Publication Date: June 21, 2006

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

Summary: Federal Pell Grant Disbursement Processing for 2006-2007 Award Year

Posted on 06-21-2006

The Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System will now accept Federal Pell Grant (Pell Grant) actual disbursement records for the 2006-2007 Award Year. This means that schools can now submit or update disbursements with a Disbursement Release Indicator (DRI) equal to true.

At this time, we want to remind schools of the following disbursement-related information:

• The earliest date on which a school may disburse a Pell Grant for the 2006-2007 Award Year, either with Federal funds or its own funds, is July 1, 2006.
• 2006-2007 Pell Grant funds will be available for draw in the Grant Administration and Payment System (GAPS) on July 1, 2006.
• Advanced Funded schools can submit disbursements for 2006-2007 Pell Grant awards no earlier than June 21, 2006, with a disbursement date no earlier than July 1, 2006.

  After July 1, 2006, Advanced Funded schools may submit actual disbursements for 2006-2007 Pell Grant awards up to 30 days before the disbursement date. However, the disbursements will not be posted and funded in the GAPS until 7 days before the disbursement date.

  As an Advanced Funded school submits actual disbursements, the total accepted and posted amount for each disbursement is applied to the amount of the school's Initial Current Funding Level (CFL). Only after the Initial CFL amount has been reached will the school's CFL be increased to cover additional accepted and posted disbursements. A new Electronic Statement of Account (ESOA) is sent to the school each time its CFL amount changes.

• The following schools have not received an Initial CFL:

o Schools that have recently become eligible to participate in the Pell Grant Program
o Schools that participate in the Just in Time pilot
o Schools on Reimbursement, Heightened Cash Monitoring 1 (HCM1), or Heightened Cash Monitoring 2 (HCM2)

These schools are eligible for a CFL once actual disbursements have been accepted and posted. A new ESOA is sent to a school each time its CFL amount changes.

Additional 2006-2007 disbursement-related information will be posted in a forthcoming Federal Register notice regarding deadline dates for the 2006-2007 Award Year. The text of this notice will be available on the IFAP Web site (www.ifap.ed.gov) after the notice has been published in the Federal Register.

If you have questions about this announcement, contact the COD School Relations Center at 800/4PGRANT. You may also e-mail CODSupport@acs-inc.com.