Higher Education Act As Amended Through December 1998: The HEA is made available to you through a link to the “Publication” web page of the U.S. Congressional House Committee on Education and the Workforce web site. The web page hosts Committee Oversight Plan, Rules, Lists of Printed Hearings and Committee Prints. The current version of the HEA as reported by the 108th Congress is available here. The Department of Education is not responsible for the contents of the pages.

ISIR Analysis Tool: FSA designed the ISIR Tool to help schools analyze FAFSA application information reported on the ISIR. These data are used to determine what impact changes to student-reported information had on EFC and Pell eligibility.

NSLDS Reference Materials: The FAT Batch Record Layout, NSLDS User's Guide and Data Provider Guidance are available here.

Pell Grant (RFMS) Process: All Federal Pell Grant/Recipient Financial Management System (RFMS) information/documents/materials are available here.

Pell Grant Payment Schedules: The Pell Grant Payment Schedules are distributed under cover of a Dear Colleague/Partner letter. Click on the entries below to access the appropriate award year schedule.

• 2004-2005 Pell Grant Payment and Disbursement Schedules
• 2003-2004 Pell Grant Payment and Disbursement Schedules

Program Review Guidance: Program Review Procedures Memos and Guidance.

Reauthorization: The text of the Higher Education Amendments of 1998 that amended the Higher Education Act (HEA) are available here. We also have the transcripts from the three Public Hearings that were held in preparation for the beginning of the Negotiated Rulemaking process, and a link to the Dear Colleague Letter (DCL GEN-98-28) regarding Reauthorization.

Regulations Compilations: Compilations of all FSA related regulations were produced at the end of each calendar year through 1998. Beginning in 1999, we have begun to create quarterly compilations. These compilations reflect only those Parts of the Regulations that have been updated by final regulations, since the last update.

Return of Title IV Aid Worksheets: We are pleased to announce the availability of worksheets to assist institutions in their implementation of the "new" requirements for the treatment of Title IV funds when a student withdraws. These new requirements were added to the law by the Higher Education Amendments of 1998 (Public Law 105-244) and are found in section 484B of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, and in the implementing final regulations published on November 1, 1999 (64 FR 59016).

SAR/ISIR Reference Materials: "SAR/ISIR Comment Codes", Draft SAR form, ISIR Record Layouts, and "A Guide to SARs & ISIRs" are available here.

SAR/ISIR Comment Codes/Text and Reject Codes/Reasons are distributed as part of A Guide to SARs & ISIRs . For easy retrieval, click on the entries below to access the appropriate award year comment codes/text or reject codes/reasons.

• 2004-2005 SAR ISIR Comment Code and Text - January Changes
• 2003-2004 SAR ISIR Comment Code and Text
• 2003-2004 SAR/ISIR Reject Codes and Reject Reasons

SSCR User's Guides: The SSCR User's Guide (replaced by the NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide) provides the information needed by Registrar's Office, Financial Aid Office, and computer or data processing department staff to participate in the Student Status Confirmation Report process. Earlier versions of the SSCR User's Guides (back to the 1996 award year) can be located in the Archived Publications area. Click here to access the Archived SSCR User's Guides.

Terrorist Attacks - FSA Guidance: Information and guidance that relate to Title IV recipients, Schools and Partners due to the terrorist attacks can be found here.

Training Depot: Includes links to all Training Announcements, the FSA Training website (TFAP), FSA's Conference website and to Computer Based Training developed by FSA for your use.

Verification Worksheets: The "Verification Worksheets" (for independent and dependent students) are available here. Beginning with the 1999-2000 award year, the Verification Guide was incorporated into the FSA Handbook. For more information regarding verification of applicant data, see the FSA Handbook.

Many of the publications we make available to you are in Portable Document Format (PDF). PDF files can be viewed using the Acrobat Reader software. To download a FREE copy of the software, click on the icon below.