Federal Student Aid - IFAP
   

Publication Date: March 20, 2006

Author: G. Kay Jacks, General Manager, FSA Application, School Eligibility and Delivery Services

Summary: First Pell Grant Administrative Cost Allowance Payments for 2005 2006 Award Year

Posted on 03-20-2006

Administrative Cost Allowance Payment Background

The Federal Pell Grant regulations at 34 CFR 690.10 provide for an Administrative Cost Allowance (ACA) payment of $5.00 to each participating school for each student who receives a Federal Pell Grant at that school for an award year. These funds may be used only to defray the costs of administering the Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, Federal Work-Study, and Federal Perkins Loan programs.

ACA payment amounts are not included in a school's Current Funding Level (CFL) but are direct payments made to a school based on its unduplicated student recipient information. A school's total number of Federal Pell Grant unduplicated recipients, used in the calculation of the ACA payment, includes students with at least one reported accepted actual disbursement (DRI = true) in the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System. A student will be included in the calculation even if there is a full recovery of the entire Federal Pell Grant award.

A school's total unduplicated recipient count excludes students-

  • Who have been determined ineligible for a Federal Pell Grant or rejected by the Central Processing System;
  • For whom origination records were accepted in the COD System but for whom accepted actual disbursements (DRI = true) have not been received; or
  • For whom all actual disbursements have been rejected.

First Administrative Cost Allowance Payments for 2005-2006 Award Year

The first ACA payment for the 2005 2006 Award Year is based on records that the COD System has processed from the start of the Federal Pell Grant 2005 2006 Award Year on July 1, 2005 up to the date that we process the first ACA payments for the 2005 2006 Award Year. We began processing the ACA payments for all schools on March 18, 2006. Schools will begin to see these payments deposited directly into their bank accounts over the next few weeks.

The Department's Grant Administration and Payment System (GAPS) forwards ACA payments electronically through the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, VA into schools' bank accounts. If a school has not initiated a direct deposit form (Standard Form 1199A) to establish a unique bank account for ACA payments, the GAPS will automatically deposit these funds into the school's existing account. Schools do not need to acknowledge receipt of ACA payments. However, we ask that schools forward a copy of this announcement to their Business offices for inclusion in 2005 2006 Award Year records.

ACA payment amount notifications will be sent to reporting schools. Specifically, we will send an Electronic Statement of Account (ESOA) (Message Class PGAS06OP) that reflects the ACA payment amount to the reporting school's Student Aid Information Gateway (SAIG) mailbox. Additionally, an ACA payment amount will be displayed on the School Funding Information screen on the COD Web site (www.cod.ed.gov). On the School Funding Information screen-

  • The "Total Unduplicated Recipients" field is a count of unduplicated recipients for the 2005 2006 Award Year for the school;
  • The "Total Unduplicated Recipients Paid" field is a count of unduplicated recipients for the 2005 2006 Award Year for whom ACA has been paid;
  • The "Total ACA" field is the dollar amount paid to the school to date for the 2005 2006 Award Year; and
  • The "Last ACA Payment Date" is the most current date for which an ACA payment was made for the 2005 2006 Award Year.

Contact Information

If your school needs assistance in identifying the bank account into which the ACA payment was deposited, call the GAPS Hotline at 888/336 8930.

If your school does not receive an ACA payment (and your school has submitted actual disbursements for the 2005 2006 Award Year that were accepted by the COD System), contact the COD School Relations Center at 800/4PGRANT. You may also e-mail CODSupport@acs-inc.com.