Overview

Preface
Postsecondary schools and third-party servicers who participate in the U.S.
Department of Education (ED) Federal Pell Grant Program must report
Pell disbursements
to the Department electronically. Schools and Servicers have either opted
to be Full Participants in the Common Origination and Disbursement
System (COD) or to be Phase-In Participants. This manual addresses the
Phase-In systems and procedures. Full Participants should refer to the
Common Origination and Disbursement Technical Reference found at ED’s
Student Financial Assistance Download (SFAdownload) Web site located
at SFAdownload.ed.gov.
This reference contains technical system information about the Federal Pell
program that allows you to:
• Build your own system
• Use a system provided by another organization (for example, a vendor
or third-party servicer)
• Use EDExpress for Windows, the software package provided by ED in
combination with your own system or vendor-provided software

Common Origination and Disbursement

All schools participating in Title IV Student Financial Assistance are using
COD System for 2002-2003 to process the Federal Pell Grant Program and
the Federal Direct Loan Program using one of two processing models.

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 The two models are:
• Full Participation
• Phase-In Participation
The difference in the two models is driven by the data transmissions
between the institutions and the COD System.

Full Participation
Full Participation is a new processing model. The Full Participant
communicates over the Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) using the
XML-based Common Record, which is detailed in the COD Technical
Reference.

The Common Record uses a shared format for both the Federal Pell Grant
and Direct Loan Program transmissions and for the campus-based
programs of SEOG, Perkins Loan and Federal Work Study. This latter
capability for campus-based is optional for a school.

Note: Full Participants should use the COD Technical Reference from the
SFAdownload Web site located at SFAdownload.ed.gov.

Phase-In Participation

Phase-in Participation is the continuation of the current processing model

for the Pell Grant Program and the Direct Loan Program. Phase-In
Participants communicate over the SAIG using the record layouts defined
in this 2002-2003 Pell Grant Technical Reference and the 2002-2003
Direct Loan Technical Reference.

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 2002-2003 Pell Processing for Phase-In Participants
For 2002-2003, Pell Participants should:
• Transmit all batch files to the SAIG to be forwarded to COD (Pell
Origination and Disbursement processing will no longer occur at
RFMS)
• Call COD Customer Service Center using the current telephone
numbers

New COD Customer Service Center

SFA’s new COD Customer Service Center integrates customer service for
the Pell Grant and Direct Loan programs for all award years.
All schools continue to call the current Pell Grant Customer Service
numbers. There is no change in the following telephone numbers:
• Pell Grant Customer Service 1-800-474-7268
• Direct Loan School Service 1-800-848-0978
• Direct Loan Applicant Service 1-800-557-7394
All calls are routed to the new COD Customer Service Center. The
telephone system prompts the school to enter the award year the school is
calling in reference to, and the call is routed to the proper Customer
Service Center staff.

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Organization
The Federal Pell Grant Program Technical Reference for 2002-2003 is
organized as follows:
• Overview
• Custom Layouts
• Implementation Guide
• Combination Systems Layouts
• Pell Processing for Phase-In Participants
• Appendices
The Implementation Guide is a reference to assist schools that participate
in the Federal Pell Grant Program, their third-party servicers, and their
software vendors with implementing the system changes for the 2002–2003
Award Year.

Financial aid administrators should read the Overview, Implementation

Guide and Pell Processing for Phase-In Participants sections. These
sections contain information to help you choose how you want to
participate electronically and how to get started in the program.

If you use a custom system, also read the Custom Layouts section as it
provides you with the essential record layouts pertinent to building your
own system.

If you choose to use a combination of systems, also read the Combination

Systems chapter as it provides you with essential record layouts pertinent
to using a combination of systems.

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Overview of Changes from 2001-2002 to 2002-2003
The table below provides an overview of Pell changes made from 2001-
2002 to 2002-2003. The first column provides a description of each
change. The descriptions are organized by the following three categories:
Removed, Added, and Modified. The second column indicates if the
change affects EDExpress or Combination Systems. The third column
indicates if the change affects Custom Systems or Mainframe Systems. The
fourth column indicates a general process change that may affect the school
business process.

EDExpress/ Custom/Mainframe Pell Process

Description Combination Systems Change Only
Systems
Removed
All Record Layouts have been removed from X
Print, with the exception of “RL-External Export
Add Record.” The “RL – External Export Add
Record" has also been renamed "RL - User
Defined Formats” to be consistent with the same
report title in other EDExpress modules. Pell
Record layouts are published for use in this
Federal Pell Grant Program Technical Reference
for 2002-2003.
Institution Data Record and Institution Data X X X
Acknowledgement records have been removed.
The Payment Control Number that references the X X
last payment sent to the school is used for
accounting and tracking within the Department of
Education (ED). It has been deleted from the
Electronic Statement of Account - Summary
Record layout for the ESOA report that is used by
schools.
The MRR record types “VW-Verification W” and X X
“SI-Shared SAR ID” are obsolete on the Multiple
Reporting Record and therefore have been
removed.

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 EDExpress/ Custom/Mainframe Pell Process
Description Combination Systems Change Only
Systems
The Verification Status codes of “A”, “C”, “N”, X X
“R”, “S”, and “T” have been deleted from all
records. Verification Status codes “W” –Without
Documentation, “V”- Verified and Blank are the
only values that should be used.
Added
Pell Origination and Loan Origination data can X
be submitted on a Common Record for 2002-
2003. Full Participants will use the Common
Record. Phase-In Participants will use legacy
record layouts with fixed length files.
EDExpress and Combination systems will be
Phase-In Participants for the 2002-2003 cycle.
The Student Current SSN, Student Date of X X
Birth, Student Last Name, First Name, and
Middle Initial will be added to the Origination
record. Their values will be saved to EDExpress
database and included in the export process.
The Current SSN, Date of Birth, Student's Full X X
Name, and Secondary EFC will also be imported
from the Origination Acknowledgement record.
The current SSN should equal the Original SSN
for the reported ISIR transaction number unless
the student has altered the SSN through CPS.
For EDExpress users, this data will be stored on
the Student Demo tab. An EFC Identifier has
also been added to the Origination List to
distinguish if the Primary or Secondary EFC is
used.
The Student Current SSN, Student Date of Birth X X
and Student 's Last Name, First Name, and
Middle Initial have been added to the Data
Request Record. These fields are required to
export a Data Request for individually selected
students.

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 EDExpress/ Custom/Mainframe Pell Process
Description Combination Systems Change Only
Systems
A new import type will be added to transport X X
discrepancy data submitted to the Pell Processor
in the SSN, Name and/or Date of Birth fields. It
will be a preformatted report with a message
class equal to PGSNOP03. Whenever data that
the school submits to the Pell Processor does not
match data on the CPS Abbreviated Applicant
File, the values in question will be included on
the report. There will be no updates made to
EDExpress database for this report.
Rejected records are retained in a “holding bin” X X
so that they can be viewed online.
The acknowledgement record includes a count X X
for number of duplicate records in the Grant
Batch Trailer.
A Negative Pending Amount field has been added X X
to the Origination Acknowledgement record
without a negative sign or brackets. If a
Negative Pending amount does not exist the field
will be "0" filled. For EDExpress users, the
absolute value will list on the Origination Import
Edit report.
The Software Provider field has been added to X X
the Grant Batch Header. This field indicates the
name of the provider and software version
number.
A Record Source Field has been added on the X
Student Demo Tab to distinguish a traditional
Origination Acknowledgement (O), an
Origination Acknowledgement via the Web (W)
or a Year to Date rebuild (X). These unique
values will be populated to identify the source
from which the acknowledged record was
imported. The corresponding column heading of
the Pell Origination List has also been changed
to “Record Source” for clarity. It was previously
listed as “Origination Source”.

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 EDExpress/ Custom/Mainframe Pell Process
Description Combination Systems Change Only
Systems
If a Low Tuition and Fees (LTF) code has been X
selected for a record but LTF requirements have
not been satisfied, once a user attempts to run
Process Calculate, a message will display that
"Criteria for Low Tuition and Fees (LTF) is not
met."
The message for Pell Edits will list at the end of X
the respective Import Edit Report. The 300
series edits and descriptions will list at the end of
the Origination Import Edit Report; the 400
series edits and descriptions will list at the end of
the Disbursement Edit Report. Users can decide
to print or not print the list.
For each disbursement transaction that provokes X
an edit condition of D-Duplicate, E-Reject or W-
Warning the reason for the edit will display by
reference number on the Disbursement Tab under
View | Processed Edits/Comments.
A new Disbursement Pending Report has been X X
created to assist schools in tracking anticipated
disbursements. If the amount originated is equal
to the amount disbursed, the record will not be
listed on this report. The report will list records
where the Originated Award amounts minus
Year-to-date Disbursed amounts are greater than
zero. Schools will have the option to include
originated records with no disbursement activity
for the award year.
A Pre-defined query has been created to identify X
Pell records with disbursements greater than $0
and Verification status code W-Without
Documentation.

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 EDExpress/ Custom/Mainframe Pell Process
Description Combination Systems Change Only
Systems
Modified
The software has been updated with the 2002- X X
2003 Regular and Alternate Federal Pell Grant
Program Payment and Disbursement Schedules.
The maximum annual award is $4000 with Pell
eligible EFC ranges between $0 and $3800. The
complete set of tables for determining annual Pell
awards can be viewed via your IFAP Web page.
Schools that include cents greater than or equal to X X
“0” when reporting their students Pell “Award
Amount for Entire School Year” will have the
cents processed and returned back to them by
COD.
Advanced funded schools can send records up to X
30 days prior to the Disbursement Date. However
schools can not draw down their funds until seven
(7) days prior to the scheduled date as submitted
on the record.
Enrollment Status is not used for Common X X
Origination and Disbursement system processing
and therefore is not being edited if sent to COD.
The field is still required for EDExpress users as
it is used to calculate the Origination Award
Amount.
The name of the Institutional cross-reference X X
fields has been changed to Origination cross-
reference and Disbursement cross-reference.
These field name changes affect Origination,
Disbursement, and YTD file layouts.

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 EDExpress/ Custom/Mainframe Pell Process
Description Combination Systems Change Only
Systems
All references to "RFMS" have been changed to X
"Pell Processor" or "Pell" when space will not
allow. Label changes in EDExpress include, but
are not limited to the following:

On the Origination and Disbursement export files:

• RFMS has been removed from the title;

On the display screen for Pell Originations:

• "RFMS Status" has been changed to "Pell
Action Status;"

On the display screen for Pell Disbursements:

• "Payment Period" column heading has been
changed to "Pay Period."
• "Action" has been added to the "Status"
column label and "RFMS" has been changed
to "Pell." The column heading is now "Pell
Action Status".
• "RFMS YTD Total" has been changed to
"Pell Processor YTD Total."
Only two codes will be used to report the status of X X
records that are selected for verification either by
the Central Processing System (CPS) or by the
school. Verification Status codes for 2002-2003
are V-Verified and W-Without documentation.
The “Verification Status Code” field should be left
blank for records that are not selected.
Schools that receive a system-generated Multiple X
Reporting Record (MRR) for Potential
Overaward Project (POP) records having been
reported by two or more campuses will have 30
days to collaborate and reconcile the questioned
discrepancy. If the student is still in an overpaid
status after 30 days, the Pell Processor will
generate a “Negative Disbursement” and all
previously accepted disbursements for the student
will be adjusted down to zero.

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 EDExpress/ Custom/Mainframe Pell Process
Description Combination Systems Change Only
Systems
Updates can now be made to the “Disbursement X
Cross Reference” field for records in an
“Accepted”, “Rejected”, or “Ready” status.
Updates can not be made to records that have
been set to “Batched”.
The range for Pell System-generated X X
Disbursements has been changed from 91-99 to
66-90. For EDExpress users, the message that
previously provided a warning to users at the 85th
disbursement will now be provided for a school’s
record that is generated at the 60th disbursement.
The Pell screen has been reorganized and now X
Weeks and Hours fields are listed together in one
column. All data elements that display on this
screen are grouped in a more logical order.
The School Internal Sequence Number, a non- X
required field, has been enabled on the Origination
Tab and can now be used by EDExpress and
combo system schools at their discretion. The
School Internal Sequence Number has also been
made available in Query, Browse, and File
Format.
As a user views and scrolls between an X
origination record and a disbursement record for a
single student, the software will present the
disbursement record(s) associated with the
accessed origination record.
The Select All Records option has been disabled X
for a Year-to-Date Request. Schools will continue
to use the Reporting or Attended Campus ID as
criteria for requesting a Year-to-date file for all
students.
A second level sort has been added to the X X
Disbursement Export Process so that records run
in Origination ID order, then disbursement
reference number order for each disbursement
record that is exported.

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 EDExpress/ Custom/Mainframe Pell Process
Description Combination Systems Change Only
Systems
A separate Pell budget has been added to the X
Packaging module for 2002-2003. Schools that
use Packaging and Pell in EDExpress will be
able to use this new field to populate the same
field on the Pell Tab. The Pell Cost of
Attendance (COA) will automatically be
populated on the Pell Tab when users select the
option to create their Pell records by importing
data from the Packaging module in EDExpress.
The Cost of Attendance field has also been added
to those that are listed in the Process | Multiple
Entry Selection Grid.
During the “Origination Data – External” import X
process, the system will use the SSN value from
the Origination ID to populate the Original SSN
field. The value in the Original SSN field will be
ignored.
The “Compare/Print Exceptions” option will be X
disabled when users choose to select specific
records to update during an import to rebuild
their Year-to-Date files.
The School Default Flag has been added to the X
data that is brought forward when importing
Prior Year Pell Setup information. Users will
also have the option of selecting data by Attended
Campus or Reporting Campus during a Prior
Year Import. Interactive graphics have been
added to explanations in online Help for Pell
Grant Setup.
During the import process, the award year will X
be checked against the cycle of the software that
is listed in the Batch ID Header record. If the
award year and software version do not match, a
message indicating an "invalid cycle year" will
print on the import edit report.

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 EDExpress/ Custom/Mainframe Pell Process
Description Combination Systems Change Only
Systems
A total count for the number of records with an X X
action code of D-Duplicate has been included in
the Grant Trailer record for Origination and
Disbursement Acknowledgements.
Now to receive a Batch Activity list, the Date X
range is not a required field. Users should not
have to enter the “From” and “To” date on the
Print Dialog in order to receive an activity log of
all batches created in the Pell module. The
system simply defaults to the current PC date if
one is not entered.

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 •
•

Introduction to Pell Processing for Phase-In Participants

Phase-In Participants in 2002-2003 will continue to send records and
batches in the legacy fixed file format. The batches will be sent to the Pell
Processor for processing. The processed batch will then be sent back to
the school in the legacy format. Many of the COD enhancements will be
“transparent” to the Phase-In Participants.

The reporting process starts with origination records. Origination records

can be sent well in advance of any disbursements, as early as a school
chooses to submit them and the Pell Processor is ready to accept them. A
school should submit origination records for any student for which it might
award Pell funds. The Origination record is required for Phase-In
Participants. When the Pell processor receives an origination record, it
checks the record to make sure there are no errors and returns an
acknowledgement to the school. This data is also posted on the COD Web
site. Records that are rejected are placed in a “Hold Bin” on the COD Web
site. These rejected records may be viewed but not corrected online by
Phase-In Participants. Only Full Participants can create and correct
records online at the COD Web site.

When a school makes a disbursement, or anticipates making a

disbursement, it must send a disbursement record to the Pell Processor.
The disbursement record reports the actual disbursement date and the
amount of the disbursement. The Pell Processor returns an
acknowledgement for the disbursement record, which notifies the school of
any problems with the submission. In addition, the Pell Processor sends
information from disbursement records via SFA’s Financial Management
System (FMS) to the Education Central Automated Processing
System/Grants Administration and Payments System (EDCAPS/GAPS, or

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 GAPS). The school’s authorization is adjusted once the initial
authorization is exceeded.

A school may make a Data Request for an ESOA (Electronic Statement of

Account), MRR (Multiple Reporting Record), YTD (Year-to-Date) or
Reconciliation file. These files will be in the fixed length format detailed in
the Record Layouts in the Custom Layouts section. As with the
Origination, Disbursement and Funding process, Phase-In Participants will
continue to process in the Federal Pell Grant Program with only minor
changes from 2001-2002.

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System Options
The U.S. Department of Education gives you maximum flexibility in
fashioning a system solution that best meets your school’s needs. There are
three system options:

Custom System
You have the option of developing a system to support all the necessary
tasks required to participate in the Federal Pell Grant Program, purchasing
a software package from a third-party servicer, or contracting a third-party
servicer. Schools should contact their software provider concerning
whether their software is for a Full Participant or a Phase-In Participant.
Schools who have developed a custom system for years prior to 2002-2003
can use their existing system for 2002-2003. Schools with custom systems
should review the Common Origination and Disbursement Technical
Reference for addition information about becoming a full participant and
programming in XML.

EDExpress for Windows

EDExpress for Windows is a comprehensive financial aid management
system provided at no cost by the U.S. Department of Education. It is a
student-based system that allows you to perform functions, such as
processing federal application data, including loading and printing
Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) received electronically
from the Central Processing System (CPS). It also computes student
award packages; maintains funds; tracks file documents; generates reports;
establishes Direct Loan and Pell origination records; prints promissory
notes; manages Pell and Direct Loan disbursement data; reconciles and
reports Direct Loan and Federal Pell Grant payment data. Schools using
this software can refer to the desk reference for the Pell Payment software
or the online Help in EDExpress for help. Schools using EDExpress will
be Phase-In Participants.

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 Combination EDExpress/Custom System
You can choose to use a portion of the functions provided by EDExpress in
conjunction with external systems or software from another vendor.
EDExpress allows you to import data captured in other on-campus systems
(for example, a financial aid packaging system). You can export data
needed by other on-campus systems (such as the school's business office)
from the EDExpress
database. Schools opting to use a combination system will be Phase-In
Participants.

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 Items to Consider in Choosing a System Option
The following section addresses questions that may help you decide
which system design option is best for your school.

Grant Volume How large is the grant volume at your

school?
Available Resources How much of the following resources are
available: staff, data processing resources,
equipment, and money?
Existing Systems What existing systems are in place and how
easy are they to integrate?
Time Constraints Is there enough time available for a system
to be developed?
Campus Are there existing means of communication
Communications between offices involved in the Federal Pell
Grant Program? (These offices could
include financial aid and bursars.)

The remainder of this section describes the hardware and interface

requirements for using the EDExpress Combination System option.

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PC Requirements
Beginning January 1, 2002, for the 2002-2003 processing year, the
Department of Education’s designated electronic processes require
participating institutions to meet the hardware and software requirements
that appear below. When reviewing these updated specifications, you
should be aware that capacity requirements (processor speed, RAM, hard
drive storage, etc.) are greatly affected by specific factors at your
institution, including which SFA functions your institution uses, the number
of records processed, and institutional database interfaces.
• IBM or fully IBM compatible PC
• 800 MHz Pentium Processor or comparable
• 128 MB RAM or more
• 20 GB hard drive or more
• 56K modem (that meets or is upgradable to V.90 standard)
• 3.5”/1.44 MB Diskette Drive
• Monitor and video card capable of Super Video Graphics Adapter
(SVGA) (800x600) resolution (small fonts only) or higher*
• Windows 95 Keyboard with Microsoft compatible mouse
• Laser printer capable of printing on standard paper (8 ½” x 11”)
• 24x CD-ROM Drive or higher with sound card
• 32-bit operating system (Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows
NT 4.0, or Microsoft Windows 2000)
• Internet Service Provider (ISP) that supports 56K modem connection
or higher
Browser Requirements:
• Internet Explorer v4.01 Service Pack 2 or higher
• Netscape Navigator v4.73 or higher
• Supported Networks: Windows NT or Novell Netware
• Dedicated phone line
• 3.5” high-density double-sided diskettes
* EDExpress is designed in SVGA. You may use a higher resolution than SVGA at your
own discretion without adverse impact on EDExpress.

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 Optional Items to Consider
The following items are recommended as additional tools to assist you in
managing your financial aid data:
• Backup system (for example, a tape backup system) to store your data
• Power supply backup or surge protectors
• Phone line surge protector
• Virus scan software

Note: A backup of EDExpress should be performed on a regular basis.

Make sure your backup can be restored.

If you are running EDExpress on a local area network (LAN), refer to the
LAN Hardware and Software recommendations in the EDExpress
Installation Guide, located on the IFAP Web site (www.ifap.ed.gov).

Interface Requirements
EDExpress interfaces with other ED-provided software modules and
systems resident on the same PC, with other systems at the school, and via
the Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG).

Interface with other ED-provided Software Systems on

PC
EDExpress includes modules for Application Processing, Packaging, Direct
Loan, and Pell. You can import ISIRs from the Application Processing
module to create Pell Grant records. However, each record requires
manual entry (or import change) before the record can be originated.
Alternatively, you can import packaged student records from the Packaging
module of EDExpress to create Pell origination records. EDExpress uses
the award amounts calculated in the Packaging module to establish the
grant records in the Pell module.

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 The Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) communications software,
EDConnect, can coexist on the same PC with EDExpress. EDConnect is a
Window's-based software package that participants use to transmit data
across the network to the Pell Processing systems. EDConnect is
compatible with the LAN; however, care should be taken when using
EDConnect in a LAN environment because of its lack of file and record-
locking capabilities.

Interface with Other Software Systems on Campus

Your other school computer systems, used for registration or accounting,
are potential providers of data to the EDExpress Pell Grant module.
EDExpress is designed to import data captured in other systems and is
reformatted according to specifications provided in this technical reference.
Likewise, data in EDExpress can be exported for use in other on-
campus systems. 2002-2003 Record Layouts for the export files are
provided so your school systems can be modified.

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