2021 CUNY Financial Aid Professional Development

Annual ConferenceVirtual Updates – July 28th 2021

Area Updates: The Office of Student Financial Assistance

Elaine Pimentel, Dzelika Daniel, & Mark Rivera

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• The Early Implementation of the FAFSA Simplification Act’s Removal of Requirements for Title IV Eligibility related to Selective Service Registration and Drug-Related Convictions was published with an effective date of June 17th 2021, as well as waived income-related Verification items were for 2021-22.

• OSFA worked with CIS to stop checklist assignment jobs from the 21/22 aid year, and waived V1/V5 income-related document requests in CUNYfirst.

Early Implementation of the FAFSA Simplification Act

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• The Packaging Status Summary was updated for the V1 population to allow for packaging and to report the ED verification status code of S “selected, not verified”.

• OSFA is working with the Office of Admissions & Recruitment Services to communicate this change in federal guidance to the impacted student population.

Early Implementation of the FAFSA Simplification Act

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• FSATech has reported that the CPS began sending files out earlier than previously. CIS has confirmed that the files are being received at varied times. To see if we can minimize the ISIR processing time, we have asked CIS to modify the ISIR correction export time to 6:00PM daily.

ISIR Correction/Export

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• CUNY has extended the Special COVID-19 Flexible Grading Policy — also known as the Credit/No Credit Policy — to the Fall 2020 term. The policy will be administered by each of CUNY’s 25 colleges, which may alter the policy for college-specific considerations.

• For federal student aid Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) purposes, the federal CARES Act allows for a college to exclude attempted credits that a student did not successfully complete for class meeting dates that includes December 31, 2020 or the end date for the Federally-declared emergency from the SAP calculation, because of COVID-19. Therefore, the NC grades reported from the Fall 2020 term will be excluded from the cumulative attempted credits in the quantitative assessment for the next time the SAP evaluation which occurred at the end of the Spring 2021 term.

Update to the SAP Exclusion EquationTo Comply with the CUNY Flexible Grading Policy

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• An additional enhancement to the FA term build process to ensure students who dropped courses prior to summer census have their FA load updated as part of the batch process.

• A new strategy for adjustments to the mass packaging and Pell repackaging selections as part of the close out of an award year.

• Piloting a new process to update the Pell aggregates from an additional NSLDS Data History Files prior to any Pell disbursements for an award year.

Initiatives to Improve Batch Processing

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• The Department of Education implemented the repeal of the limitation on lifetime subsidized loan eligibility, known as Subsidized Usage Limit Applies (SULA), which currently bars students from receiving subsidized Direct Loans for more than 150% of the published length of their program.

Direct Loan and SULA Updates

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• In 2021, CUNY’s federal allocation was approximately $7million.• In 2022-23, CUNY’s federal allocation is approximately $4million. • OSFA anticipates that students will be working in-person.• The federal share of FWS wages can be 100% for all FWS positions, at a school that is designated

as a Title III or Title V eligible school.• Participation in the FWS Experiment provides the flexibility to increase the federal share dollars that

make up a student’s compensation to 75% for a small business as defined in 13 CFR 121, which means the non-federal match of 25% of wages paid for work performed for private for-profit small-businesses must be provided.

• Regardless of your participation in the experiment, there is no waiver of the non-federal match for jobs at for-profit employers. This means that even if your school was designated as a Title III or Title V school, you are still required to provide the match.

FWS Experimental Program

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• The Emergency Broadband Benefit will provide a discount of up to $50 per month towards broadband service for eligible households and up to $75 per month for households on qualifying Tribal lands. Eligible households can also receive a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from participating providers if they contribute more than $10 and less than $50 toward the purchase price.

• OSFA collated a list of eligible students and worked with University Communications for a student notice to be sent.

FCC Emergency Broadband Benefit

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• The Office of Budget & Finance (OBF) collaborated with OSFA to create a new item type to support initiatives ongoing at the CUNY colleges to provide funds specifically addressing food insecurity.

• The consolidated IT that can be used for awarding in the FA module and disburse to SF.

• OSFA also provided preliminary lists of zero EFC/FWS-eligible students made eligible for SNAP benefits as a result of Federal Coronavirus Relief regulations for the University SNAP Verification Form

Food Access Initiatives

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• A process to certify NYS TAP Award certification was built for CUNYfirst to replace the Legacy WYLBUR process.

• Schools are to continue using WYLBUR for 2020-2021 aid year certifications, with availability to the legacy environment to September 1, 2021.

• A distinct role in CUNYfirst will be created for certifiers. • OSFA has reviewed the process in the test environment before opening

testing to the schools and is awaiting next steps from CIS regarding availability for Fall 2021.

CUNYfirst TAP Certification

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• In part with OUR and CIS, the CUNY Legacy Portal was created to provide campuses with access to SIMS/Legacy Transcript, Stops, Charges, FAP, the Federal SAR (Student Aid Report). Here schools will be able to access a Student Aid Report for a student who listed the institution on their FAFSA.

Legacy Portal

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• In collaboration with University Student Affairs and OUC/OBF, and the schools, OSFA facilitated the awarding process for Student Level awards from the various stimulus funding.

• CUNY colleges were allocated the following Federal Stimulus funds:

• HEERF I (CARES): $236,955,656.00

• HEERF II (CRRSA): $236,955,656.00

• HEERF III (ARP): $798,793,094.00• CARES MSI: $14,249,187.00• CRRSA MSI: $23,7322,234.00

Federal Stimulus Funds

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All Worksheets• If student has met graduation requirements, no R2T4

calculation. Worksheets with Modules/Sessions• If student successfully completes 49% or more among all the

period(s) of enrollment within a term, no R2T4 calculation.• If student successfully completes ½ time status, no R2T4

calculation.

Return to Title IV Exemptions Effective 07/01/2021

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• The University is expected to launch the 9.2 CUNYfirst Upgrade over the next calendar year. This upgrade offers a more mobile friendly version of the interface with some improved performance (enhanced search functionality, activity guides, more fluidity and mobility, and browser support). Announcements are forthcoming for all applicable testing cycles before launch.

CUNYfirst 9.2 Upgrade

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Given the complexity of the verification process and the increasing year over-year percentage of students selected to verify, it is critical that the University procures this enterprise-wide solution to facilitate the collection, review, and submission of documentation required for the FAFSA verification process. The solution will provide the preliminary, high-level requirements:• completion of the verification process utilizing pre-filled content from the FAFSA, e-

signature capabilities, and a convenient, secure mode for uploading documents using the electronic devices of their choice whether it be a PC, tablet, or smartphone.

• Smart logic features in the design of the portal to guide students and families through the submission process.

• automated communications with personalized tasks to students.• capture and compare the data on the federal income tax transcript with the FAFSA data to

reduce errors and expedite processing time.

FAFSA Verification Portal for StudentsFor the 2022-2023 Award Year

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