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Publication Date: September 25, 2001

Author: General Manager: SFA School Channel

Summary: Important Information for the end of the 2000-2001 year processing for the Federal Pell Program

 


Posted on September 25, 2001

 

TO: All Destination Points

FROM: Pell Grant Processing

RE: Important Information for the end of the 2000-2001 year processing for the Federal Pell Program
PROCESSING DEADLINE FOR THE 2000-2001 PELL PROCESSING YEAR

This is a reminder that the deadline for electronically transmitting records for the Federal Pell Grant 2000-2001 award year is Monday, October 1, 2001. (Please note the annual deadline for the submission of Federal Pell Grant disbursement records is normally September 30. However, because this date falls on a weekend, it has been extended to the next business day, Monday, October 1). This deadline was previously announced in the Federal Register Notice dated July 10, 2000.

Your transmission must be completed by midnight (local time at your destination point) on October 1, 2001 to meet the deadline. No requests for new or increased disbursements will be accepted after this deadline unless the requests meet the requirements for post deadline adjustments as set out in 34 CFR 690.83, an administrative relief request has been approved by the Department or the new or increased award could not have been submitted because it was previously blocked for payment due to an accepted disbursement record at another institution.

Please take action prior to October 1 to submit new or revised information that is the result of new or changed awards, changed verification statuses, or to unblock awards for students attending other schools, so that other schools may submit records at this time.

ADMINISTRATIVE RELIEF REQUESTS

If you are unable to meet the deadline for transmitting records for new or increased 2000-2001 awards by Monday, October 1, 2001, your school may qualify for Administrative Relief from the reporting deadline under certain unusual circumstances. These conditions are:

1. the U.S. Department of Education or one of its operating partners made an administrative or processing error which prevented you from meeting the October 1, 2001 deadline; or
2. an event, such as a natural disaster, prevented you from meeting the deadline, or
3. other unusual circumstances beyond the school's control.

To request Administrative Relief, send a written statement describing the problem in detail. Include the award year for which you are requesting relief (ex. 2000-2001), your six-digit Pell institution number, a contact name and phone number and e-mail address.

If your request for Administrative Relief is approved, we will notify you by letter. Please note: We must RECEIVE your request for Administrative Relief no later than JANUARY 31, 2002


SCHOOLS AFFECTED BY RECENT TERRORIST ATTACKS

Dear Partner Letter (DPL) GEN-01-12 published earlier this month outlines the exceptions to institutional reporting deadlines for schools affected by the recent terrorist attacks. Upon a school's request, we will automatically grant an extension to the reporting deadline of final 2000-2001 Federal Pell Grant payments if the school is unable to meet the published deadline of October 1, 2001 because of the disaster. Affected schools should follow the instructions in the DPL.

POST-DEADLINE EDITING

Records for 2000-2001 received after October 1 will be edited to determine if the school has been granted Administrative Relief to submit records beyond that date.

Note: If the institution has been informed through a Multiple Reporting Record (MRR) that a record has been unblocked by a previously blocking institution (that is, a "PU has been received on an MRR record), the institution will not have to request Administrative Relief for the disbursement record increase to be accepted.


RECONCILIATION TOOLS

RFMS offers two files that provide you information to help in either the year-end or ongoing reconciliation process. The first is the Year to Date File that contains detail origination, disbursement, and summary information on all your Pell Grant students at a transaction level. This file can be requested using your regular software interface (EDExpress, Third Party Software or Mainframe systems) or via the Pell web site (http://www.pellgrantsonline.ed.gov) under the data request area. In addition, schools or servicers may request a reconciliation file by e-mail to pell.systems@ed.gov.

In addition to these tools, you may want to look at the RFMS Web site (http://www.pellgrantsonline.ed.gov). The "Student Information" page allows you to view the activities of other schools with respect to originations and disbursements for individual students enrolled at your institution.

If you have any questions on this or any other Pell Grant matter, please contact Pell Grant Customer Service at 1-800-4PGRANT (800-474-7268) or e-mail us at pell.systems@ed.gov.