Page Comparison

Supporting User Name Updates for Non-SSO Users (RS-24023)

There are occasions when a student account is registered with an incorrect or defunct e-mail address. To resolve this issue in Student Experience, Regent has created a new utility for the ability to change a student’s user name/e-mail address for an existing account, by request, for non-SSO users.

To request the utility be ran for a student, clients can submit a CZ ticket to RCO/Ops with the following description:

Please execute RS-24023 utility to update StudentX username as follows:

1. Environment: (StudentX URL)

2. Current user e-mail address:

3. New e-mail address:

Renamed Application Statuses (RS-24463)

For Regent Access clients only, the word “NEEDED” was removed from all statuses. Although required items will still be displayed in red, this will resolve the confusion students are having when multiple applications are on their portal and not all are applicable.

Example: the status of ‘Needed - Started’ was updated to ‘Started’.

This update is displayed in the status filter at the top of the Document page, in the status labels for each document on the Document page, and within Document Statuses help text.

Access:

Validation for Parents Not Being Able to Create Student Accounts (RS-23004)

Previously, if a student and parent used the same computer to create their Access accounts and the student did not log out, a parent could mistakenly create a student account instead of a parent account.

Regent updated the link in the Communication Template for the Parent Signature Request Email to ensure that, when the link is accessed, any open student sessions of Student Experience are automatically logged out. The parent user will then be correctly directed to the Parent Account Registration page if the parent does not have an account, or to the Student Experience sign-in page if the parent does have an account.

Completed Application Documents to Include Selected School Name(s) (RS-22970)

For Regent Access clients, the PDF of the Access application previously only displayed the School ID Number(s). This has been updated to display the School Name selected by the user, along with the code, in the School List section.

Updated Default Communication Template Requesting Parent Signature to Reference Edited Forms (RS-3715)

Because Regent Access forms within Student Experience can be edited after submission, the 6.3 release updated the text in the current 'StudentX: Content for Parent Signature Request Email' Communication Template from saying the student “has requested your signature” to the student “has completed or edited the (document name) which requires your signature.”

The script in RS-20121 will update the template where it has not been modified from the original. If a client is using the standard communication template but it has been customized by the client, the script will not overwrite the template.

Regent Fund:

New Queryable Fields Added (RS-25167)

The following SBL-related data elements have been added as options to select within the Student Data Group in the Query Tool:

• Gender

• High School

• High School City

• High School State

• High School Graduation Date

• NCES High School Code

• Class Rank

• Disability Status

• Grade Level

• County

The following data elements from Program Setup have been added as options to select within the Student Data Group in the Query Tool:

• School Of

• Specialization

Fund Budget ID Visibility (RS-25034)

For budgeted funds, the system now displays the Fund Budget ID on the Budgets sub-tab of Fund Setup.

Ability to Delete Unprocessed Imported Awards Record to Prevent Blocked Packaging (RS-24053)

The Regent Fund Awarding Tool uses 'Import Awards and Disbursements' functionality to apply approved awards to the student’s plan. When the Awarding Tool is executed, but awarding fails for a student, and if the ‘Block Packaging for Pending Award Imports’ field on Institution Setup is set to ‘Yes,’ the student is correctly blocked from packaging per the configuration.

With this enhancement, Regent now gives the User the ability to correct or cancel the failed Import Award record in order for the student to be packaged. The mechanism to cancel a failed import created by the Awarding Tool is located on the Imported Awards Review screen. There were four columns added to the grid to display whether the award has been cancelled (true or false), a cancellation button, who cancelled the award, and the date the unprocessed award was cancelled.

The cancellation button will only appear for awards sourced from the Awarding Tool. Failed imported awards created via a File will not have the option to cancel.

Updates to Columns in the Awarding Tool Results and Process Log (RS-23848)

Regent has updated several columns within the Awarding Tool Results, Process Log, and export file for a better user experience. Column headers within the Student and Awarding Information Grid on the Results Tab of the Awarding Tool have been updated for clarity. Also, a new column ‘Change to Existing Award Amount’ has been added to display the amount difference between ‘Existing Award Amount’ and ‘New Award Amount’ (formerly ‘Award Amount.’) The column will include symbols to clearly indicate positive and negative changes to the New Award Amount.

Changes were also made to the column headers, and help text was added, to the Student Tab in the Process Log for ‘Awarding Tool: Results’ process.

Column headers were also updated for clarity in the export file for the process and the ‘Change to Existing Award Amount’ column added.

Packaging:

Automated Awarding for Overlapping Academic Years with Terms (RS-12905)

Regent Award has added automatic packaging and amount adjustments for term-based Subsidized and Unsubsidized Direct Loans when the system detects overlapping Academic Years (OAYs), either an ‘internal OAY’ at the current Regent institution (due to program and/or track changes) or an ‘external OAY’ at a previously-attended institution.  Regent will automatically adjust loan amounts to ensure annual AY loan limits are not exceeded in either of the two overlapping AYs.  Per ED guidance, in cases where the first AY overlaps more than one AY in the new track/program, the overlap will only be addressed for the first AY of overlap and regular packaging will continue for all subsequent AYs.

 Regent identifies OAY scenarios when:

1. The first (previous) AY has Subsidized and/or Unsubsidized Direct Loans greater than zero, AND

2. The End Date of the first AY falls on or after the Start Date of the second AY, AND

3. The second (current) AY is term-based.

 Annual loan limits are checked separately for:

1. The Previous AY (the period from the start date of the first or previous AY through the term in the New AY that contains the end date of the Previous AY)

2. The New AY 

Configuration: Two new Configuration Settings on Institution Setup control this automation.  The Adjust Loan Amounts for Overlapping Academic Years Within Regent for Program Changes and Track Changes into Term and NST Programs enables Internal OAY automation, and the Adjust Loan Amounts for External Overlapping Academic Years with Loans from Other Schools enables automation for External OAYs.  The default setting for both of these options is ‘Yes’.  If the setting is switched to ‘No’, clients will continue to use preexisting tasks to alert users to potential overlaps for manual adjustments, but Regent will not automatically adjust loan amounts. The settings are inherited to the Campus level, where the options can be adjusted for a specific campus or campuses.

Nonterm Programs: Previously existing task functionality will continue to identify potential OAYs for students in Nonterm programs for review and adjustment, and the Abbreviated Loan Periods for external OAYs has not changed.

OAY Display and Overrides: When Regent Award has determined that a student’s Academic Year has a previous Overlapping AY, Regent will display an OAY banner on the Academic Plan and OAY Indicators on Academic Plan and Awards screens for every term in the overlap period (up through the term in the new AY that contains the End Date of the previous OAY).  Award-level markers will display in the Add/Modify Award Wizards when the user is editing a Subsidized or Unsubsidized loan that has terms that are part of the overlap period.  These indicators will display whether or not the OAY loan automation has been enabled.

An ‘Overlapping Academic Years’ subtab has been added to the Regent Award History tab.  On this subtab, users may view data about identified OAYs and those with ‘Edit History’ permissions may create a new OAY, edit AY Start and End Dates, and may indicate whether or not those dates should be overridden by subsequently imported  NSLDS FA History file data. If an OAY is marked as ‘Inactive’, Regent automation will not make any future adjustments to it.  Users may also edit loan amounts in this section, using the same loan amount override functionality as in the Loan Aggregate Detail.

ISIR vs NSLDS FAH Data: When the only data on an external OAY is from an ISIR, the prior year AY dates are not included in the ISIR data.  Regent will assume the AY start date is the Start Date of the Loan Period as reflected on the ISIR and will set the Assumed AY end date to the later of 210 days from the start date or the Loan Period End Date and will create a task to alert the User about the assumption. As soon as accurate AY start and end dates are imported for the prior loan in an NSLDS FAH file, the external OAY dates in Regent will be adjusted to reflect the actual data and the task will autoclose.

Tasks: New tasks are available to assist users as they manage OAYs when the related internal and/or external OAY automation has been enabled:

1. Review New Internal Overlapping Academic Year Crossing Multiple Regent Academic Years:  Triggers when Regent first detects an Internal OAY that crosses more than one Academic Year in Regent Award.

2. Review New External Overlapping Academic Year Crossing Multiple Regent Academic Years:  Triggers when Regent first creates an External OAY that crosses more than one Academic Year in Regent Award.

3. Review Manual Subsidized or Unsubsidized Loan in Previous Overlapping AY:  Triggers for each Manual Subsidized or Unsubsidized loan award when Regent first creates an Internal OAY if the previous Regent AY contains a Manual award that has a positive award amount unless Regent Award would have calculated the same loan amount. This task will process ahead of related tasks (‘Review Manual Award’, ‘Review Eligibility Change’, and ‘Review Overlapping Period for Overaward’), so as the user has been alerted to review the case, the redundant tasks will not trigger.

4. Review Manual Subsidized or Unsubsidized Loan in Same AY as Internal OAY:  Triggers for each Manual Subsidized or Unsubsidized loan award when Regent first creates an Internal OAY, and the new Regent Academic Year contains a Manual award that has a positive award amount. This task will process ahead of related tasks (‘Review Manual Award’, ‘Review Eligibility Change’, and ‘Review Overlapping Period for Overaward’), so as the user has been alerted to review the case, the redundant tasks will not trigger.

5. Review Manual Subsidized or Unsubsidized Loan in Same AY as External OAY:  Triggers for each Manual Subsidized or Unsubsidized loan award when Regent first creates an External OAY, and the new Regent Academic Year contains a Manual award that has a positive award amount. This task will process ahead of related tasks (‘Review Manual Award’, ‘Review Eligibility Change’, and ‘Review Overlapping Period for Overaward’), so as the user has been alerted to review the case, the redundant tasks will not trigger.

6. Review External ISIR-Only OAY with Assumed AY Dates:  The Task will trigger once per External OAY when a student has an ISIR-only loan, and Regent creates an External OAY with Assumed AY dates. If a student has NLSDS FAH data loaded that replaces the Assumed AY dates with actual AY dates from the FAH data, Regent will automatically close the Task.

7. Review Manual OAY with Possible Duplicated New Internal OAY:  Triggers once per Manual OAY when a student has a user-created Internal Manual OAY, and Regent creates an Internal OAY with AY dates matching the Manual OAY.

8. Review Manual OAY with Possible Duplicated New External OAY:  Triggers when a student has a user-created Manual OAY, and Regent first creates an External OAY with AY start and end dates that exactly match the Manual OAY AY dates.  Note, if the existing Manual OAY was marked with ‘Replace with FAH Data,’ then the system would update the existing Manual OAY with the FAH data and would not trigger this Task.

9. Review Manual OAY for New Information Received:   Triggers when Regent repackages Sub or Unsub loans, and new data has been received for those specific loans.

10. Review Override Loan Value:  Triggers when a loan has a non-blank value for the user-entered ‘Loan Override Aggregate Amount’ and the system determines that specific amount fields are changed to a different value.  Unlike the other tasks listed here, this new task will not require ‘Adjust Loan Amounts for Overlapping Academic Years’ setting to be enabled. 

11. Additional information and examples for Automated Awarding for Overlapping Academic Years is provided in the Customer Zone Knowledge Base topic https://regenteducation.atlassian.net/l/cp/sJDLNekp. 

Reallocation from Unsub to Sub for Sub Eligibility Increase (RS-18909)

This enhancement is to address the Active acceptance scenario when a student has additional Subsidized eligibility and the system is reducing Unsubsidized loans and offering the increase as a Subsidized loan.  If the student does not accept the additional Subsidized amount, the student could receive less in loans that was originally accepted and less in loans than the student is eligible to receive.  Since the student has already accepted the more expensive (Unsubsidized) loan, the student should not have to ‘reaccept’ the newly offered Subsidized amount when the total in Direct Loans for the period does not exceed the previously accepted total.

 The ‘Auto Acceptance of Redistributed Funds’ configuration option available in Default Settings for Institution Setup enables automatic acceptance of the redistributed Unsubsidized to Subsidized Direct Loan in this scenario.  The default setting is unchecked.  When enabled and there is sufficient unpaid Unsubsidized loan funding available for reduction, the Unsubsidized loan amount will be reduced and the Subsidized loan amount in Accepted status will be increased to the newly eligible amount.  In no case will the combined Subsidized/Unsubsidized amounts exceed the originally accepted combined amounts.  An Activity Log entry will document the adjustments.

UDF Effective Dates for Packaging Grids (RS-23575)

Packaging Grid configuration options have been added and packaging logic has been updated so that payment period amounts of an award can be calculated independently of one another and packaged from different Packaging Grids based on Payment Period Start Dates, UDF Effective Dates, and Packaging Grid Effective Dates.

When the Packaging Grid Option of ‘Assign by UDF’ and the new Package Frequency option of ‘Award/Reaward during packaging process/re-evaluate grids for each Payment Period’ are both selected, students will be packaged separately for each payment period. The Effective Start and End Dates for the UDF configured for the Packaging Grid in Institutionally Defined Data for the student will be used to determine which Packaging Grid will be used for each Payment Period.

1. Payment Period Start Date must fall within Effective Start Date and Effective End Date range for the Packaging Grid.

2. Payment Period Start Date must fall within the Effective Start Date and Effective End Date range for the UDF/value configured for the Packaging Grid, per student’s Institutionally Defined Data.

3. If more than one Packaging Grid is applicable based on configured UDF and Effective Dates, the first Packaging Grid created will be used.

Disbursement amounts will be calculated based on the Packaging Grid to be used for each Payment Period and the Award Amount will update to reflect the total disbursements.  If the UDF is configured to have effective dates and none are sent for the student, the student will not be awarded from a grid that requires the UDF. If the UDF is not configured to have effective dates, it will always apply.

Here is an example of packaging payment periods separately with UDFs:

1. Packaging Grids A and B are both configured to be effective from 8/1/22 through 5/31/23 - a full Academic Year consisting of Fall (8/1/22 - 12/1/22) and Spring (12/2/22 - 5/31/23) terms.

2. The student is to be awarded from Grid A, so the eligibility UDF for the student is sent with effective dates 8/1/22 - 5/31/23.

3. The student receives awards from Grid A for both Fall and Spring.

4. In October, the student processes a program change - the school wants the Fall term to be from Grid A and the Spring Term to be from Grid B.

5. The School changes the student’s UDF effective end date to 12/1/22.

6. The School adds a new UDF for Grid B with effective dates 12/2/22 - 5/31/23.

7. Regent will retain the Grid A award for Fall, and will remove it from Spring, replacing it with a Spring award from Grid B.

Non-Title IV Aid Proration Through End of the Term (RS-24474)

The logic for the Fund Setup option ‘Prorate Distribution Amounts’ will no longer include withdrawn units in the numerator of the calculated proration. 

This adjustment will support proper calculation of the percentage of the full-time award for the intended term and to ensure proration continues to adjust properly throughout the term for non-Title IV funds using this setting.

Award Status Consistency After R2T4 (RS-20974)

When a refund is scheduled by finalizing an R2T4, the award will remain in ‘Accepted’ status even if the full award is reduced to $0.  This change was made to align inconsistent behavior of loan statuses within Regent when loan amounts are brought to $0 and does not affect fund statuses at COD. Until the refund is processed, the award amount will be $0 and the Paid amount will reflect the amount disbursed for the R2T4 period.  The award’s status will remain ‘Accepted’ through all subsequent MAP and BP activities, as well as after the negative EST has been processed to COD to return the funds.  At that point, the award and paid amounts will reflect $0 (as has been the case) and the award status remains Accepted.

Audit:

Cost of Attendance History Improvements (RS-3929)

A new ‘COA' subtab was added to the student-level History screen in Regent, which records each change to a student’s COA. The new screen includes a sortable and filterable ‘Payment Period COA History’ grid that will display a row for each change to the Total COA for the Payment Period. Users are able to click on a row in the grid to display additional information about the change in the 'Payment Period Change Details’ grid in the Details subtab at the bottom of the page.

For example, if the cost item for Tuition & Fees changes and the cost item for Room & Board changes for Academic Year 1 at the same time (2 Payment Periods), a total of 4 entries will be created.

Please keep in mind that COA changes due to resources are not covered by this enhancement.

Note: The COA sub-tab will not have a record of COA changes that took place before this functionality was added in 6.3.

Communications:

Standard Award Notification Filters (RS-23467)

Three standard Initial Award Notification communication filters were created where the initial Award Notification communication is being sent with or without the College Financing Plan. Each filter uses the new communication configuration ‘Days prior to Period Start’ and applies to both email and text communication types:

• Standard Award Notification - Initial Filter

• Standard Award Notification - Initial - Undergrad (CFP) Filter

• Standard Award Notification - Initial - Grad (CFP) Filter

A new communication configuration, 'Days prior to Period Start’, was added to use in the standard communication filters. This field will only display if the Filter selection is ‘Standard Award Letter- Initial (No CFP)’ OR if the FAY configuration above is selected. The number entered here is used as the number of days prior to an Academic Year starting to determine when to generate the initial award notification.

If this field has a zero or blank, the communication is generated on or after an Academic Year with the selected FAY. The default value is ninety days and only numbers between 0 and 365 are allowed.

For more information, see Customer Zone Knowledge Base topic Standard Communication Body Templates and Filters and Configure a Communication.

College Financing Plan Option for ‘No ISIR’ Scenario (RS-23584)

In order to support College Financing Plans (CFPs) in cases where the student/applicant has not filed a FAFSA and thus the Housing election is not available on an ISIR, Release 6.3 includes an option to configure a Housing and Meals amount to display on the CFP.  The ‘No ISIR for FAY’ option for ‘Housing and Meals’ has been added to the Cost of Attendance Settings section of the CFP tab in Communication Template setup. The user will indicate whether these CFPs should default to ‘On Campus Residence’ or ‘Off Campus Residence’, and a Cost field will be presented. The amount entered in the Cost field will display in the selected On Campus Residence column or the Off Campus Residence column when there is no ISIR for the student for the selected FAY.

Miscellaneous:

Selected Sites Configuration in Fund Setup (RS-21276)

In the 6.3 release, Regent resolved a previously reported bug which did not restrict packaging of awards at Sites not associated to the Fund in Regent Award.

Regent Award has been updated to check existing awards before adding a Fund which is not associated with a particular Site in Fund Setup. The logic also no longer allows existing awards to be repackaged if the Fund is not linked to the student’s Site.

Note: Institutions are reminded to closely review their Fund configuration. With this fix, the system will cancel and zero out any existing awards from Funds that are not currently associated with the Fund’s Site in Fund Setup. Clients should verify Fund-Site setup PRIOR to packaging with this release. Remember to Reload RNA Setup for any configuration changes.

Known Issues for Regent 6.3