Entrance Counseling

The system setup process supports the ability to establish entrance counseling as a one-time-only document requirement during the awarding process for loans. This document can be set to prevent the disbursement of funds until such time as the document status is set to "Satisfied". The document can be automatically satisfied through the import of EC files from COD.

Master Promissory Note (MPN)

The system setup process supports the ability to establish Master Promissory Note as a one-time-only document requirement during the awarding process for loans. This document can be set to prevent disbursement of funds until such time as the document status is set to "Satisfied". The document can be automatically satisfied through the import of PN files from COD.
 

Reprocess EC, PN, and IB Files 

The system will match PN, EC, and IB records to students who did not exist in the system at the time the COD PN, EC, and IB files were imported. Once the student is created in the system, the EC and PN records will be reprocessed via a scheduled process which will match the records to the student. The IB reprocessing may also be scheduled.  These reprocess Processes can also be initiated from the Processes Menu under "Reprocess Process."  The process log will have an entry such as 'Import COD - Reprocess EC' and details such as the number of processed records. 

Linking of the Master Promissory Note (MPN)

The system should, in most cases, automatically link the MPN to a Direct Loan via the COD import process. However, in instances where this has not occurred, you can manually link an MPN to a loan by going to the Loans tab and clicking on the row containing the loan. The details of that loan will be displayed in a series of tabs at the bottom of the page.  MPN editing and linking is controlled by permission, see Permissions List.

To edit the loan, click on the MPN Info tab and then click on the Select MPN icon. If there are existing MPNs for the student in the system you can select from the listing of MPNs or add an MPN.

In instances where the wrong MPN has been linked to a loan, an MPN can be manually unlinked by going to the Loans tab and clicking on the row containing the loan (Federal Direct Subsidized and Federal Unsubsidized Loans only). The details of that loan will be displayed in a series of tabs at the bottom of the page. Once the existing MPN is 'unlinked', current functionality allows for a new MPN or the original MPN to be associated with the loan. MPNs for Loans that were successfully accepted at COD cannot be unlinked.

Mid-Year Grade Level Increase

Through Institution Setup, the school can configure the system to automatically award an increase in the loan amount based upon grade level progress by setting "Automatically Award Grade Level Progression" to Yes. If that setting is Yes, the system will automatically repackage a term or nonstandard term student with a grade level increase if sufficient units are earned in the previous term. 

Transfer credits may also increase the grade level, if those units are submitted for before the start of the loan period, and the loan period is still open.

• Internal transfer units always apply from the start of the program.
• External transfer units can also apply to grade-level progression from the start of the program, including the first term, only if the external transfer course end date is on or before the program's actual start date.
• External transfer courses ending after the program start date will apply at a point in time on the Academic Plan. These will affect grade-level calculations in the next payment period or academic year.
  • For term and nonstandard term programs, the units will go into the term specified by the external term ID. Any grade-level award increase will occur in the following term.
  • For nonterm programs, the units will apply to the nonterm payment period containing the course end date. Nonterm programs do not allow mid-AY grade level progression. Any nonterm grade-level increase will occur in the following Academic Year.

Origination Fee

Loan origination fees are configured in Fund Fee setup. Under the current some Federal sequestration rules, the origination fee can change if the first disbursement of the loan occurs before or on/after October 1^st. If the loan was originated and originally scheduled to be disbursed prior to October 1^st but the disbursement is delayed until on/after October 1^st, the system will cancel the original loan and then create a new loan with the appropriate origination fee.

For Loan Fee calculations, the Loan Fee percentage is applied first at the disbursement level. Then, each disbursement’s amount is truncated to the nearest dollar.

When ‘Package Using Actual Loan Fees' (formerly 'Package to Net Loan Amount for Direct Costs’) is set to 'Yes' in Institution Setup, and for AYs with a Start Date on or after the configured ‘AY Start Date for Package Using Actual Loan Fees’ value in Institution Setup, Regent will calculate fee amounts based on award amounts and will automatically create Cost Items for the calculated fees. In this case, the system-generated Cost Items will override any Origination Fees configured in Fund Fee Setup. 

Aggregate Loan Limit

In determining if a student is approaching their aggregate limit in the awarding process, the system utilizes the most recent information from the History tab.

If the ISIR column contains the most recent information, the system utilizes the Aggregate Outstanding Principal Balance amounts from the ISIR.  If the NSLDS Financial Aid History (FAH) information in Regent is more recent, the same data will be pulled from the NSLDS FAH file rather than the ISIR.  Once the source of the data is determined, the amounts for Regent loans in open loan periods are subtracted from the corresponding Aggregate Outstanding Principal Balance (OPB) and replaced with the current amounts for those loans within Regent Award.  This is to ensure Regent begins awarding from the most current OPB base. For more information, see Direct Loan Amount Calculations and Aggregate Adjustments.

When the manual option is used on the History tab, the system will take the manual amount entered and add amounts paid since the manual date before calculating remaining eligibility for unpaid disbursements on current loans and for future loans.  If the "Always Use Manual' box is selected, the system will always use the values entered to determine the remaining eligibility. If ED reports any changes to the information subsequent to the flag being set, a task to Review Aggregate Limits will be generated, if configured.

Loan Proration

Regent prorates (proportionally reduces) Subsidized and Unsubsidized loan amounts for undergraduate students in their final year of study. Loan proration does not apply to graduate programs.

When determining if an undergraduate student loan is to be prorated, the system checks the remaining period of study (RPS) to see if that final AY is shortened.

• For term and nonstandard term programs, the system prorates if the final AY contains any term with no registration.
• For nonterm programs, the system prorates if the student has less than an academic year of nonterm units remaining in the shortened remaining period of study (RPS) before completing the program.

The loan amount proration is applied separately to the Subsidized annual limit and the Combined annual limit. 

Loan limit proration determines the maximum possible prorated loan amounts that a student may borrow for a program or remaining balance of a program. In some cases, the actual loan amount may be less than the prorated loan limit. Loan amounts can also be limited due to other constraints such as loan period costs, other aid in the loan period, fund configuration, Student Aid Index and remaining need, and the student's aggregate usage.

Term-based Proration

Term and nonstandard term students have loans prorated in a shortened RPS, i.e. when the student has at least one non-registered term in their final AY. Regent prorates loan amounts for each loan period separately. The proration uses the proportion of the units in each loan period, divided by the units in the program's defined AY length.

For example, consider an independent undergraduate student who is close to completing a four-year term-based program, with 16 units remaining at the start of the student's final AY. The program AY length is 36 units.

• The student has a three-term, Fall-Winter-Spring final AY.
  • The student registers for 12 units in the Fall term and 4 units in Winter. The student will graduate at the end of the Winter term, with 0 units in Spring.
  • Regent creates loans for the Full-Time Fall term only, with no loans in the LTHT Winter term.
  • Because the final AY has at least one non-enrolled term (Spring), the loan amounts in the remaining period of study must be prorated.
• Regent prorates the Fall loan amounts based on the 12 registered units in the Fall term, divided by the program AY units, (12/36 or 33%).
  • The single-term Subsidized loan in Fall cannot exceed the prorated Subsidized loan amount of $1815 (from $5500 annual Sub limit x 0.33).
    • Regent still must award the maximum Subsidized loan amount first in the AY, before awarding Unsubsidized loans.
    • The Subsidized loan amount would be $1815 if the student has at least $1815 remaining Need in the loan period, and at least $1815 in remaining Aggregate Subsidized eligibility.
  • The combined (Subsidized + Unsubsidized) loan amount cannot exceed the prorated total of $4125 (from $12500 Combined annual limit x 0.33).

Prorated loan amounts cannot exceed 100% of the annual limits.

Prorated loan amounts in term-based programs are limited to funding only the remaining units before completing the program. If the above student still needed 16 units to finish, but had instead "over-registered" for 18 units in the Fall term, Regent would still prorate loans using only the 16 units remaining in the program at the start of the final AY.

Short Program Proration

The units proration also applies to "short programs" for term and nonterm programming, if the entire academic program itself is shorter than a full academic year in length. If the undergraduate academic program is shorter than a full academic year in length and is not coursework necessary for teacher certification, the system divides the number of program units by the number of units in the program's academic year and rounds this fraction to a two-digit decimal (as shown in the examples in the FSA Handbook). Secondly, the system divides the program's number of weeks by the number of weeks in the program's academic year and rounds this fraction to a two-digit decimal. The system then multiplies the applicable annual loan limit by the lesser of these two decimals.

Nonterm RPS Proration

When a nonterm student does not have full course registration in a Short Program or Remaining Period of Study (RPS) Academic Year, the system anticipates a proportional number of weeks in the Academic Year based on the anticipated remaining units. When the student registers for courses, the system adjusts the units, weeks, and Payment Period dates based on the student's course registration.

If the final remaining portion of the student's program of study contains less than a full academic year of terms or unit, the system divides the remaining number of units in the program by the number of units in the program's defined academic year, and rounds this fraction to a two-digit decimal (as shown in the examples in the FSA Handbook). The system then multiplies the annual loan limit by this decimal. 

Based on guidance received from the Department of Education, if the student's final nonterm RPS Academic Year on the Academic Plan is one-half of the program's defined Academic Year length (or less) in either units or weeks, the system will create only one Payment Period in that final RPS Academic Plan Year. If the nonterm student's RPS is greater than half of an AY, in both units and weeks, the system divides that RPS Academic Year on the Academic Plan into two Payment Periods. Unless the user has overridden the number of Payment Periods (see below), the system will automatically adjust the number of Payment Periods. Whenever the number of Payment Periods changes for a final Academic Year on the Academic Plan, the system records the change in the student's Activity Log. Note: Only the Academic Year length on the Academic Plan changes when a student is not enrolled for a full Academic Year.  The Academic Year as defined for the student's program does not change and the Academic Year reported to COD will never be shorter than the Academic Year length configured in program setup.

The system provides an override to allow schools to choose either 1 or 2 Payment Periods in a Non-Term student's RPS Academic Year. This feature is helpful for schools who need to adjust a student's Academic Plan when the student's data does not match external system data. The option only changes the number of Payment Periods when a student has less than a full AY in units or weeks in their final Remaining Period of Study. The calculated Academic Year length remains the same; only the number of Payment Periods changes. If the Academic Year is not the final Academic Year in the student's program, the setting has no effect.

To apply the 1-or-2-PP override, an option is available by adding or editing a Manual Academic Year in the Program Management Wizard (PMW). In the Modify Student Academic Year –Non-term section of the PMW is a field called, "Number of Payment Periods in the Final Academic Year." The available options are: "managed by the system," "1 Payment Period," or "2 Payment Periods." Normally, the system manages the number of payment periods in the student's final Academic Year ("managed by the system"). If the "1 Payment Period" option is chosen, then the final RPS AY will have only one Payment Period. If the "2 Payment Periods" option is chosen, then the final RPS AY will have two Payment Periods. The system will also note the override in the student's Activity Log.

When the system determines an RPS Academic Year has 1 or 2 PPs, and no override exists, the system will apply the same 1-or-2-PP logic regardless of whether or not the Academic Year has a Manual Academic Year (also known as a Student BBAY Modification or SBM). The system does not use the Manual Academic Year units and weeks for allocating the number of Payment Periods in the final Academic Plan Year. See Non-Term Payment Period Length for Short Remaining Period of Study (RPS) for more details on Regent Award functionality. 

Prorated loan amounts in nonterm programs are limited to funding all units in the remaining courses before completing the program. For example, if a student needed 4 units at the start of their final shortened RPS AY, but the student registers for a single 10-unit course, the prorated aid for the nonterm student would use all 10 units in the shortened RPS AY.

Loan amount proration rules do not apply to Graduate students.

Updating Loan Periods

Special rules apply for truncating or shortening Loan Period dates.

Closed Loan Periods

When a payment period other than the first payment period in a loan period becomes ineligible for Direct Loans (Sub, Unsub, Parent PLUS and GradPLUS) for any reason, the loan period is truncated to just the eligible period(s). Once a loan period has been truncated to end in the past, that loan period is now over and increases cannot be originated for that period. In other words, the eligibility that once existed in subsequent payment periods cannot be shifted to the closed loan period once the subsequent payment period becomes ineligible. This functionality applies for both term-based and nonterm payment periods.

Removing Leading Terms from Loan Periods for Offered Loans

For term students with a Title IV loan in "Offered" status, if the first term in a that Offered loan is in the past, Regent automatically removes that ineligible past term from the Loan Period. Whenever Regent repackages an Offered-status loan, and the loan period starts with a term that has an end date in the past (i.e., the packaging date is after the term’s end date), the system confirms whether the past term had registered or completed courses of at least Half-Time. If the student is fully withdrawn from all courses in that past term, or the student’s registered or completed units would have resulted in a Less Than Half Time (LTHT) enrollment level, then that past term is not eligible to originate loans. Regent removes the ineligible past term from the loan period dates and repackages the loan using the updated loan period. Regent does not remove a past term from the loan period if the student has an approved Student Break (LOA or CORE) for the past term. Regent also does not automatically remove a past term from an Offered loan period if any of the other exceptions apply for not canceling an Offered-status loans; see below.

Canceling Offered-status Title IV Loans with Past Loan Periods

Per ED policy, a loan cannot be originated after the loan period end date is in the past. In most cases, Regent Award will automatically cancel past Offered-status loans. When those loans are canceled, the system can reallocate any remaining eligibility to current and future loan periods. The cancelation only applies to Title IV loans (Sub, Unsub, PLUS, GradPLUS).

When a student has an Offered-status Title IV loan, and the loan is in a past Academic Year, the system automatically cancels the Offered loan in the past AY.

When a student has an Offered-status Title IV loan, and the loan is in a current Academic Year but the Loan Period end date is in the past, the system will normally cancel the Offered loan.

• Donut Reallocation: A student may have a "donut" scenario with an earlier previously-offered loan that was canceled, and have a later, separate, open Title IV loan period from the same fund and at the same Grade Level. For that scenario, Regent will try to add the unused eligibility to the later, open loan period. That later, separate loan will have its loan eligibility increase (subject to the other eligibility constraints e.g.  ALHT status, COA/Need, Fund Setup configuration options, annual and lifetime aggregate limits, etc.)

Regent Award does not automatically cancel an Offered-status loan if any of the following exceptions apply:

• Manual award
• Amount is already zeroed out
• Override Eligibility Rules is True
• Modified by a user in AAW/MAW (User Accepted Amount is greater than $0)
• Edited on the Student Experience Portal (Student Accepted Amount is greater than $0)
• Accepted by a student on the Student Experience Portal or in the old legacy SNAP Portal (StudentAccepted flag is true)
• Award has any COD communications
• Award is marked as Not Managed by RNA

Additional Unsubsidized Eligibility

A school may make a determination that the Parent was denied a PLUS Loan, was not able to obtain an endorser and the student would like to have an Unsubsidized Loan. Once this is done, the school may cancel the PLUS award using the Modify Award Wizard from the Award Tab. To award the increased Unsubsidized eligibility, the Regent user would go to the student's Loans tab and set the Additional Eligibility Indicator to Yes on the Unsubsidized Loan record for the appropriate loan period.  The system will then package the student with the additional Unsubsidized Loan eligibility amount.

Note: for Active Acceptance schools, if a student has already accepted the original lower amount from the Student Experience Portal, the loan would still continue to be packaged for the original Accepted amount. The student, or a Regent user, would need to increase the Accepted amount to match the new higher Additional Eligibility amount.

Changing a Loan Period or Academic Year

The ability to change the loan period for a loan, adjust the loan period or to create two single term loans is accessed through the Program Management wizard on the Academic Plan tab. For the Action Type, select Manage Academic Years/Loan Periods.

The wizard then displays the information related to the student's current awards, program, and academic years.
 

Abbreviated Loan Periods

In order to support financial aid for nonterm external transfer students who received aid at their prior school, or who are transferring from a term program into a nonterm program at the same school, the open or overlapping AY for the prior program is accounted for using an "Abbreviated Period." Abbreviated Periods maintain aid for open/overlapping Academic Years (short BBAYs) allowing the students to finish their remaining AY aid eligibility at this institution.

The Program Management Wizard (PMW) allows for the manual creation of the abbreviated period. If the "Has Abbreviated Period" checkbox is selected, you will see a grid containing "NSLDS Awards from Other Institutions" in the 'Add/Modify Academic Year' modal window within the PMW. If FAH or TSM files from NSLDS were imported, the grid will display award data for DL Subsidized and DL Unsubsidized awards whose academic year start and end dates contain the program start date (anticipated program start date if the actual program start date is not available) of the program selected on the "Add Academic Year" Modal window. The grid displays the total amount that the student was awarded for this fund during the AY, based on NSLDS FAH data in the Total Used column. The grid also enables the user to override the amount for the award. If no FAH or TSM files from NSLDS were imported, the grid will display DL Subsidized and DL Unsubsidized awards names only and the ability to enter the "Override Amount" of each fund for the academic year. The override amount entered is used to reduce the student's eligibility during the AY. The system uses this amount when entered, otherwise, the system will use the 'Total Used' amount from NSLDS to reduce the student's eligibility for the AY. A new activity log entry is generated for the student when the "Override Amount" value is edited on the "Add Academic Year" modal window in the Program Management Wizard. The "Program Start / Re-entry Date" field is editable to allow you to override the date. If you change the date value, a "recalculate" button will appear to the right of the field. Upon selecting the "recalculate" button, the system will re-query the NSLDS data based on the new date value entered.

The system can alert the school to the overlapping of prior AYs in different ways. When data is imported from NSLDS (the FAH or TSM file), the system will generate the "Review Overlapping Academic Year from NSLDS" task when it detects that the student's Academic Year start date in the system falls within the academic year start date and the academic year end date of an award on the NSLDS history file. Alternatively, you may be alerted to this scenario as a result of the import of a new ISIR via the "Review Overlapping Loan Period from ISIR" task.

Once the task has been triggered, the school will use the Program Management Wizard to manually modify the student's Academic Year in the system, and designate that SBM (Student BBAY Modification record, or manually adjusted Academic Year) as an "Abbreviated Period."

When "Has Abbreviated Period" is checked, the marked Academic Year is flagged as an "Abbreviated Period." You must adjust the Academic Year start and end dates to align with the open AY on the student's NSLDS record at the student's prior institution.

Schools have the ability to set up separate disbursement schedules for these abbreviated periods. The disbursement schedule supports Abbreviated Periods greater than four months in length, or Abbreviated Periods less than or equal to four months in length. The Disbursement Schedule options allow a school to disburse based weeks.

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