Arkansas Department of Higher EducationUniversal Financial Aid System

Arkansas Department of Higher EducationUniversal Financial Aid System

Launched on January 1, 2010Search and apply for all ADHE administered

scholarships and grants at one timeReceive e-mail status notificationsAvailable all year, but deadlines built into processingConnects to multiple government datasets to reduce

applicant input and error.Manage your account 24/7 to include:

Updating personal information and collegeReviewing transcript and test score information

www.adhe.edu

2007 2008 2009 20100

40000

80000

120000

160000

13,661 13,755

23,105

125,170

Financial Aid Applications

2010

2009

2008

2007

0 20,000 40,000 60,000

53,533

7,645

7,080

6,176

Academic Challenge Scholarship

• EVERY ELIGIBLE TRADITIONAL STUDENT WAS AWARDED A SCHOLARSHIP – More awards than budgeted. – More going to Universities than projected.

• EVERY ELIGIBLE CURRENT ACHIEVER STUDENT WAS AWARDED A SCHOLARSHIP – $41.5 million was budgeted for current achievers.– Fewer students met this criteria than projected.

• 4,986 NONTRADITIONAL STUDENTS– $12 million was budgeted for nontraditional students. – A priority/ranking system is in place for : 70% closeness to

degree, 20% GPA, 10% high demand field of study.

The Good News

By Friday evening we anticipate that: • EVERY ELIGIBLE 2 YR COLLEGE

NONTRADITIONAL STUDENT WILL BE AWARDED A SCHOLARSHIP– EARN-INS (currently enrolled) – DELAYED (Adults going to college for the first

time)• EVERY ELIGIBLE 4 YR NONTRADITIONAL

DELAYED STUDENT WAS AWARDED A SCHOLARSHIP– Waiting list for Earn-ins

More Good News

The Good News• A total of 25,815 students have been awarded the Academic

Challenge scholarship for Fall 2010. Arkansas will triple the amount of students receiving the academic challenge scholarship from 8,282 last year.

• There are 4 types of student receiving funding:– 4,906 are students who were awarded the Academic challenge

in previous years.– 12,493 traditional students have been offered the award

• Of the 37,049, nontraditional students:– 4,987 met the Current achiever definition and were offered the

scholarship– 4,986 will be offered the Nontraditional scholarship.

• Of those not receiving funds, 27,305 applications are ineligible to date.

High School 16,905

Student Issues:• Missing transcripts• Missing ACT• Missing FAFSA• Smartcore• Not responding to emails

or reviewing accounts

Academic Challenge (Traditional) 16,905

Paper Transcripts 4,801From Private

and home school

Electronic12,104From

Public high schools

FAFSACitizenship: US & AR

Register for DraftNo loan default

Matching up

Records

Process Issues:• Could not determine what was missing

until paper transcripts reviewed • Missing ACT• Missing FAFSA• Multiple scholarship criteria

As of July 30, All traditional students notified of their status

Every student who qualifies will be funded –even if later.

High School Process • High School Student process worked rather

well. Issues were/are:– Some student data from a few school districts did

not correctly populate the ADE database. Most of these issues were discovered early.

– Home school and private school transcripts are paper and require manual review.

• Largest complaint: – 2.5 and ACT 19 or equivalent for non-Smart Core

students.

Process Issues:• Could not determine what was

missing until paper transcripts review ed

Nontraditional and Current

Achievers36,707

Student Issues:• Missing transcripts; Missing ACT/or other• Missing FAFSA• Not response to emails or reviewing accounts

Academic Challenge (Nontraditional) 36,707

Paper and ‘electronic transcripts’ from public and private colleges have to be reviewed to determine what category:

FAFSACitizenship

Register for DraftNo loan default

Matching up

Records

• Current achiever legislation category required revision of software: available June 15• 15k applications from May 15-May 30• Sorting of transcripts: 1. Multiple transcripts; 2. determine current achiever; 3. prioritization

• New category added as part of the 2010 Legislative changes to the Lottery Act

• Students had already applied • Required extensive edits to the software program.

• Current Achiever criteria• Full-time in college since high school and 12 hours have to be at an

approved institution– Have to look at every term to determine

• At least 2.5 GPA • Prioritization: closeness to degree, GPA, workforce need

• Issues• All transcripts had to be manually processed.• Multiple transcripts• Recalculated GPA and hours attempted for those with many transcripts • Incomplete applications• Have to process all applications before ranking

Nontraditional/Current Achiever Process

Addressing the Volume of Applications

• Early on ADHE redirected 5 FTE to work with the scholarship staff in processing applications.

• In early June, ADHE hired 3 temporary workers to assist with filing transcripts.

• In July, ADHE contracted for 48 fulltime people under that arrangement.

• In July, ADE provided 9 staff members to help review transcripts.

• Current Achiever:– Limited funds and thus prioritization of applicants is required.

• Adult Learners– 70% is closeness to degree, 20 % is GPA, 10% is major– Current achievers who did not meet the full CA criteria were

considered for the nontraditional earn-in funding.

Addressing the Volume of Applications

Academic Challenge Scholarship(Traditional)

Total: 16,903

Awarded12,451 (73.66%)

Declined Award99 (0.59%)

Ineligible to date 4,337 (25.65%)

ACTGPA

Incomplete Application

Awarded9,973 (26.92%)

Declined24 (0.06%)

Eligible (Not Awarded)

3,861 (10.42%)

Ineligible to date23,148 (62.47%)

ACTGPA

Incomplete ap-plication to date

Academic Challenge Scholarship(Non-traditional/Current Achiever)

Total: 37,049

Arkansas Academic Challenge Lottery Scholarship Funding2010 - 2011

EXPENSE DETAIL

Cohort 2010 -11 Students Annual ExpendituresTraditional 12,444 $ 55,687,500Challenge Pipeline 4,944 $ 23,479,500 Current Achievers 4,977 $ 24,087,500 Non Traditional 4,986 $ 17,900,000

Grand Total 27,351 $121,154,500

We anticipate spending the balance of the $41.5 million allocated for Current Achievers in either the Current Achievers or Nontraditional categories prior to June 30, 2011.

This will increase the total 2010-2011 expenditure to $132.6 million.

Expenses

• Things to think about . . .– Budgets are for a fiscal year and the year has just

begun– Funding required to be available for the November

1 deadline– Funding students in the pipeline through to

graduation

Moving Forward

• There will be additional expenditures for the academic year 2010-2011

• New awards to students who have a previous Academic Challenge award, due to processing summer school credits

• Error corrections will add to student awards• Current Achiever and Non Traditional students

may apply for spring awards until November 1, increasing the number of awards