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Publication Date: September 2005

Author: Chief Operating Officer, Federal Student Aid

Summary: HURRICANE RITA INFORMATION – ELECTRONIC ANNOUNCEMENT #1

Posted on 09-27-2005

HURRICANE RITA INFORMATION - ELECTRONIC ANNOUNCEMENT #1

From: Terri Shaw, Chief Operating Officer, Federal Student Aid

Subject: Procedures for Adding New Federal School Codes to 2005-06 FAFSAs for Students Transferring Because of Hurricane Rita

Some schools will be helping students transfer from institutions impacted by Hurricane Rita to their own institution. In many instances the school to which a student is transferring needs to be added to the student's 2005-06 FAFSA record with the Central Processing System (CPS). Of course, the normal methods for adding a school to a FAFSA record are available -

• Student uses PIN to access their electronic record at www.fafsa.ed.gov,
• Student (or parent) calls 1-800-4FEDAID (1-800-433-3243),
• Student uses the paper SAR,
• School uses FAA Access after obtaining the student's DRN.
  

However, to make the process of adding a new school as simple as possible for students impacted by the hurricanes, we have temporarily added options for schools to request the addition of a Federal School Code to a transfer student's CPS record. Schools that are accepting students who have been displaced as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita can request to have their school code added to a student's record, as follows -

• Students can call 1-800-4FEDAID and add school codes w/o the DRN if they know one school already listed, and so can a student's parent if that parent is listed on the FAFSA.

• A school can call 1-800-4FEDAID and ask a Customer Service Representative (CSR) to add, for up to 15 individual applicants, its Federal School Code. The school must provide the CSR with each applicant's name and social security number, but it does not need to provide the student's DRN.

• For larger numbers of students, a school can submit a batch file of student records to the CPS. To request that school codes be added using this special batch method, the school must -

  - Create a password protected Excel spreadsheet.
  - Enter the school name and Federal School Code in the first row of the spreadsheet (e.g., FSA University, 001111). This will allow the CPS to identify the school submitting the request and the Federal School Code to be added to all of the student records on the spreadsheet.
  - Populate the Excel spreadsheet with a separate row for each student whose CPS record should be updated with the school's Federal School Code.
  - Each record must include the student's Social Security Number (without dashes i.e., 123456789) in Column A and the student's last name (in all CAPS) in Column B. Do not worry about column width. Example: 123456789 SMITH
  - Save the spreadsheet using the following naming convention: School Name followed by the Federal School Code. Do not forget to password protect the spreadsheet.
  - Attach the Excel spreadsheet to an e-mail message with a Subject Line of "Request To Add Federal School Code."
  - Send the e-mail, with the attached password protected Excel spreadsheet, to -

  Bill.Schulte@pearson.com,
  Sandy.Weldon@pearson.com,
  Vicki.Rebling@pearson.com, and
  Ida.Mondragon@ed.gov.

  - Do not include the password in the e-mail.
  - After sending the e-mail with the attached Excel spreadsheet, immediately call one of the following to provide the password that was assigned to the password-protected spreadsheet: Sandy Weldon at (319) 665-7774, Bill Schulte at (319) 665-7743, or Vicki Rebling at (319) 665-7767. If the e-mail is sent on Saturday or Sunday, you must call Monday morning.
  - Once we receive the spreadsheet and its password, the CPS will add the requested Federal School Code to the most recent CPS FAFSA transaction for each of the students on the spreadsheet. The new school code will be placed in the first open school code position. If all six positions are filled, the new Federal School Code will be placed in the sixth school code position, replacing the school currently listed in that position.
  - Files and passwords received Monday through Thursday will result in new ISIRs being generated and sent to all schools listed on the student's record, including the new transfer school, the next day. Files and passwords received on Friday, will result in new ISIRs being generated and sent the following Monday.

If you receive new ISIRs you did not expect, you can use the identification keys below to determine if the ISIR records are the result of students transferring to other institutions due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

• Transaction Data Source Code = "5"
• Transaction Data Type Code = "P"
• Reprocess Reason = "03"
• Comment Code 172

Schools are reminded that the two special methods described in this announcement for adding Federal School Codes to FAFSA records (by calling 1-800-4 FEDAID without the student's DRN or by using the batch process) can only be used for students who are transferring to a new school because of the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

If you have any questions about these procedures, please contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support at 800/330-5947 or by e-mail at CPSSAIG@ed.gov.