Product Release Summary
This Product Brief includes a summary of Regent 6.8, information on key enhancements, and direction to additional documentation and information.
Product Release Description
The 6.8 release addresses product defects as listed in the “Bugs” section of the Release Notes, and also enhancements and new features including:
Updated SAIG Software/New SAIG Mailbox Support for 2024-2025 and FTI (RS-25750)
Updated SAIG Password Criteria in Regent (RS-27265)
New Pell Rounding Rules for 2024-2025 (RS-27819, RS-27893)
City/State Confirmation Added to Student E-Sign Process (RS-26216)
ISIR-Related Fields Added to Access Database Extract File (RS-27648)
Bright Futures and FSAG Automation (RS-26658)
Further details on enhancements/new features and a complete list of bug fixes as well as any new scripts and data views can be found in the Release Notes.
The Release Notes also contain information on new configuration options.
Other Documentation
In addition to the Product Brief, the following documentation is also available:
System Requirements
Any client currently using Regent Award may take Regent 6.8 for UAT and ultimately production upgrade.
Any client currently using Regent Review may take Regent 6.8 for UAT and ultimately production upgrade.
Any client currently using Regent Access may take Regent 6.8 for UAT and ultimately production upgrade.
Any client currently using Regent Fund may take Regent 6.8 for UAT and ultimately production upgrade.
Any client currently using Regent Award may take the Regent 6.8 version of Student Experience for UAT and ultimately production upgrade.
Any client currently using Regent Review may take the Regent 6.8 version of Student Experience for UAT and ultimately production upgrade.
Any client currently using Regent Fund may take the Regent 6.8 version of Student Experience for UAT and ultimately production upgrade.
Some Regent Access clients may take the Regent 6.8 version of Student Experience for UAT and ultimately production upgrade. Please work with your Account Manager for additional information. Note: All current customer-specific functionality in the legacy portal may not be available in the new Student Experience portal at this time.
Clients using Regent Award for Salesforce will not need to upgrade to a new Salesforce application version in order to continue current functionality.
New Feature Overview for Regent 6.8
Updated SAIG Software/New SAIG Mailbox Support for 2024-2025 and FTI (RS-25750)
Important Note about Regent Support for FTI-SAIG Functionality: Regent has completed extensive internal testing on the support for FTI-SAIG connectivity in Release 6.8. However, while we have had access to a test SAIG mailbox in the past, ED did not provide software providers with access to test FTI-SAIG mailboxes and this has limited the full scope of our testing. Schools also have not been provided with access to test FTI-SAIG mailboxes.
Clients will first attempt FTI-SAIG connectivity within their Regent Production instances after upgrading to 6.8 and entering their FTI-SAIG credentials. At this point, Regent will either connect successfully to the FTI-SAIG mailbox or the connection will fail. In the case of an unsuccessful connection, no files will be removed or altered in the FTI-SAIG mailbox. The transmission simply will not have worked. In that case, please provide Regent with screenshots and information about your experience via the Customer Zone ticketing process. Please also advise your Account Manager when you are able to successfully receive files from FTI-SAIG within Regent.
FTI-SAIG configuration has been added as a new tab for the existing SAIG setup screen. The FTI-SAIG tab functionality mirrors the functionality of the ‘General' tab for SAIG but will have only one Process Type selection available: ‘ISIR Import (2024-2025 and forward)’. The ISIR Import Process Type on the General tab, for the SAIG mailbox, will only support imports for 2023-2024 and prior. Only one SAIG mailbox and one FTI SAIG mailbox can be active at a given time.
Updated SAIG Password Criteria in Regent (RS-27265)
SAIG password criteria in Regent has been updated to allow special characters such as #, $, ! and @. This provides more flexibility in SAIG password creation for clients.
New Pell Rounding Rules for 2024-2025 (RS-27819, RS-27893)
The Department of Education updated initial guidance for 2024-2025 Pell rounding when institutions elect to disburse Pell in whole dollars:
The disbursement amount for Term 1 in the FAY will be rounded using standard rounding rules. For example, $5.01 through $5.49 will round down to $5.00 and $5.50 through $5.99 will round up to $6.00.
For subsequent terms with the same Enrollment Intensity Percentage (EIP), the up/down or down/up alternating rounding practice will apply. If Term 1 rounded up, then Term 2 will round down and if Term 1 rounded down, then Term 2 will round up.
For a subsequent term with a different Enrollment Intensity Percentage (EIP) than the most recent term with Pell from the same FAY, standard rounding will apply as described for item #1 above. Alternate rounding will apply to the following terms in the FAY unless EIP changes again. If EIP changes for another subsequent term, the process will restart with standard rounding applied to that term and then alternate rounding thereafter.
These rounding rules may result in two consecutive terms that both round up or both round down when there are EIP changes, but in no case may total Pell for the number of payment periods in the FAY exceed the Scheduled Award. For example, Scheduled Pell may not be exceeded during the Fall/Spring terms in a 2-term SAY and Scheduled Pell may not be exceeded during the Fall/Winter/Spring terms in a 3-term BBAY. Subsequent terms in the FAY may receive ‘Year Round Pell’ from the additional 50% Scheduled Pell. All other Pell eligibility rules, such as the Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU) cap continue to apply.
These updates also include two tweaks to Pell Formula 3 logic to align with new guidance:
First, the number of units for Full-Time enrollment will still be calculated up front (Weeks in nonstandard term ÷ Weeks in academic year x Credit-hours in academic year) for a term but will no longer automatically round up to a whole number. This is to accommodate institutions with programming in partial units. (This was added in 6.7.4).
Second, the Scheduled Award for the term is adjusted per Formula 3 before applying EIP instead of afterwards. The Formula 3 Adjusted Scheduled Award is calculated by multiplying the annual Scheduled Pell amount by the number of weeks in the term and dividing by the number of weeks in the academic year. (Annual Scheduled Award x Weeks in Term) ÷ (Weeks in AY) = Formula 3 Adjusted Scheduled Award for this term, the amount a student would receive if attending full-time for the term. At this point, the Formula 3 Adjusted Scheduled Award is multiplied by the EIP to determine the amount the student will receive, with rounding rules applied as in the first section above.
Important Note: For all of these updates, any Pell disbursements that have already been packaged and/or disbursed will update per these new rules unless either the disbursement has paid and the client has configured to NOT update Pell after disbursement or the Pell award is marked ‘manual’.
City/State Confirmation Added to Student E-Sign Process (RS-26216)
‘Current City’ and ‘Current State' options have been added to the ‘Student e-Signature Confirmation Options’ field on the Portal tab in Institution Setup:
When selected, a field for the option will be presented and required on the student’s e-signature portion for smart forms in the Student Portal. Entry in the ‘Current City' and ‘Current State’ fields will not be validated against data within the smart form. The purpose of the fields is to capture the student’s location at the time they electronically signed the form, per regulatory requirements of some states. Both options are unselected as the default.
For smart forms that have corresponding city and state of e-signature fields included within the form, such as the Access Master Application, the City and State entered by the student during the e-sign process will appear on the PDF of the form. The fields will not appear on the CSV file.
ISIR-Related Fields Added to Access Database Extract File (RS-27648)
The following four ISIR-related fields have been added to the Master Access Application as hidden fields to be included on the Access Database Extract File, which is imported into other systems. Regent Access clients may need to make modifications to accommodate these changes to the CSV file for import.
Transaction Source (transactionDataSourceTypeCode)
Default '3' = FAFSA Partner Portal
Transaction Type (transactionType)
Default 'A' = Application
Transaction Language (transactionLanguage)
Default 'E' = English
Application Source (applicationDataSourceTypeCode)
Default '3' = FAFSA Partner Portal
Bright Futures and FSAG Automation (RS-26658)
The 6.8 Release introduces full Regent automation for the eligibility determination, awarding, and disbursement of four Florida Bright Futures funds: The Florida Academic Scholars, Florida Medallion Scholars, Florida Gold Seal CAPE Scholars, and Florida Gold Seal Vocational Scholars. As these funds are roster-based, Regent has implemented an import process via new Data Pipeline configuration and new Azure Data Factory functionality to support a ruleset of awarding these Florida Bright Futures funds. The school can import the Florida Master Eligibility List (MEL), where Regent will store the MEL eligibility information on a Student Document Requirement for each fund, and then apply the MEL data when packaging the Bright Futures funds.
Regent Award has also added automation for the Florida Student Assistance Grant (FSAG). Regent has automated packaging including eligibility determination, awarding, and disbursement for this decentralized, need-based fund. The FSAG custom rules use amounts and other configuration from standard Fund Setup configuration in Regent Award. The logic also considers the institution type and state. Public Florida institutions award FSAG for students with a half-time or greater enrollment level. Participating non-public or non-Florida institutions may award FSAG for full-time students.
Clients with a Regent Fund license who are interested in taking advantage of this automation should contact their Account Manager or Project Manager for more information.
Known Issues for Regent 6.8
Key | Issue | Workaround |
|---|---|---|
RS-17860 | The Advanced Packaging feature of MAP is displaying the incorrect number of Anticipated Units for some Summer Terms that are set up with 'Anticipate 0 Units for Term' AND when Spring Pell is overridden from the prior/current FAY to the next FAY. | When using Advanced Packaging and this issue occurs, zero out the units for Summer terms on the screen as desired. |
RS-20659 | In limited cases, when a client is using the 'Alternate Census Date' and a student is initially packaged after all configured census dates, the initial Pell enrollment status may be incorrect. | The amount is corrected the next time the student is packaged. |
RS-23752 | Regent Award unexpectedly does not show the "Other" option in 'Select the Process that this document facilitates' dropdown for Document setup. | None. |
RS-24121 | The Blocking Document for 'Block My Borrowing Tool' is unexpectedly not blocking access to My Borrowing when the document is configured as 'Office Use Only'. | If the Document Setup is configured with 'Office Use Only' unselected and Publish Portal Configuration, then the functionality works as expected and My Borrowing is not available to the student. |
RS-24754 | ‘Room & Board’ and ‘Personal’ cost items are not included into COA for Fall 2022 on the Awards tab, although all filtering and data criteria are met | A manual cost adjustment is needed, and will need to be removed once the issue is fixed. Indirect costs are calculating correctly for Spring 2023. |
RS-25193 | Regent Award unexpectedly does not auto-populate 'Net Accepted Amount' for Pell in the PWD tab of the R2T4 wizard, although the award has been previously accepted. Pell is canceled after the Cancel Date. | The 'Net Accepted Amount' must be manually entered and/or paid directly on COD. |
RS-25481 | Regent Award is unexpectedly calculating the incorrect amount in Box U - Step 10 in the R2T4 wizard. The amounts calculated in Box U of STEP 9: Title IV Grant Funds for Student to Return are inconsistent with 'Amounts To Return' in STEP 10: Return of Grant Funds by the Student. | None. |
RS-25515 | In some cases, Regent Award incorrectly calculates Overlapping Academic Year loan amounts. | OAYs need to be reviewed individually and manually adjusted if needed. |
RS-25583 | The Review for Additional Subsidized Loan Eligibility document requirement is triggered several times per AY. | In some cases, change the academic year or change the assigned document to be an Internal Document. |
RS-25605 | In limited cases, Regent Award unexpectedly awards loans for a future term despite the aggregate limit being reached. | Loan amounts need to be manually updated. |
RS-25706 RS-25987 RS-25935 | In some cases, Regent Award unexpectedly duplicates an OAY banner for the same loan or creates an OAY with blank loan periods. | OAYs need to be reviewed individually and manually adjusted if needed. |
RS-25902 | Regent Award unexpectedly does not save changes for the Saved parameter sets Name “BP_Daily“ value of checkbox "Process Students with Data Changes Only" after pressing Update Saved Parameter Set button. | None. |
RS-26036 | Regent Award unexpectedly does not run the Loans - Overlapping Periods Report. | None. |
RS-27724 | Regent Award unexpectedly generates ‘Review Overlapping Loan Period from ISIR’ tasks from ISIRs that were already in the system. | Close the tasks. |
RS-27797 | For dependent students, Regent Access is not displaying a calculated SAI on the PDF, Portal, or ‘Smart Form Submitted’ communications email. The SAI is displaying for independent students, however, the ‘Smart Form Submitted’ communications email is displaying the EFC label instead of SAI. | None. |
RS-27806 | If a married student indicates they did not file a tax return for 2022, Regent Access unexpectedly does not display the ‘Student Spouse Financial Information’ section of the 24-25 Master Access Questionnaire. | None. |
RS-27813 | In some cases, Regent Award is using reject codes from an inactive ISIR to incorrectly determine the student is ineligible for, and therefore cancelling, the Pell Grant. | For students with affected awards, the FA user can switch the Pell Grant awards to be manual, modify the disbursements, and select the Override Eligibility Rules checkbox. |
RS-27826 | Regent Award is incorrectly updating SAI and SAI formulas when using the ISIR Verification/Correction Wizard to correct non-impactful data points (such as corrections in Grade Level or First Bachelor’s Degree). | Submit corrections via FPS when available. |
RS-27871 | When two different students request the same parent’s signature on their 24-25 Access Application using the same parent email address, Regent Access erroneously creates a duplicate 24-25 Access Application in a ‘NOT STARTED’ status. As a result, the ‘Sign Form’ button does not display for the parent to sign the second student’s application. | The student can send a new signature invitation request to a second/alternate parent using a different email address. The second/alternate parent will need to go through account creation to be able to sign. OR If the student only has one parent listed, they can send a new parent invitation using a different/alternate email address than what is currently linked to the parent account. The parent will need to create a new secondary parent account using a different email address to move forward. |
RS-27903 | The Verification Worksheet workflow for a student without an IRS match is unexpectedly:
| The school can use a PDF VWS or alternative document to ask students about their income information. This document can be populated based on a student being selected for verification with no IRS match, who stated they are a non-filer. |
RS-28199 | When manually adding an award using Add Award Wizard (AAW), Regent Fund unexpectedly blocks some awards with an error: Accepted Amount is required for awards whose status is Accepted. Please go to Step 1 and provide an accepted amount. | None. |
RS-28205 | For schools who have adjusted the order of the Menu Settings display in the Student Portal, that order is not saving and displaying as configured. | None. |
RS-28194 | Technical guidance from ED for 2024-2025 did not note that an ISIR for a Provisionally Independent student will not have the Pell Eligible flag set. In addition to the other Pell eligibility requirements, Regent logic requires the Pell Eligible flag to be ‘yes’ before making Pell awards, including Estimated awards for Provisionally Independent students. Having confirmed this behavior with ED, Regent will be updating the logic to refer to all other Pell checks for Provisional Independent students. | Clients can manually add the award and select the ‘Override Eligibility Rules’ checkbox. |