Degree Partnerships Financial Aid

Kristin WelschAssistant Director of Financial Aid

Oregon State University

Elaine RobinsonAssistant Director of Financial Aid Linn-Benton Community College

Admissions and Record Coding

Admissions

• Student must apply to each individual partnership program

• No additional application fees for students already admitted into OSU

• Admissions information, deadlines and application can be found at www.oregonstate.edu/dpp

Admissions Data Exchange

• Admissions information is transmitted electronically to partner community colleges admissions offices weekly or biweekly

• Contains specific admission information needed by the partner school

• Changes in admission status are reported

Student Record Coding NOHOME

• Student has been admitted to a degree partnership program but has not yet declared a home school

• Coded when the OSU Financial Aid Office is notified by Admissions that the student has been admitted to a degree partnership program

• Stops everything at OSU– No packaging aid– No processing of requests– No disbursements

Student Record Coding PARTNER

• Student has declared the partner school as the home school

• Stops everything at OSU– No packaging aid– No processing of requests– No disbursements

Student Record Coding HOME

• Student has declared OSU as the home school

• Financial aid activity resumes at OSU– Aid will be packaged– Requests are processed– Disbursements will be made

Home School Declaration Options

• Online questionnaire (Preferred)– Sent initially to students when admitted

into program– Also available through a link on OSU

student online services

• Home school declaration form

• In writing: email, letter, fax

• OSU is notified by partner school

Partner Responsibilities

• Upon receiving admissions information, code the student as dual enrolled to ensure that OSU is receiving enrollment information

• Place a hold on the aid until receiving confirmation of home school declared by student

• Notify OSU of any home school changes requested by the student

• OSU will notify partner school of any home school updates

Home School Parameters

• Parameters vary by partner

• Emails, online questionnaires and forms are tailored to a specific partnership

• There is an educational component to declaring a home school

Exchanging Information

OFAXOregon Financial Aid Exchange

• Multiple-enrollment data exchange for financial aid purposes

• Allows combination of enrollment from multiple institutions for financial aid

Enrollment Information Sharing

• Level of enrollment• Student Status Confirmation Report (SSCR)• Withdrawals• End of Term grades/credits (SAP)• Monitoring for aid-eligible courses• Institutional policies and deadlines for drops,

adds, receiving W’s, etc.• **ESTABLISH TIMELINES FOR SHARING**

OFAX Data Exchange

• Participating schools send in their data via a secure web site

• OFAX server processes file– Match on SSN– Return matching records sent in by

other schools via password protected email attachment

OFAX Data Layout

• Data is sent/received in a text file.• The full layout is available from OSAC’s

web site. http://www.osac.state.or.us/ofax_faq.html

• This file can be loaded into Excel and processed manually, or loaded into a database and automated via local programming.

• This allows schools to process the OFAX data any way they see fit.

Loading the Data into Banner(OSU’s version)

• We’ve written a local process that the Financial Aid Office runs

• It loads up the file returned from OFAX and assigns the correct local OSU term code– term codes are unique to each school

yet we have to associate data for corresponding terms

What do we want to do with the data once we have it?

• Verify/More reporting. Report on– Home institution discrepancies– Continued enrollment at partner institution– Any other “oddball” things (like same course at two

places at once)• Disburse aid based on sum of OSU hours plus

qualifying hours at participating institution(s)• Report SSCR data accurately for those whom

OSU is their “Home institution”• Satisfactory Academic Progress processing after

term has finished• We’ve also written a display-only data form that

the FAO can query…

OSU’s OFAX Data Form

Other Considerations

Receiving Aid at OSU

• Student must complete FAFSA for the correct academic year and have no outstanding financial aid requirements

• If student has declared OSU as home school, aid will pay onto the student’s account on the first day of classes

• Aid will 1st pay OSU account balance, remainder will be refunded to student– It is the student’s responsibility to pay the

partner school

Privacy…

• The student release on the FAFSA indicates okay to share data for determining financial aid eligibility

• The student authorizes sharing the data on the admission application

• Institutions may not report a student to OFAX unless they have signed up at that institution

• The data may only be used for Financial Aid purposes

Financial Aid Issues

• Memorandums of Understanding– Agreements by partner institutions to provide

programs, services, etc.

• Consortium Agreements– Developed by partner offices of Financial Aid

• Purpose

– Required by USED to ensure compliance with regulations

– Must determine “home school” for financial aid purposes

– Definition of “home school” varies

Other Factors to Consider

• Admitted to degree program• Enrolled in eligible courses, transcription• Level of enrollment (full time, part time)• Combined enrollment• Student budgets• Changes in enrollment or program• Satisfactory academic progress• Academic calendar, deadlines• Start/End dates• Types of information systems• Multiple partner schools

Resources

• OFAX Website– www.osac.state.or.us/ofax.html

• Contacts– Joyce Eaton joyce.y.eaton@state.or.us– Kristin.Welsch@oregonstate.edu– John.Snyder@oregonstate.edu

Questions?