Financier Supports Student Aid Processing
by Dana Pawlowicz
Every aid year, WolffPack releases a new version of Financier, UC's Student Financial Aid software. Each new release contains the newest FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and relevant federal formulas, such as one to calculate a student's Expected Family Contribution (EFC) toward his or her education. Financier offers new programs that keep up with federal data and process changes. UC is currently installing the 2004-2005 version of Financier. This release contains five new files, 241 new programs (eighteen with UC-specific modifications), changes to 27 existing programs (sixteen with UC-specific modifications), the 2004-2005 OIG chart (for awarding the Ohio Instructional Grant), the 2004-2005 Pell chart (for awarding the Federal Pell Grant), and 2004-2005 PARS (used for packaging Federal Financial Aid).
This year, in addition to the above, WolffPack is including a needs analysis calculation with Financier. This is very exciting to the University of Cincinnati. Previously, UC has purchased this feature from The College Board (INAS) for $4000 a year. For the past two years, the online calculation of this feature has been glitchy and hasn't worked for all students. So, not only will UC be able to save $4000 a year, we will have a calculation that works in both batch and online. (The batch version of INAS worked.)
The timeline for the University's implemention of the new Financier release is as follows:
November 2003
- December 2003 |
Install release for testing.
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January 2004
- February 2004 |
Test online and batch functions for the 2003-2004 aid year
(to make sure it still works) and the 2004-2005 aid year releases. |
Mid-to-late
February 2004 |
The 2004-2005 release is scheduled to move into production
on February 29, 2004. |
March 2004
- April 2004 |
Begin awarding 2004-2005 aid. |
Initially, the Financial Aid office will award aid only to incoming freshman, but in early April, they begin awarding financial aid to current students, as well.
The Student Financial Aid Office processes Federal Financial Aid for two aid years from March to August. In March 2004, staff will continue to process aid for 2003-2004, and begin to process aid for 2004-2005. In August 2004, they will discontinue processing for 2003-2004. In October 2004, they will receive the 2005-2006 release and the process will start all over again.
For more information about Student Financial Aid, please call (513) 556-6982.
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