session: a look at ucc’s financial aid solution presenters: jacob geluk, data management...
TRANSCRIPT
SESSION: A LOOK AT UCC’s FINANCIAL AID SOLUTION
Presenters: Jacob Geluk, Data Management Coordinator UCC Registrar’s OfficeDennis Mayberry, Registrar
Electronic Confirmation of Enrollment – The Challenge
Students are waiting in lineProcessing is labour intensiveProcessing is slowWe do not have an automatic audit trail of who we approved
ECE Design Considerations:
It must handle 90% of the workload without human interventionIt must be accurateIt must be simple to maintainThere must be a manual override for the inevitable exceptionsThere must be a good audit trail
ECE Platform Choice: MS Access
We used the tool I was most familiar withThe staff were familiar with MS AccessAccess is good for creating reportsLack of training in Colleague case tool – If I were to do it again I would use Envision.
ECE: Information Flow (IN)
1. Ministry ECE requests2. Student Enrollment information3. Student Program Information4. Financial Aid Institutional
Appendix information
(1) Ministry ECE Requests
Lists of students who have approved loansThe ministry needs to verify that they are enrolled as full time studentsAvailable at their FTP site as a text file, CON_008.TXT, which is updated daily
(2) Student Enrollment
Student enrollment is stored in colleagueCan be extracted from colleague using Cedarville download into a text fileSince we only need snapshots of enrollment text file extracts are a simple solution
(3) Student Program Information
As with enrollment, student program information is stored in colleagueText files are simple to useSnapshot information actually more desirable than live information here as it will remain consistent while staff verify how the automated portion of the system has flagged students
(4) Finaid Institutional Appendix
This information is maintained in the access databaseDetails of what is full time for a given programThis is the biggest weakness of using MS access - having to maintain information outside of colleague
(1) Replies to Ministry
Ministry looks for a file CONR_008.TXT on their FTP site nightlyFile must meet ministry specifications and have a correct header and footer
Reports for Financial Aid
Printed reports of the details of how the applications were processedECE decision information is also archive in an access table
(3) Activity Logs
ECE information is archived in a history table in access before the CONR_008.TXT file is createdBefore a new CONR_008.TXT export file is created the previous one is archivedAll errors are logged in an error logImport details are logged in an import table
Processing ECE
Preparation of appendixImporting dataMerging dataPerforming manual overridesExporting the confirmation file
Two Ways to Calculate Full Time
By current semester:Winter – 9 creditsSummer – 12 creditsFall – 9 credits
By terms attended E.G.Term 1 – 12 creditsTerm 2 – 14 credits
Importing Data
All data is imported as text filesTables are cleared before every importMinistry file is checked for completeness
1. Header exists2. Footer exists3. Record count (ministry file has blank lines
divide by two and subtract one)
Merging Data
Student numbers are sanitized – spaces and dashes are strippedProgram information is applied to studentsFull time requirements are calculated for each student based on program infoCredits are totalled for each student based on a query against imported enrollment data
Full Time Status Is Determined
For each student their full time status requirement is compared to their eligible registered creditsStudents are flagged as to whether they meet their requirement for full time status
Students Are Flagged For Manual Intervention If:
They have more than one academic programTheir birth date or name does not match between the colleague and ministry extractsThey were flagged as a disabled studentTheir program was flagged for manual interventionThey do not meet the requirements for full time enrollment (only a staff member can say no)
ECE Manual Intervention
Before an extract for upload to the ministry can be produced all students flagged for manual processing must be checked as either:
1. Approved2. Not approved3. Deferred
Manual Processing Options
If the “send doc” flag is checked then the loan application will be sent to UCC rather than to the studentIf an amount is entered in the “pay to school” field then a cheque for that amount will be made out to UCC directly
Export File To Ministry
The previous export file (CONR_008.Txt) is archivedA new export file (CONR_008.Txt) is createdThe CONR_008.Txt file will automatically be transferred to the ministry FTP server that evening
Results:
No line-ups at the financial aid officeStaff are freed up to do other workGood audit trailVery few calls for maintenance assistance