FSA has released additional details on the school- or state-specific data file that will be delivered to Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) mailboxes this week. The file will assist schools and states to identify additional FAFSA records for which they can package aid.
The records will include a field value called the “SAI Impact Indicator,” an indication of whether the SAI on the reprocessed ISIR will be higher or lower than the original ISIR.
Understandably, these ongoing changes create additional questions for financial aid professionals and FSA has announced a webinar for this Friday, April 12 at 3 pm to address their concerns and provide further guidance.
Read the complete announcement below for more details and information on how to access the webinar.
POSTED DATE: April 10, 2024
AUTHOR: Federal Student Aid
ELECTRONIC ANNOUNCEMENT ID: GENERAL-24-38
SUBJECT: 2024-25 FAFSA Data Update: Detailed List of FAFSA Records to Schools and State Agencies with Reprocessing Indicators
On April 3, 2024, we published Electronic Announcement (GENERAL-24-31) 2024-25 FAFSA Tax Data Follow-up: Releasing List of Unaffected FAFSA Records to Schools, which provides information regarding the comprehensive lists of Universally Unique Identification Numbers (UUIDs) detailing which Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) are unaffected by known errors and which records are affected by known errors. The Department has previously communicated that it intends to reprocess all ISIRs affected by known errors. The Department further committed to continuing to increase transparency and ongoing communication with institutions, including by providing more detailed school- or state-specific data to assist schools and states with analyzing affected records. This information is intended to help schools move forward with processing aid packages to advance our shared goal of getting as much aid to students as quickly as possible.
This electronic announcement details the school- or state-specific data file that will be delivered to Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) mailboxes this week to assist schools and states to further identify additional FAFSA records for which they can package aid. Each record will include applicant and contributor identifying information, reprocessing IDs indicating any known issue(s) that triggered reprocessing, and whether the record will require reprocessing through the FAFSA Processing System (FPS), the Financial Aid Direct Data Exchange (FA-DDX) system, or both. The records will also include an indication of whether the SAI on the reprocessed ISIR will be higher or lower than the original ISIR. The data file delivered to each FTI-SAIG mailbox will be a CSV file that contains all ISIRs delivered to the institution (or state) as of April 8th and include key data elements to assist with analyzing their records including:
Record, Applicant, and Contributor Identifiers
- UUID Numbers (FAFSA, Person, Transaction) and 2-digit Transaction Number (currently 01 for all transactions)
- Student (and spouse, if applicable) Name and SSN/TIN
- Student DOB
- Parent Name (and spouse, if applicable) Name and SSN/TIN
Reprocessing IDs
The file includes an ID for each known issue on a record that will trigger reprocessing. The reprocessing IDs will only appear in the file and not on the ISIRs themselves. These issues are detailed in the Technical FAQ and Known Issues Guide. The guide also has been updated to include the specific reprocessing ID for each issue identified for reprocessing to easily crosswalk the detailed issue description with this file. Reprocessing field values are “1” meaning the record is affected by a known issue, or blank meaning the record is unaffected. Note that records may be affected by more than one known issue. If a record is affected by more than one known issue, the field value in each instance of a known issue will be 1. For more information on FPS and FA-DDX reprocessing timeline, refer to Electronic Announcement (GENERAL-24-37) Updates on Timelines for Corrections and Reprocessing.
FAFSA Processing System (FPS) IDs (1 = affected, blank = unaffected)
- FPS_PellFlag_01 Pell Grant Eligibility flag is incorrectly blank
- The Pell Grant Eligibility Flag (ISIR field 571) was incorrectly blank for some students.
- FPS_PellFlag_02 Pell Grant Eligibility Flag incorrectly set to Y on ISIRs without an SAI
- The Pell Grant Eligibility Flag (ISIR field 571) should not be set to Y on rejected records.
- FPS_NSLDS_01 Comment code 217 sometimes appears incorrectly
- A small number of ISIRs incorrectly include comment code 217 instead of 327.
- FPS_SCA_01 Dependent students with assets and blank SCA
- FPS was not including all data fields needed to correctly calculate the SAI for dependent students who reported assets.
- FPS_BlankSAI_01 SAI is blank on some ISIRs that do not contain reject codes
- The SAI should not be blank if a processed ISIR contains no reject codes.
- FPS_BlankSAI_02 Federal tax information (FTI) is missing from some non-rejected ISIRs where FTI consent has been provided.
- Cases where a production ISIR is not a reject, contributors have provided consent to retrieve and disclose FTI from the IRS, there is not manual tax data, and yet the FTI data and SAI are missing without expected flags and errors on the ISIR.
FA-DDX/Federal Tax Information Reprocessing IDs (1 = affected, blank = unaffected)
Note: These issues can impact the student and their contributors so the CSV file will list each issue four times and start with a prefix for the impacted party, e.g., Student _IRS_EDCredit_01 or Parent_Spouse_IRS_Mismatch_01.
- IRS_EdCredit_01 Inconsistent tax data: Education Tax Credits
- Data for education tax credits transferred prior to March 30, 2024 are inconsistent.
- IRS_AGI_FilingStatus_01 Inconsistent tax data: Amended and Updated Tax Returns AGI or filing status mismatch
- In cases in which taxpayer information is updated through an amended tax return, the most recent adjusted gross income (AGI) and filing status is mixed with original values for other tax return elements, leading to inconsistent tax data.
- IRS_Mismatch_01 Inconsistent tax data: Schedule H indicator or other mismatch
- The Department found a number of ISIRs with other mismatched data, mostly with the Schedule H indicator. Most institutions will not see any ISIRs with this issue, and any ISIRs that are impacted will be reprocessed.
SAI Impact Indicator
The SAI impact indicator provides the Department’s estimate if and how the SAI may change as a result of the known issue(s). Records impacted by a singular known issue can be more reliably estimated. Records impacted by more than one issue will likely change, but the impact cannot be easily isolated.
SAI_Change_01 Student Aid Index change indicator
- N – Not subject to reprocessing
- Z – Zero SAI impact
- I – SAI should increase
- D – SAI should decrease
- C – SAI may change (increase or decrease)
- B – SAI will no longer be blank
Accessing the School- or State-specific FAFSA Records File in FTI-SAIG Mailboxes
The updated school- or state-specific file of FAFSA records will be delivered to an institution’s or state’s FTI-SAIG mailbox via the new Message Class—FTISAHOP (FTI ISIR Ad-hoc)—the new generic FTI message class we are using to send ad hoc files to FTI-SAIG mailboxes.
We expect the CSV file to be delivered to FTI-SAIG mailboxes beginning today, April 10.
- If a school or state does not receive the CSV file in its FTI-SAIG mailbox by end of day April 11, the organization should contact the FPS Help Desk (formerly CPS/SAIG Technical Support) at 1-800-330-5947 or by email at support@fps.ed.gov.
- If an organization needs assistance with how to use the CSV file, please submit a request for assistance using the Contact Customer Support form in FSA’s Partner Connect Help Center.
Note: The Department added this new message class on April 3, 2024, by sending the message class “MESSAGTB” via the SAIG to all user mailboxes. The new MESSAGTB file was delivered to the SAIG mailbox. FTI-SAIG mailbox users will need to connect to SAIG to receive the new file. The EDconnect transmission software will automatically request, download, and import this new message class table with a user’s next connection to the SAIG network. Once the MESSAGTB file has been imported, the new message class table will be used from that point forward.
Using the CSV File to Identify 2024–25 FAFSA ISIRs Ready to Develop Aid Awards
CSV stands for a “comma-separated values” file and refers to the CSV file extension, meaning any file that ends in “. csv”. It is one of the most common outputs for any spreadsheet program and can be easily imported using Excel or other spreadsheet software of your choice. Once the CSV file is opened in the spreadsheet, the file will include column headers for each of the reprocessing IDs described above with a field value of 1 or blank for affected or unaffected respectively. The records can be prioritized or filtered by any field to identify records that are impacted or otherwise ready to be used to develop financial aid awards.
Learn More: Webinar, April 12, 2024
For more information on working with this file, please join us Friday, April 12, 2024, from 3 until 4 p.m. Eastern time (ET) for our 2024-25 FAFSA: Weekly Guidance and Processing Status Roundup webinar. In this webinar, we will provide a detailed walkthrough of accessing and querying the CSV file we are sending to FTI-SAIG mailboxes and discuss other recent 2024-25 FAFSA-related guidance and resources. No registration is required, and you can directly access Friday’s webinar.
Contact Information
You may refer additional questions to the Department using the Contact Customer Support form in FSA’s Partner Connect Help Center. To submit a question, please enter your name, email address, topic, and question. When submitting a question related to this Electronic Announcement, please select the topic “2024-25 FAFSA.”