Release 5.5 FAQ

Can anyone take Regent 5.5?  

All Regent Award, Regent Review, and Regent Access clients are expected to take Regent 5.5 for UAT and ultimately production upgrade. 

What is included in Regent 5.5?

The 5.5.0.0 release addresses product defects as listed in the “Bugs” section of the Release Notes, and also enhancements and new features including:

• Configurable College Financing Plans
  

• Outbound Text Messaging (requires client Twilio account)
  

• 2022-2023 Access Questionnaires

• Salesforce Application for Regent Award Enhancements

• Support for Loan Origination Changes after R2T4 Withdrawal Date

• COD Tab Display Improvements

• e-Signature Changes in Student Experience

Further details on enhancements/new features and a complete list of bug fixes can be found in the Release Notes.   The  5.5 Release Notes  are made available externally via Customer Zone.

The Release Notes also contain information on new configuration options, and a list of updates to the Admin Guide and User Guide.

What other key enhancements have been included in certified releases since Regent 5.4?

The following items were first delivered in interim releases, and are also available in Regent 5.5.

• R2T4 Regulatory Updates

• R2T4 Step 1 and Step 2 Overrides

• Document Due/Expiration Dates

• Multiple Configured Census Dates

• My Borrowing Data Availability

• Packaging Philosophy Functionality Update

• ‘What If I Change My Course Enrollment’ Changes

• Pell and Direct Loan Reconciliation      

• Support for change to 2021-2022 Verification Requirements

The release notes for 5.4.1 and 5.4.3 have more information on these enhancements, as does the 5.5 Product Brief.

Will the 2021-2022 verification flow changes in 5.4.3 also apply to 2022-2023?

As of this writing, the Department of Education has not published the verification requirements for the upcoming Federal Award Year.  Stay tuned to your standard direct sources of information from the Department for an update.

How does Regent determine whether or not to apply the new R2T4 rules that were effective 7/1/2021?

Per Department of Education guidance, if the Date of Withdrawal for the R2T4 is before 7/1/2021, the previously existing rules will apply.  If the date is on or after 7/1/2021, the new rules will apply.  If using the '50%' option for an R2T4 and no Date of Withdrawal is provided, Regent Award will use the new 'Last Date of Academic Related Activity' to make this determination.

How can we apply new Due Date or Expiration Date requirements to document requirements that already exist for students?

Document requirements that are assigned after a document is configured with Due Date and/or Expiration Date selections will automatically reflect the designated date(s) for Regent Award clients. 

Those dates will not populate for document requirements that have already been assigned to students before the document's configuration is updated with Due Date and/or Expiration Date selections.  The RS-21834 Script will assign the configured date(s) to existing document requirements for both Regent Review-ONLY and Regent Award clients.

For Regent Award clients: Assignment of Due/Expiration dates to newly assigned document requirements is managed by Batch Packaging once RS-21834 has been applied one time.

For Regent Review clients: The RS-21834 script should be requested to apply newly configured dates to existing assigned document requirements.  To use due dates and/or expiration dates on an ongoing basis, please work with your Account Manager to schedule this script (RS-21834) as part of the daily runbooks to ensure the dates populate on newly assigned document requirements.

What is required to set up Outbound Text Messaging from Regent?

Regent is using Twilio for outbound text functionality within Regent.  Rather than adding a layer of messaging volume invoicing to Regent/Client contractual relationships, clients will use their existing Twilio accounts, or will set up their own new Twilio accounts for this purpose.  Visit https://www.twilio.com/ for more information. Clients will manage their own Twilio subscriptions, and messaging invoices should be sent directly from Twilio to clients.

The content and timing of outbound text messaging is managed within Regent the same way as are the existing e-mail and letter communication types.  Those clients wishing for students to view the text messages within Student Experience will ensure the Communications component and related Notification tabs are activated and that the text communication type is configured to display in the portal.

Why isn't Regent providing finalized College Financing Plans (CFPs) for the 2021-2022 FAY?

Clients already manage much of their Regent communications portfolios.  Our intent is to provide clients with the CFP template format mandated by the Department of Education, and then to offer configurability to clients for those fields that cannot be addressed in a standardized, 'one solution fits all clients', approach.  Clients benefit from standardized code for Title IV funding sections, and have maximized flexibility for funds and policies that are institutionally specific and may change over time. This approach also utilizes the existing interest rate configuration functionality available in Fund Fee Setup, so client can update rates themselves as soon as they are published each year.

Why is the treatment of loan origination changes configurable within Regent Award?

In a limited number of cases, a student's loan amount for a payment period may change after the student ceased enrollment and before the R2T4 is finalized  Institutions have different timing patterns for initiating R2T4s within Regent Award, and for COD exports.  They also have different philosophies about how variances between the amount of a loan accepted at COD on the R2T4 Date of Withdrawal and the amount of the same loan on the date the R2T4 is processed should be handled.

Regent provides separate configuration options for when the amount is lower on the R2T4 processing date than on the R2T4 Date of Withdrawal, and for when the amount is higher on the processing date.  In the first case, when the amount at the time of processing is lower, the client will stipulate whether Regent should use the lower amount in effect on that date, or the higher amount in effect on the R2T4 Date of Withdrawal.  In the case when the amount accepted at COD has increased after the R2T4 Date of Withdrawal, the client will specify whether we should use the lower loan amount as of the R2T4 Date of Withdrawal or the lesser of the highest amount originated while the student was enrolled and the amount as of the R2T4 processing date.  The latter is to ensure the amount used in the R2T4 will not exceed the highest amount originated while the student was enrolled.