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AwardYear: 1998-1999 EnterChapterNo: 4 EnterChapterTitle: Federal Pell Grant Program SectionNumber: 7 SectionTitle: Reporting Disbursements PageNumbers: 75-90 hb4-77.pdf   This section explains how to report Pell payments to the Department through the Recipient and Financial Management System (RFMS) and how this reporting system affects the school's authorization. You should contact RFMS Customer Service at 1-800-4-PGRANT (1-800-474-7268) if you - have questions about a school's Pell account (obligations); Pell Grant systems (including EDE, RDE, or Floppy Disk processing or ADP services pertaining to these media); or the Institutional Access System (IAS); - are looking for general Pell payment information, such as the school's current authorization and the status of batches; or - want to request specific Pell data and documents. [[Pell authorization]] The authorization for a school is the maximum amount the school may draw down from the Education Central Automated Processing System/Grants Administration and Payments System (EDCAPS/GAPS). At the beginning of each award year, a school is given an initial authorization based on an estimate of the Pell funds the school will need to cover its first payments. As the award year progresses, the authorization for the school will be adjusted based on the actual number of eligible Pell recipients the school reports to the RFMS. The RFMS establishes the school's initial authorization and notifies the school of the authorization. As the school reports disbursements through RDE, EDE, or Floppy Disk Data Exchange, RFMS makes any necessary adjustments to the authorization, and notifies EDCAPS/GAPS so that funds will be available to the school. The RFMS enables the Department to track a school's need for funds as the award year progresses and adjust the school's authorization on that basis. The system also provides documentation to the school for reconciling the school's records of total expenditures with the Department's records of eligible students paid by the school. (This documentation is the Student Payment Summary--see page 4-87.) The Pell funds that the school reports to EDCAPS/GAPS as expended must equal the total payments to eligible Pell recipients at the school, as shown by the records for each student. REPORTING METHODS -------------------- Schools must use one of three different automated methods to report payment information to the Department. Information describing these methods is provided to schools through "User's Guides." [[Electronic Data Exchange]] The most widely used automated method is the Electronic Data Exchange (EDE), Electronic Payments Service, which allows schools or their service agents to use the school's computers to enter and transmit initial payment data and changes to previously reported payment data. The Department supplies personal computer software. Information is transmitted electronically by telephone line to a communications network, which in turn transmits the information to RFMS, thus greatly speeding up the reporting and response time. [[Recipient Data Exchange]] The second automated method, used especially by schools with large numbers of recipients, is the Recipient Data Exchange (RDE). The school mails a magnetic tape or cartridge to RFMS, which processes the information and returns the processed data on tape or cartridge, as the school requests. [[Floppy Disk Data Exchange]] The third automated method is the Floppy Disk Data Exchange, which permits schools to submit payment information on microcomputer diskettes. Schools using this method submit Payment Data batches on either 5 1/4" or 3 1/2" diskettes. All three methods transmit the same basic student information. The only difference is the way in which the information is sent: by magnetic tape/cartridge, by telephone line, or by diskette. As mentioned earlier, each school receives a "User's Guide" containing detailed information on the automated system used by that school. In the rest of this section, we will provide a general description of the data reporting process. Schools should refer to the appropriate "User's Guide" for specific information about the records used. [[This file contains the illustration "Payment Data Processing Path" on page 4-77 in Portable Document Format (PDF). It can be viewed with version 3.0 or greater of the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software.]] PAYMENT DATA -------------- Payment Data is the term used to refer to the electronic or magnetic payment record used in reporting Pell payments. The record contains the student's EFC, COA, enrollment status, and disbursement information. After the school receives an output document, the school completes the Payment Data by filling in award information. The school periodically sends Payment Data for its students to RFMS in a batch, along with the Institutional Payment Record. The Institutional Payment Record establishes certain basic demographic information about a school, and accompanies each batch of Payment Data/Processed Payment Data that schools submit to RFMS during the award year, summarizing the information about the data in that batch. [[One record per Pell recipient]] Carefully completing the Payment Data ensures that the school's Pell expenditures are accurately reported, which in turn smooths the process of acquiring additional funds, if necessary. A school must submit at least one acceptable record for each Pell recipient at the school. When a school receives a revised output document that it accepts as valid for payment, it should submit the new Payment Data record with its next batch. RFMS's award data processing system will only accept one award per recipient per attended campus. RFMS will automatically replace the previously accepted award data with the data reported in the revised Payment Data record. Therefore, the school should not submit the Processed Payment Data record corresponding to the original Payment Data record in an effort to reduce the student's previously accepted award amount to $0. SPECIFIC PAYMENT DATA ITEMS ------------------------------- Academic Calendar The academic year categories are defined as follows: Credit hour (nonstandard term). The school uses nonstandard academic terms but measures progress by credit hours or units. Quarter. The school uses standard term quarters and measures academic progress by quarter hours. Semester. The school uses standard term semesters and measures academic progress by semester hours. Trimester. The school uses standard term trimesters and measures academic progress by semester or trimester hours. Clock hour. The school measures academic progress by clock hours. Credit hour without terms. The school does not use terms, and measures academic progress by credit hours. Verification Status This item must be completed. If this item is blank, and the student was selected for verification by the CPS, RFMS assumes the student was paid under "W" ("Without documentation"). Payment will be limited to one-half of the student's Scheduled Award until the "W" is corrected. In addition, the school's Pell authorization will be reduced to $0 during the final review of its account for all students whose status is still "W" at the end of the award year. The financial aid administrator should enter "S" ("Selected, not verified") when the student has been selected for verification, but the school does not verify that student's information because it has reached the 30% verification limit or because it participates in the Title IV Quality Assurance Program. Note that Payment Data resulting from a first transaction (Transaction 01) will be rejected if "R" ("Reprocessed") is entered. See The Verification Guide for further explanation of the status codes and the 30% verification limit. Term Programs Only (enrollment status) Complete this item only if the academic calendar uses terms (standard or nonstandard). The enrollment status code "Other" is used when the student's enrollment status is "mixed"--for instance, when a student attends full time one term and half time the next, or when the student attends an additional (optional) term within the award year. An example would be a student attending both semesters of the regular academic year as a half-time student and then also attending a summer term as a half-time student. Clock Hour Programs, or Credit Hour Programs without Terms There are two items under this heading, "Hours/credits expected to complete" and "Hours/Credits in program's academic year definition". These items are completed only for clock-hour or nonterm credit-hour programs. For the first item, report the hours or credits the student is expected to complete in all payment periods occurring in the current award year. If the school is paying the student in the current award year for payment periods that are in progress or are already completed, it must be sure to include those payment periods in this total. The student cannot be paid for more than one academic year of work in one award year. For the second item, the hours or credits reported must be at least the minimum hours or credits specified in the regulations (900 clock hours, 24 semester hours, or 36 quarter hours, for example.) Term and Nonterm Programs not Using Formula 1 The two items under this heading, "Weeks of instructional time" and "Weeks in program's academic year" are used by programs not calculating Pell awards using Formula 1. (See Section 2 of this chapter for more information about the formulas.) For the first item, for term-based, credit-hour programs (programs using Formulas 2, 3, or 5B), enter the total number of weeks of instructional time in all payment periods in the current award year in which the student will be enrolled and paid.1 For programs using Formula 4, enter the number of weeks of instructional time required for most full-time students to complete the hours in the program or academic year, whichever is less. For programs using Formula 5A, enter the number of weeks of instructional time for a student to complete the hours in the program or academic year, whichever is less. Note that the weeks of instructional time might not be the same as the number of calendar weeks (see Chapter 3 for more information). For the second item, the number of weeks must be at least the minimum specified in the regulations (30 weeks of instructional time unless the school has received a waiver from the Department). 1 If a student will be enrolled and paid for the summer term in a program using Formula 2, the school should consider the number of weeks the student is enrolled in the summer term to be the number of weeks in the fall through spring terms divided by the number of terms in the fall through spring. All Programs (Payment Methodology) In this item, select the formula used to calculate the student's award. Amount Paid to Date Enter the actual amount the school has paid the student (either by check or credit to the account) as of the date the Payment Data record is completed. If the school has not yet paid the student but needs to submit the Payment Data, the financial aid administrator should report "0" for payment. Remaining Amount to Be Paid The financial aid administrator should enter the amount the school expects to pay the student for the remainder of the award year. This amount should take into account the student's expected enrollment status. For instance, if the student is receiving a $600 Pell disbursement as a full-time student in the first of two payment periods but is expected to drop to half time in the second payment period, the "remaining amount to be paid" would be $300. If the school has entered $0 for "amount paid to date" because it has not yet paid the student for the first payment period, then the "remaining amount to be paid" for the student in this example would be $900. The school must report "0" for this item if it expects to make no further payments to the student for the award year. The item must not be left blank. Note that if a school reports an amount in this item for a student who has transferred to another school, payments to the student by the new school may be prevented or delayed. If the value is greater than "0," then the school must specify the months in which the remaining amounts will be paid. Months In Which Remaining Payments Will Be Made If the school has students who will be attending a crossover payment period at the end of the award year, and they will be paid in June, July, or August from this award year's funds, the financial aid administrator should enter the appropriate months in which remaining payments will be made. Summer School and Other Crossover Payment Periods: If a school uses 1998-99 funds to pay a student enrolled in a crossover payment period in the summer of 1998, the school should prepare the Payment Data and submit it in the first batch for this award year. If the school plans to pay a student out of 1998-99 funds for a summer 1999 payment period, generally it will be to the school's advantage not to notify ED of the payment for next summer until it is reasonably certain that the student will attend. It is recommended that the school not notify ED until at least January 1999. This will save the school effort, as it will have to resubmit Processed Payment Data for all students who were expected to attend the summer payment period but later decided not to attend. Date Enrolled This Award Year Enter the first date the student was enrolled in the eligible program for this award year. (For this item, "enrolled" means the first day the student attended classes.) If the student enrolled in a crossover payment period before the first day of the award year (July 1), report the actual date enrolled for this item, even though that date occurs before the start of the award year. REPORTING DEADLINES ---------------------- Schools must report any Pell change (for example, a new recipient, or an increased award) within 30 days of the date the school becomes aware of the change. Schools may do this by reporting once every 30 calendar days (or more frequently), or may set up their own system to ensure that changes are reported in a timely manner. For example, a school may decide to report every other Friday on all changes since the last report, or a highly automated school may set up a program to check the records daily for changes and report the changes the same day. Reporting deadline example On September 4, Woodhouse College determines that a Pell award it has previously reported to the Department must be reduced. On September 12, it pays five new recipients and determines that it must increase the amount it reported for another student's award. October 4 is 30 days after September 4, so Woodhouse must report the downward adjustment by that date. On October 4, the school bundles the September 4 and September 12 payments and adjustments and submits a report. Woodhouse could also have waited until October 12 to report the changes from September 12. On October 17, Woodhouse pays another new student and learns that a student for whom it reported an expected spring disbursement will not be attending the spring semester. November 16 is 30 days after October 17. Therefore, November 16 is the deadline by which Woodhouse must report the new payment made on October 17 and the adjustment to zero for the spring term payment. If a school does not report any payment data for a period of 30 or more calendar days, the Department will consider that the school had no data to report for that period, and any actions (such as changes in authorization levels) will be based only on the data reported to that time. A school may submit a Payment Data batch more frequently than once every 30 days if there are enough Payment Data to warrant a separate submission. Schools may submit an unlimited number of batches. Note that all Payment Data for an award year must be submitted by September 30 following the end of the award year (for example, September 30, 1999 for the 1998-99 award year). A school may need to submit a batch of Payment Data after the end of the award year to report summer school payments, students who need verification completed, or outstanding payment data changes. The school must be sure that it submits this data before September 30. [[Adjustments after September 30]] Adjustments can be made to a school's Pell account after September 30 only if there is an underpayment or overpayment of previously reported awards, or if the U.S. Department of Education or one of its contractors has made a processing error. A school can also request administrative relief for unusual circumstances beyond the school's control--for example, a natural disaster. These requests must be made in writing and must be received by January 31 of the calendar year following the award year (for example, by January 31, 2000 for the 1998-99 award year). Requests for such actions should be sent to U.S. Department of Education Institutional Financial Management Division, AFMS P.O. Box 23791 Washington, D.C. 20026-0791 If you have questions about administrative relief, contact the RFMS Customer Service at 1-800-4-PGRANT (1-800-474-7268). [[Late adjustments due to program review or audit--34 CFR 690.83(d)]] In certain circumstances a school can receive reimbursement even if it did not submit correct Payment Data for a student before the submission deadline. The Department must reimburse a school for funds found to be owed to the school during a audit conducted after December 31, 1988--including funds for which reimbursement was not requested before the audit. In order to receive reimbursement under this provision, the school must demonstrate that it qualifies based on a finding in the school's first required compliance audit of the award year; the audit report must have been submitted by the appropriate deadline. (See Chapter 3 for more information about audit requirements and deadlines). The finding does not need to establish the exact amount of the adjustment but must establish that the school paid Pell awards for which it was not reimbursed by the Department. "Dear Colleague" Letter P-97-2, dated June 1997, explains the procedures and format that a school should use in requesting this adjustment. This supersedes information contained in "Dear Colleague" Letter GEN 94-14. A school may also receive reimbursement if it submitted Payment Data for a student before the deadline, but did not submit the correct Payment Data for that student. In order to receive reimbursement, the underpayment must be at least $100, and a program review must show that the student was eligible to receive more than the school originally reported. Note that the final deadline (published in the Federal Register each award year) for submitting Payment Data and disbursement information will continue to apply. A school that misses the regulatory deadline would not be in compliance with Federal Pell Grant Program requirements. [[Adjustments due to overpayments]] Adjusting for an overpayment is permitted any time the school determines that a student for whom Payment Data had been accepted by RFMS received more Pell funds than he or she was qualified to receive. The school must report the reduction to the proper amount whether or not it can collect the overpayment from the student, unless the school was not liable for the overpayment; in that case, the school reports the amount to the Debt Collection Service, Student Receivables Division, (202) 708-4766. PROCESSED PAYMENT DATA ------------------------- RFMS processes the Payment Data and returns Processed Payment Data to the school. The Processed Payment Data will be an electronic or magnetic record. The information that the school originally provided in its Payment Data is included in the Processed Payment Data. Comments about the data--what data RFMS has accepted or rejected, for example--are also included in the Processed Payment Data, as are the data accepted by RFMS. The school will also receive a summary of the data in the batch. Schools review the Processed Payment Data and return any corrections with their next submission. Note: A school may request replacement data for a batch or year-to- date data on tape, floppy diskette, or electronically by contacting the IAS at 1-800-4-PGRANT (1-800-474-7268). The school may also mail its request to U. S. Department of Education Student Aid Origination Team, PSS P. O. Box 6565 Rockville, Maryland 20850-6565 [[Processing categories]] Each record the school submitted will be placed in one of four categories. The summary indicates how many records in the batch were in each category. The categories are Rejected. The information is inconsistent. The school must correct these records before resubmitting them. Accepted with Assumptions. The information was incomplete, so the system made certain assumptions. The school should review the Processed Payment Data carefully and resubmit if corrections are necessary. Duplicates. These are duplicates of previously ACCEPTED records and thus are not counted in the "total amount paid to date" or the "remaining amount to be paid" in the batch summary. The school should keep these records in its files. They need not be resubmitted unless the award year data changes. Accepted. The school should keep these records in its files. The school does not need to resubmit them unless the award year data changes. Schools should check records rejected because the SSN was invalid or did not match; in many cases, this indicates that the student is not in the Pell database. This may occur if an eligible student has incorrectly reported having a bachelor's degree or being enrolled as a graduate student. The school must correct (or have the student correct) the incorrect information before it can receive any payment for the student from the Department. The school should review the Processed Payment Data carefully. If, after reviewing the information in the Processed Payment Data and the instructions in the appropriate "User's Guide" on correct reporting procedures, the financial aid administrator still cannot determine why the award data submitted for a student did not result in the expected processed data, he or she should contact the RFMS Customer Service at 1-800-4-PGRANT (1-800-474-7268). The first three items on the batch summary provide information about the Payment Data the school submitted. Items 1 and 2 tell how many records the Federal Pell Grant Program received and how they were processed (for example, accepted or rejected). Item 3 is the total amount paid to date for all the students in that batch (from the total of amounts in "Amount Paid to Date" on each record). Note that the Department's count in Items 1 and 3 should agree with the amounts the school reported when it submitted the batch. The last three items show how the data were adjusted for any records that were rejected, accepted with assumptions, etc. The adjustments made (Item 5e) are subtracted from the total payments for the students in that batch (Item 4). The result (Item 6) is the net change to the accepted student payment as a result of the particular batch. REPORTING CHANGES -------------------- If the Processed Payment Data the school has received are accurate and there are no changes to the students' awards, the school must simply retain these records in its files. However, if the information for any student is wrong or changes during the award year, the school may have to correct the Processed Payment Data and resubmit it with the school's next batch. See the appropriate "User's Guides" for information on correcting Processed Payment Data. The most frequently required changes are to COA, verification status (to update a "W"--payment without documentation), enrollment status (term schools), and payment amounts and dates. Other changes occur less frequently, except in cases of error. For instance, one would not expect the school's academic calendar to change during the award year. [[Optional corrections]] Some corrections do not affect the student's award and need not be reported to the Department: Academic Calendar. The school does not have to report a change from one type of standard academic term to another (for example, from a quarter system to a semester system). Other calendar changes (for example, from a credit-hour to a clock-hour calendar) must be reported. Cost of Attendance. The school does not have to report a change that does not increase or decrease the amount the student will be paid for the year. Verification Status. If the verification status accepted by the Federal Pell Grant Program for the student was N, A, T, C, R, or S, the school does not have to report a change to that status. If the student's status was a "W". the school must report a a change to that status once it receives full documentation from the student and completes verification. Enrollment Status. The school does not have to report a change to enrollment status that does not increase the amount the student will be paid for the year. It will have to report a change in enrollment status if a student attends for a longer period than expected and the result is a greater award. For example, if a three- quarter-time student decides to attend summer school as a three- quarter-time student, the school must change Enrollment Status to "Other" at the same time it reports the larger award amount. If the school leaves the student's status as three-quarter time, RFMS assumes that the student's three-quarter-time award is being exceeded, and the larger award amount will not be put on file for the student. Hours/Credits expected to complete, Weeks used. The school does not have to report a change to these items if the change does not increase the amount the student will be paid for the year. Hours/Credits in academic year, Weeks in academic year. The school reports a change to these items only if it is redefining its academic year. (For example, the school decides to change its 32-week academic year to 30 weeks.) Months in which remaining payments will be made. The school does not have to report changes to this item. However, we encourage schools to report changes if they apply to a significant number of students, so that the school's funding can be adjusted accordingly. [[Reporting changes in anticipated payments]] If the student's situation changes and the anticipated payments are not made, the school must report this change by resubmitting the Processed Payment Data to RFMS. For instance, a student may drop from full-time enrollment in one term to half-time in the next, or may no longer be making satisfactory progress, or simply may not return in the second payment period. In each of these cases, the school must adjust the "Amount to be paid" item and any other relevant items in the Processed Payment Data and return it to RFMS. [[Schools must submit reports on time]] Schools must submit Processed Payment Data, for those students whose awards have changed, within 30 days after the date on which the school becomes aware of the change. This requirement ensures that federal funds will not remain at a school when its students do not need the funds. It further ensures that if the student transfers to another school, Pell payments to the student through the new school will not be blocked. Schools that do not submit required reports or do not submit them on time, and schools that submit incomplete reports, will have their Pell allocation reduced and may be fined. STUDENT PAYMENT SUMMARY --------------------------- The "Student Payment Summary" (SPS) lists the student data in the Department's records for each Pell recipient for whom the school submitted Payment Data for the award year. The SPS enables the school to check its records to determine if there are any additions and changes to its student data that it needs to report to the Department, or any corrections the school needs to make in its institutional records. An SPS is routinely sent to each school for review at least three times during the award year as well as at the end of the award year. A school may also request an SPS during the award year through the IAS at 1-800-4-PGRANT (1-800-474-7268). A financial aid administrator may also call the above number if he or she has general questions about the school's SPS. The SPS reflects each record for the award year (as of the date in the upper right corner) that the Department either accepted or rejected but retained in its records. The SPS excludes data that the Department rejected and did not retain, as well as records the school submitted that duplicated data already accepted. Students are listed on the SPS in Pell Institution Number order by the attended campus, then alphabetically by last name. The Department provides summary statistics of all student activity at the end of each attended campus and, for the entire institutional system, at the end of the SPS. Appendix B of this chapter gives an item-by-item description of the SPS. Appendix C of this chapter describes the circumstances under which the SPS may list some Pell recipients more than once. [[Comparing school records to SPS]] The school should use its SPS to confirm that the Department has received and accepted student payment data for all the Pell recipients the school has paid, up through the date in the upper right corner of the SPS. The school should compare institutional student records to the SPS to confirm that each Pell recipient appears at least once. If students are missing from the SPS, the school needs to report them to the Department immediately. A school should account for each missing student in one of the following three categories: [[Students missing from SPS]] 1. The school submitted the student's record to the Department, but it was rejected due to reporting errors--the batch summary shows the number of rejected records for each batch submission. 2. The school submitted the student's record, but the Department did not receive it--the batch summary shows any discrepancies in the number of records the school reported and the number received for each submission. 3. The school has not yet submitted the student's record to the Department, either inadvertently or for other reasons. The school should review institutional student records to verify that the payment to each Pell recipient agrees with the "Total Payment Amount" the Department has accepted, as shown on the SPS. If the school finds a difference, it needs to either report the revised payment amount(s) to the Department or correct institutional records for the student. The school should use the Processed Payment Data as the Department returns them to the school to reconcile institutional records. If the school then uses the SPS as you would your checking account monthly statement, it can verify that its records agree with the Department's or identify the additions and/or changes it needs to report in its next submission. The school reports additional Pell recipients or payment amount changes through whatever medium it normally uses (RDE, EDE, or Floppy Disk Data Exchange). Remember that a school must report any changes in the Pell award no later than 30 days after the date on which it becomes aware of the change. [["W" verification status]] The Summary Statistics page gives the school a count of any student records with a verification status of "W" (Without documentation). As mentioned in Section 4 of this chapter, a school may not make more than one disbursement for a student selected for verification until the student supplies documentation to verify or correct the application data. Therefore, the Department will honor no more than half of the student's Scheduled Award if the school reports, or the Department assumes, a verification status of "W." The school and the student must complete the verification process by the applicable deadline. [[Must revise "W" status]] As soon as the school completes verification, the school must submit acceptable Payment Data to the Department, revising the student's verification status and amount(s) that the Department accepted for payment. The school should carefully review any student data on the SPS with a verification status of "W" and complete its reporting promptly. In early August, the Department will reduce the accepted payment to $0 for any students whose verification status remains "W" and will make a corresponding reduction in the school's Pell authorization. After the verification deadline (August 31, 1999), the Department will reject any student documents submitted to which a "W" status applies. [[Total payments]] The first summary page for the entire institutional system (at the end of the SPS) lists the "Total Payment Amount (Item 6 + Item 7)," summarized from the Processed Payment Data shown on the SPS. The school should compare its institutional records to this amount. Appendix D, beginning on page 4-113, describes the steps the school should take to confirm that current institutional Pell payments agree with the student payment data the school has reported. These steps should assist the school in verifying that it has identified all discrepancies between the Department's records and institutional records, so that the school can report any payment data changes or additional students. Differences generally result from two conditions: [[Common discrepancies]] 1. The school has not yet reported all student payment data changes and/or additional recipients. 2. The payment amount in institutional records exceeded the amounts the Department could accept, based on the other data reported for the student, and the Department disallowed the excess. If the data on which the Department based the disallowance properly reflect the student's award information, the school must adjust institutional records to the correct payment amount and recover any excess from the student. If either of these conditions apply to the school, it needs to resolve the inconsistencies promptly. The Department provides the SPS to allow schools time to review it and submit payment data changes and additional recipients (including any rejected student records) as soon as possible. As mentioned earlier, a school must complete its reporting of all changes and new recipients no later than 30 days after the date the school becomes aware of the change or addition. ADMINISTRATIVE COST ALLOWANCE --------------------------------- A school participating in the Federal Pell Grant Program is entitled to an administrative cost allowance (ACA) to help offset the costs of administering the program. The Department notifies the school of the amount of its ACA by mail several times a year, and pays the school automatically by EFT. A school receives $5 for each of its reported Pell recipients. Students who later withdraw are included in the number of recipients, as are transfer students, but those whose payment data are rejected by the Department are not included. The ACA must be used only to help pay the costs of administering the Federal Pell Grant Program and the campus-based programs (see Chapter 5). If the school enrolls a significant number of less-than- full-time or independent students, it is required to use a reasonable proportion of the ACA to assure that financial aid services are available to those students. REQUESTING FUNDS ------------------- The reporting system described in this section enables the Department to track schools' need for Pell funds during the award year and to adjust Pell authorizations accordingly. The system ensures that federal funds do not remain at a school when its students do not need them. When the school requests funds from the Department (for the Pell, campus-based, or Direct Loan programs), that request is handled by a different system, the Education Central Automated Processing System/Grants Administration and Payments System (EDCAPS/GAPS). Schools that participate in the Pell Grant Program will use GAPS to submit their payment requests. [[Automated Clearing House (ACH)]] The Department's Financial Payments Group uses a payment system called the Automated Clearing House/Electronic Funds Transfer (ACH/EFT). The ACH/EFT is essentially a direct deposit system. Most postsecondary schools that participate in the SFA Programs are now using the ACH/EFT. If you are responsible for your school's fiscal office activities, you should refer to the GAPS User's Guide and to the current edition of the SFA Blue Book. A second method for requesting funds from EDCAPS/GAPS is through FEDWIRE. Under this method, requests for funds go directly to EDCAPS/GAPS. Most state institutions use FEDWIRE. See the GAPS User's Guide mentioned above for further details.

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