LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

LASFAA 2014 Financial Aid Conference

TOPS: Updates and Louisiana Award System

Changes

LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

AGENDA

• New Laws & Rules• ACT 837: How Is LOSFA Complying• Changes to Louisiana Award System• Bulletins – TOPS/Go Grant• Go Grant Billing and Reminders• Tips for a Successful Audit• Q&A

LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

New Laws & Rulesfor

2014

LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

TOPS CoreAct 566

Changes to the TOPS Core for students graduating in 2018 and later (applies to students in high school now)

• Must earn one unit from the following: – Government, – Civics, – AP US Government and Politics: Comparative, or – AP US Government and Politics: United States.

• Adds Economics, AP Macroeconomics or AP Microeconomics to the list of social studies electives to the List of substitutes for Art.

• For students entering the 9th grade in 2014 or later, allows students to take one unit of:

– Government, – Civics, – AP US Government and Politics: Comparative, or – AP US Government and Politics: United States.

LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

TOPS Cumulative GPAAct 733

For students graduating in 2018 and later(applies to students in high school now)

• Approved Honors, Talented and Articulated Courses for College Credit will be calculated on a 5.00 scale.

• Courses must be approved by both BESE and BOR.• No Honors Courses have been approved.• Approved Talented Courses:

– Talented Music I, II, III, IV– Talented Visual Arts I– Talented Visual Arts II– Talented Visual Arts III– Talented Visual Arts IV– Talented Theater I, II, III, IV

• No Articulated Courses for College Credit have been approved. – These will be selected from courses taught at the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the

Arts

LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

TOPS Tech CoreActs 733 & 737

Effective for students graduating in 2014 and later• Allows the Tech award using the Academic Core for 2018 grads• Makes LASFAC responsible for defining “skill or occupational training”• New Definition of “skill or occupational training”

– any training leading to an Industry-Based Certification, a Certificate of Applied Science or a Certificate of Technical Sciences approved by the Workforce Investment Council offered by a provider recognized by the Louisiana Workforce Commission

• Repeals requirement to earn Chemistry or Applied Chemistry• Requires 2 units of science courses• Adds Chemistry and Applied Chemistry to the list of science courses• Adds Drafting to the list of substitutes for Fine Arts Survey

LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

TOPS Tech Early StartAct 737

For students in high school in 2014-15 and laterArea Changed Through June 18, 2014 Effective June 19, 2014

Authority for defining/approving eligible credentials for TTES:

Board of Regents Workforce Investment Council

What is funded: Pursuit of an eligible credential. Technical or applied course leading to an approved credential.

Eligible credentials must be:

Industry-based occupational or vocational credential that:

Industry-Based Certification, a Certificate of Applied Science, or a Certificate of Technical Sciences that meets the following requirements:

  1. Is identified by the Occupation Forecasting Conference as a credential for an occupation in top demand in Louisiana.

1. Is identified by the Occupation Forecasting Conference as a credential for an occupation in top demand in Louisiana.

2. Is recognized by the State Industry-Based Certification Council.

2. Is recognized by the State Industry-Based Certification Leadership Council.

3. Is approved by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and by the Board of Supervisors of Community and Technical Colleges.

N/A

Eligible postsecondary institutions:

Louisiana public Louisiana public postsecondary institutions

Louisiana nonpublic postsecondary institutions

Up to 5 training providers recognized by the Workforce Commission and approved by BESE.

LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

Personally Identifiable Information or PIIAct 837

• Provides policies and procedures for the collection, receipt, use, protection and destruction of personally identifiable information

• These procedures include requirements for consent from a parent or guardian for the public schools to collect and disclose certain personally identifiable information related to grades 8 – 12 students to LOSFA to make it possible for the agency to determine eligibility for financial aid programs, including TOPS

LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

Personally Identifiable Information or PIIAct 837

• Act 837 of the 2014 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature requires the governing authority of each school to provide a form to the parent or legal guardian of each student enrolled in grades eight through twelve which explains that the parent has the right to determine whether their child’s Personally Identifiable Information (PII) can be released to LOSFA and to the postsecondary education institution(s) to which their child applies. The form must be provided every year, and at least one parent or legal guardian must sign that they either grant consent or deny consent.

• PII includes the student’s full name, social security number, and transcript data. This information will be used by LOSFA to provide a TOPS Tracker to allow students and parents to track a student’s progress toward TOPS eligibility and to determine a student’s eligibility for a TOPS Award and other student financial aid. This information will also be used by postsecondary institutions to determine whether a student is eligible for admission.

LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

What Is LOSFA Doing to Comply?

• Encrypting the students’ social security number (SSN) in all of our files

• Eliminating the display of SSN number on our Award System’s screens and reports

• Only transmitting SSNs in an encrypted format• Promoting the use of the LOSFA ID to identify

a student

LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

Impact to the Post-Secondary Institutions:• Options for Transferring Data:

– Manual Entry into the Award System• Award Systems screens modified to enter LOSFA ID at

entry – with the ability to “Find Students” using name, address, etc. for verification

• Payment Requests and Grade Import screens will continue to utilize the SSN for data entry only if LOSFA ID is unknown. Once SSN is entered, it will not be displayed on the screen

LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

Impact to the Post-Secondary Institutions:• Options for Transferring Data (continued):

– Uploads/Downloads via Award System• New file layouts – which will remove the SSN and include the

LOSFA ID, and other pertinent data – will be created and shared via bulletins

• During a transitional period LOSFA will continue to accept the existing file format for uploads only (which includes SSN)

• Data downloaded from the Award System will no longer include SSNs

– Encryption (Preferred Method of Transmission)• LOSFA will continue to use the existing file formats (which includes

SSN) if encryption keys are exchanged between the Post-secondary institution and LOSFA

LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

Changes to the Louisiana Award System• Removed SSN from Student Information, Academic, and

Payment screens– Removed SSN from filters– Added LOSFA ID to filters

• Changed all Reports available from the system– HTML version– PDF version– Excel version– Download version

• Made changes to the Student screen for Exception Requests

LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

TOPS Bulletin T2014-3 File Format Changes in the Louisiana Award System

LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

Issues with File Formats• Received files using encryption processing but sent via the

Louisiana Award System Upload Files• Encrypting the file using their PGP key versus LOSFA’s PGP key• Encrypting correctly with incorrect file formats• Receiving files with incorrect file naming convention• TOPS Tech Early Start (TTES)

– New process for many schools– Column headings are included in the uploaded file– File extension is not correct – should be .prn– Experiencing issues with incorrect SSNs being submitted

• Thanks for your patience and support during this change in process

LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

TOPS Bulletin T2014-4 Guidance on Submission of Payment Requests and Grades

LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

TOPS Bulletin T2014-5 Exception Request Form

Note: Instructions for completing the Exception Request Form are included in Bulletin T2014-5.

LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

TOPS Bulletin S2014-2 Go Grant

LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

Go Grant Billing and Reminders• Billing deadline for Fall Semester is November 1st

• Corrections must be submitted by November 16th

• Check error reports• Call Special Programs – Erica Hughes at 225-219-7707 or email

at Erica.Hughes@la.gov for any Go Grant questions

LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

Tips for a Successful Audit

LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

Tips for a Successful AuditLOSFA PROGRAM REVIEWS

LASFAA Fall Conference – 2014

Avoiding Audit Findings

TOPS

Are grade changes being reported to LOSFA? Are dual enrollment and summer grades

being reported to LOSFA? Are “W” and “P” grades submitted correctly? Is the recipient FT through the 14th class day?

Does billing match grade report (Academic versus Tech)?

Louisiana Go Grant Program

Is the student a Louisiana resident? Did the student receive a Pell Grant?

Is the Go Grant Packaging Policy in place? Does it include all required elements?

Did the school take all Gift Aid into account? Is the 60% threshold calculated correctly? Did the school follow its Go Grant Policy?

Common Findings

LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)

Q&As

Today’s Presenters:• Deborah Paul, Scholarship & Grant Division Director• Alice T. Brown, Information Technology Division Director• Kelvin Deloch, Audit Division Manager