Wisconsin Grant Roster

Students who are eligible to be awarded the WG-PNP are identified by importing the WI HEAB Roster file into Regent Award via the Processes screen or FileWatcher (sFTP). The file is a tab-delimited file, specific to a Federal Award Year (FAY). There will be a different file for each FAY. The file name is used to determine the FAY associated to the file. For example, the file named 06.01.2017_Notif_253_1617_20170530.txt, is for 2016-2017 FAY. The file layout is specified here: http://www.heab.wi.gov/docs/finadmin/guides/guide-wgpnplayout.docx.

Import Wisconsin State Grants Process

To import WI HEAB Roster via UI,  on the Processes-->Import Process screen, select "Import State Grants" under Process Type drop-down and select "Wisconsin" under State drop-down. Only users with the "Import State Grants" permission can access this process.

Open

The students on the roster file will be matched to a student record in Regent Award using the Social Security Number (SSN) only since the students eligible to receive the award will always have an ISIR. 

Any attempt to run the Import State Grants process produces a Process Log entry.

Upon successful import of the file, an Activity Log Entry "Imported on WI HEAB Roster for  [amount] as [status]." is created for each student on the imported roster. 

FileWatcher

The Import WI State Grant process is also available via FileWatcher.

Reprocess

In order to match up the State-provided data that was loaded prior to students existing in Regent Award to the students once they exist, 'Roster Award - Reprocess'  was created.   This process reprocesses only the current and immediately prior FAY versus all FAYs in the data.

The school can either request Regent to auto-schedule this process or the user can initiate this process via the UI at ad hoc by selecting Processes → Reprocess Process → Roster Award - Reprocess.

Open

This process also produces Process Log and Activity Log entries similar to the Import Wisconsin State Grants process.

Eligibility

Eligibility criteria are outlined in detail in the exhibit Bulletin SS - 3317 Wisconsin State Financial Aid Programs.  Regent Award does not take any action for students that are ineligible on the weekly roster.

Eligibility for each Federal Award Year’s Wisconsin Grant begins in the Fall. A less than full-time term counts as an entire term of eligibility toward a student’s maximum of ten terms of eligibility. When a student withdraws from the University and a portion of their grant is refunded, that also counts as an entire term of eligibility.  

Once imported, Regent Award uses the roster and existing Regent Award data to determine eligible students for awarding using the following criteria:

• Roster criteria:

  • Student record does not contain an “R” in the REJECT column

  • Student’s award is greater than $0 in the CALCSTAWARD column

  • Eligibility per student cannot exceed 10 semesters in the WGTGSM column.

• Regent Award criteria:

  • A student must be enrolled at least half-time in the term (program applicable units only)

  • A student is awarded for the federal award year associated with the current roster only (Regent Award doesn’t anticipate awarding for future FAYs for which we do not yet have a roster)

  • A student must be in an eligible program

    • Fund Setup: Make fund available to all programs = Yes

    • Ruleset's eligibility check limits eligibility to only the programs that appear in the school-specific mapping. 

  • SAI does not exceed 16,000, for 2024-2025, forward

Awarding

WG-PNP is awarded annually at the Federal Award Year level. The Wisconsin FAY contains three terms: Fall, Spring, and Summer.

Regent Award reviews all eligible students imported via the roster and uses the calculated amount based on the WG-PNP Formula for the FAY. 

2024-2025 FAY

Awarding for 2024-2025 is based on a student’s SAI value. The steps below outline how the award is calculated.

• Step 1: Calculate maximum award amount based on SAI, per the range values below.

• Step 2: Determine the number of terms in the FAY in which the student has any actual registered program applicable units or actual registered qualified remedial units. Value must be 2 or 3. If only one term has actual registered program applicable units or actual registered qualified remedial units, use value of '2'. The FAY End Date is 06/28/2025.

• Step 3: Divide the maximum award amount from Step 1 by the number of terms identified in Step 2 to determine the per term award amount.  

• Step 4: Apply per term award amount from Step 3 ONLY to terms that have at least half-time enrollment (actual units.) Terms with less than half time enrollment will have a $0 award.

Upon awarding, Regent Award checks for a valid Active ISIR (non-blank SAI) and open documents and/or tasks configured to block packaging for the Wisconsin Grant. If the student does not have a valid (non-blank SAI) Active ISIR or has open documents and/or tasks configured to block packaging for Wisconsin Grant, the Wisconsin Grant will be blocked from packaging.

Rounding Cents 

If a calculated per term award amount contains cents, the cent amounts are handled as follows:

1. If the first term with at least half-time enrollment is in a term with “Fall” in the Term Name:

   1. Round cents for Fall term using standard rounding to two decimal places (e.g. .66666 round to .67)

   2. Truncate cents for Fall term award amount (drop the cents)

   3. Take the cents amount for the Fall term amount and multiply by the number of terms with any enrollment, then round up to the nearest dollar, unless the amount is 1, 2, or 3 cents over an even dollar, then round down.

   4. Add the amount from item ‘c' to the truncated Fall term award amount from item 'b’.

   5. Truncate cents from award amounts for all subsequent terms in the FAY.

2. If the first term with at least half-time enrollment is not in a term with “Fall” in the Term Name, truncate cents for each of those per term award amounts.

Conflicts Between Roster Amounts and Regent Award Eligibility

In a scenario where the roster shows the student as eligible, but Regent Award determines the student to be ineligible (the award is below minimum, etc.), the award of $0 is created in a "Cancelled" status with the explanatory award message "Student is eligible for Fund "Wisconsin Grant" in Award Period "YYYY-YYYY" (7/1/YYYY-6/30/YYYY)." in the Activity Log Entries.

Minimum and Maximum Award Amounts by FAY

Minimum and maximum awards are set annually by HEAB.

For 2024-2025 FAY, the minimum and maximum award amounts are:

• Minimum: $1,000

• Maximum: $4,400

Supplemental Award

Regent Award will identify any supplemental awards from the roster field, STSUPAWRD.  Regent Award will treat all supplemental awards as a one-time award per FAY.  The award will use the date of the initial notification roster for which the supplemental award was listed to determine which term the award should be scheduled for.   

Packaging up to Cost of Attendance (COA)

If the Wisconsin Grant award amount would exceed the student's cost of attendance, Regent Award will reduce awards in accordance with the Packaging Philosophy and if applicable, will reduce the Wisconsin Grant award amount to cover up to the remaining cost of attendance.  If the student's COA is less than a minimum award amount for WG-PNP ($1,000), the student is not eligible to receive the award.

Recalculation

Upon re-packaging, Regent Award checks for a valid (non-blank SAI) Active ISIR and open documents and/or tasks configured to block packaging for the Wisconsin Grant. If the student does not have a valid Active ISIR or has open documents and/or tasks configured to block packaging for Wisconsin Grant, the Wisconsin Grant will be blocked from re-packaging.

Upon re-packaging, Regent Award checks for a valid Active ISIR that has been verified.  If either of these conditions is not met, the Wisconsin Grant is blocked from re-packaging (existing award is frozen) and disbursement.  

Regent Award recalculates enrollment status when the SBL file is imported and recalculates award amounts for the Wisconsin Grant during the packaging process.   The enrollment status used in the calculated award amount fluctuates based on current and future courses (similar to Pell).  For example, if a student withdraws from a course(s) prior to the end of the term, the award will be updated based on the new tuition code, as applicable. 

Wisconsin State requires upward and downward award adjustments due to eligibility changes (e.g. Primary EFC changes, retroactive enrollment level changes, COA changes) or unpaid disbursements to be made for past, current and future terms with the following exceptions:

Exception 1

Downward adjustments are not made if the disbursement is paid AND the term is closed AND the student is moving from a 3-semester award to a 2-semester award OR a 2-semester award to a 3-semester award.  But such a change will impact subsequent term eligibility.

In the event of a decrease in the calculated amount of a paid disbursement for a closed term for a student moving from a 3-semester award to a 2-semester award OR a 2-semester award to a 3-semester award, the calculated eligibility would not result in a downward adjustment but rather would impact the calculated awards for subsequent term(s) (see Initial 2-Semester Award Amounts and 3-Semester Award and Disbursement Amounts examples below).  Each term’s award amount is recalculated based on the new eligibility.  Remaining eligibility for subsequent term award amounts is reduced by the amount of the previously paid disbursement for the closed term.  Subsequent terms will only be eligible to receive up to the remaining calculated eligibility that was not yet paid (the remaining non-spent eligibility).

If an award amount for a closed term has not yet been disbursed, the award amount must be recalculated based on current eligibility upwards or downwards before invoicing the state for disbursement. 

Note:  In a scenario where the first term (Fall) is in a historic (AY0) Academic Year and the student is moving from a 3-semester award to a 2-semester award OR a 2-semester award to a 3-semester award, a student may be incorrectly awarded during the FAY.  The Task, "Review WG-PNP award eligibility in AY0", will be triggered.  The user may adjust WI Grant manually via Modify Award Wizard (MAW) if necessary. A manual award adjustment will mark this award as "Manual" (not managed by Regent Award for the remainder of FAY).

When the disbursement amount for Wisconsin Grant is recalculated for a term, an Activity Log Entry, "The disbursement amount for [fund] changed from [amount X] to [amount Y] for [Term/Payment Period]." is created in Regent Award. 

Exception 2

Neither upward or downward adjustments are made to disbursements after the student is fully withdrawn or graduated from school, except as a result of an R2T4. If the student returns into a new program after withdrawing or graduating from a prior program, neither upward or downward adjustments are made to the prior program, unless a reversal of the R2T4 is performed for a withdraw (returning into the same term as withdraw).

A withdrawn course(s) will update the enrollment level for the term, regardless of whether or not the course was attended, and is required to be recalculated for open and future terms. Courses are withdrawn via the SBL if the course is no longer in attendance or if the course has been unregistered.  

End of Federal Award Year (FAY)

The State of Wisconsin (WI) does not have a standard date for closing the state's Federal Award Year.  WI HEAB Rosters will no longer be received for the Federal Award Year after the state Federal Award Year is closed.

The impacts on the closing of the FAY to the Wisconsin Grant awards are as follows:

• If the award has been paid and the eligibility change for the Summer term occurs on or after the End of FAY date:

  • Summer term WG-PNP award is adjusted downward only (refunds will be required)

  • No upward adjustments to the Summer term WG-PNP award are allowed

  • No upward or downward adjustments are allowed to previous term WG-PNP awards for the FAY (regardless of eligibility change)

• If the WG-PNP award for a previous term has not been paid by the End of FAY date, the award is canceled (changed to $0).

•  If the WG-PNP total award is zeroed out for the FAY, and the award has a paid disbursement, then the system will still process a negative EST.

Crossover Summer Term FAY 

In a crossover Summer term, the Wisconsin Grant is only awarded using the prior-year, former FAY. For example, in the Summer 2024 term, the system only awards the Wisconsin Grant from FAY 2023-2024. The Wisconsin Grant is not awarded from FAY 2024-2025 until the Fall 2024 term. Any Pell Grants or other FAY-based awards are independent of the Wisconsin Grant FAY. 

Withdrawals/Refund Policy

Withdrawals and refunds are not automated in Regent Award. Once tuition adjustments and a Return of Federal Funds (R2T4) calculation has been performed for a fully withdrawn student, the user will make any necessary adjustments to the Wisconsin Grant award.  

Program Changes

The school will be responsible for updating the program change tuition code information with the state. 

In the event of a program change, Regent Award will determine if the new program is associated to the fund (The Program must be eligible according to the school-specific mapping) and if it is, will associate any calculated term awards to the new program.  If the new program is not associated with the fund, Regent Award will determine how many FAY terms the student will be enrolled in for the old program.  If the student will not be attending all 3 terms in the FAY for the old program, Regent Award will recalculate the award as if the student did not enroll at least half-time in all 3 terms of the FAY for the old program. 

Manual Awards

The school staff can also manually add or adjust WG-PNP awards using the Add / Modify Award Wizards (AAW / MAW). Only one WG-PNP award can exist per student per FAY.  If a student has the WG-PNP awarded for the FAY and the user attempts to add another WG-PNP award via the AAW, Regent Award will navigate the user out of the AAW and into the MAW so that the existing WG-PNP award can be manually adjusted. To add a WG-PNP award for a student that was not imported on the Wisconsin HEAB roster, the user must select the "Override Eligibility Rules" checkbox on Step 1 of the AAW. Those staff-adjusted awards will be marked Manual (not managed by Regent Award).  The auto-packaging logic will not make any changes to Manual awards.  

Disbursements

Regent Award determines that the student is eligible for a disbursement using the following criteria:

• A student is enrolled at least half-time

• A student does not have a reject for the award in the roster file (REJECT ≠ R).

  • "Reject" on the roster indicates ineligibility as of the date that the roster file was received. Closed terms that have already been paid are not affected.

• A disbursement amount (greater than $0) exists in the roster file.

  • Regent Award identifies disbursements via the roster field, STSPNT* (* is represented in the roster with a 1 for the Fall term, 2 for the Spring term or 3 for the Summer term).

•  All tasks and documents that restrict disbursement for the fund are honored.

If the disbursement amount from the roster file is greater than $0 and equals the disbursement amount in Regent Award, Regent Award updates the award to reflect the paid disbursement at the time the EST process is run. If the disbursement amount from the roster file is greater than $0 and does not equal the scheduled disbursement amount in Regent Award, the “Review WG-PNP Disbursement Amount” task is triggered and the award needs to be reviewed by the school. When configured, the task (if not "Completed", "Waived", or "Closed") blocks future disbursements for the student. Completing or closing the task authorizes the Regent Award disbursements.  Upon completion of the task, Regent Award will disburse the amount provided in the Wisconsin HEAB Roster, but the amount of the Award in Regent will not change. Expected EST will yield a positive/negative transaction for the difference to be used to invoice the state. 

State Tab

Once the student is successfully packaged, the Wisconsin Grant award information can be viewed on the student’s State Tab. Clicking on the record in the State Awards grid displays the details in the State Data Records.  

Reporting

In addition to the standard fields on the Process Log Details screen, a button to access Reports: Import Wisconsin State Grant Process Results is displayed. This report allows the user to view the imported WI HEAB Roster file in the tabular format.

To support Wisconsin Grant (WG-PNP) award processing, Reports: WI State Grant was created. 

External Term Code

In order to match the Term in Regent Award to the Term on the WI Notification Roster, the External Term Code field must be configured on the Term Setup.  Only terms with an External Term Code value will be considered for matching. The values must follow XXYYYY format, where XX is the SM, AU, or SP value from the Wisconsin Grant - Private Non-Profit (WG-PNP)#Term column of the Disbursement Query; and YYYY is the FAY for the WI-PNG award.  For example, Fall 2018 would be provided as "AU2019" in the External Term Code field.

For WI, the terms of a given FAY will always be ordered by the first two characters of the External Term Code as follows:

1. AU

2. SP

3. SM