Se ssio n 9

Direct Loan Reconciliation and

Closeout - Best Practices
 Sharon Oliver
North Carolina Central University

2
Barbara Nolan
University of New Mexico

3
 Lucy Scalici
City University of New York (CUNY)

4
 Sharon Oliver
North Carolina Central University

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 Establish Institutional
Policies and Procedures
 How and when are other offices
(Student Accounting, Business Office
and Contracts and Grants) notified of
disbursements & change records
 Who is responsible for reviewing and
processing the 30 Day Warning List
 Who gets a copy of the monthly SAS
report
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 Customer Service Rep.
 Establish a working relationship with your
CSR
 Fax problems to the CSR for review and
assistance with resolving problems
 Retain ticket number for future reference
 Strive to keep the same CSR during closeout
so that pending issues can be resolved timely

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 Reconcile Monthly
 Treat the funds as if they are your
personal funds, your checking account
—checks and balances are important
 Each month review the SAS Report
 Extract a report through Access to
Identify disbursement discrepancies

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 Reconcile Monthly (Cont.)
 Review 30 day Warning List
 Prepare Manifest Daily

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 30 Day Warning List
 Review Data Needed
 Obtain MPN’s or Submit disbursement
records
 Highlight resolved students
 Due to timing a student may continue to
appear on list, COD is contacted for
resolved students

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 30 Day Warning List
(DIWR04OP)

 REPORT ID: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PAGE 1 OF 16

 RUN DATE: 03/06/2004 FEDERAL DIRECT LOAN PROGRAM RUN TIME: 04:19PM

 30 DAY WARNING REPORT

 AWARD YEAR: 2003-2004 11

 MPN – Go Electronic
 It is quick, fast, and easy to allow
students and parents to complete
MPNS electronically
 Reduces processing time
 Eliminates paper
 Encourage users to complete all steps
 MPN can be completed without an
origination
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 SAS Year-To-Date
Cash Summary
 Import through Direct Loan Tools
Software (DSDF04OP.DAT)
 Hard copies are distributed to the
Student Accounting,Contracts and
Grants, and Director of Financial Aid
 Compare Cash Receipts with Total
Disbursements for Excess Cash

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 Institutional Controls
 Place holds on accounts for students
with missing promissory notes
 Cancel originated loans without mpns
and loan entrances – 30 days after 1st
day of classes
 Notify students immediately when prom
notes are rejected by COD

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 Overall Objective
CASH ON HAND
(DRAWDOWNS)

TOTAL BOOKED
DISBURSEMENTS

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 TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL
CLOSE OUT
 Close out begins on July 1st
 Reconcile monthly
 Clean up 30 day warning list
 Identify problem records
 Request status reports
 Review Close Out letter
 Return Excess Cash
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For additional
information:

Sharon Oliver
P. O. Box 19496
Durham, NC 27707
(919) 530-5313
[email protected]

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Barbara Nolan
University of New Mexico

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 Background Information
– Four-Year Public University
– Five Campuses
– 35,000 Students
– $60 Million In Direct Lending
– In-House developed applications on
mainframe architecture

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 Reconciliation Reports
– Compare data from COD against UNM
database
– Report Loan Amount Discrepancies
– Report Outstanding Disbursements
– Reporting Outstanding P-Notes

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 UNM’s COD Challenges
– Change Records Not All Accepted
– Disbursements Down to Zero
– P-Notes of Active Bankruptcy

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 DIRECT LOAN
RECONCILI ATION/ B EST
PRAC TICES

How to Manage Reconciliation

Lucy R. Scalici
Office of the University Controller
Student Financial Aid Operations

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 CUNY’s Experience

 CUNY has 400,000 + students

 19 campuses
 Disburses aid on a weekly basis
 Utilizes a team effort approach with key
players (Financial Aid Officers, Business
Managers, Bursars, COD, GAPS and
Staff from Accounting, Cash Management
and Student Financial Aid Operations
within the Office of the University
Controller) 23
 CUNY’s Experience

 Maintains a relationship with each office

 Reports all discrepancies to COD & GAPS
when they happen (Keep in mind they
need you to be vocal)

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 Checklist
 Obtain COD ID (update capabilities)
 Obtain GAPS ID (view access)
 Perform your Data Matches
 Keep a spreadsheet updating all
disbursements, adjustments, rejections,
and drawdown actions as they occur
 Work closely with your COD
Reconciliation Representative
 Schedule reviews and activities to meet
the July 31 closeout deadline 25
 Summary

 Balance your funds

 Resolve any discrepancies (you must
review data matches, GAPS
confirmations, COD files, & close-out
letters)
 Review all batch activities
 Compare, compare, compare!

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 What to Look For

 Timing Issues
 Direct Loan
disbursements/adjustments/ rejections
 Un-booked loan records
 Unsent Transactions
 Cash Issues (transactions posted &
refunds of cash posted to the wrong
year)
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 How CUNY Processes to
COD
 Creates a weekly file of disbursements
and adjustments
 Transmits the file to COD electronically
 Creates reports of rejected
records/disbursements/adjustments
 Compares rejections to COD Batch
Report
 Investigates all discrepancies
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 How to Drawdown/Request
Direct Loan Funds

 Confirm accepted records,

disbursements, and adjustments
 Request funds that equal accepted
and posted disbursements
 CUNY maintains a spreadsheet of
all of this pertinent information

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The CUNY Spreads heet
CUNY Spreadsheet
 Checklist

COD Side School Side

1. Ensure that Report 1. Develop an independent
selections are set reconciliation
accurately on the COD spreadsheet
Report Options Menu 2. Verify that COD and
2. Ensure that reports are GAPS are updated
coming in and routed to 3. Double check that COD
the appropriate person has transmitted all of
your school’s
information to GAPS
and vice versa
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 Contacts

 COD has assigned a Reconciliation

Representative to each campus
 Know your COD Reconciliation
Representative
 Work with your COD Reconciliation
Representative to resolve issues and
discrepancies

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 Timing Issues

 Timing of processing transactions can

result in a discrepancy in ending cash
balances and loan detail
 Lag time of data match files from COD
may omit current
disbursements/adjustments
 Resolve all discrepancies

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 Review Close-out Letters
 The letters will be sent following the closing
of the books for Direct Loan, the first week
of each month until the award year is
officially closed
 The Close-out Letter will be sent to the
College/University Financial Aid Director
(information will include: Total Net
Drawdown/Payments, Total Net Booked
Disbursements, Ending Cash Balance, and
Total Net Unbooked Disbursements)
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GOOD L UCK & T HA NK Y OU

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