Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
LASFAA 2014
Financial Aid Conference
TOPS: Updates and
Louisiana Award System
Changes
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
AGENDA
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New Laws & Rules
ACT 837: How Is LOSFA Complying
Changes to Louisiana Award System
Bulletins – TOPS/Go Grant
Go Grant Billing and Reminders
Tips for a Successful Audit
Q&A
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
New Laws & Rules
for
2014
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
TOPS Core
Act 566
Changes to the TOPS Core for students graduating in 2018 and later (applies to
students in high school now)
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Must earn one unit from the following:
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Government,
Civics,
AP US Government and Politics: Comparative, or
AP US Government and Politics: United States.
Adds Economics, AP Macroeconomics or AP Microeconomics to the list of social
studies electives to the List of substitutes for Art.
For students entering the 9th grade in 2014 or later, allows students to take one unit
of:
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Government,
Civics,
AP US Government and Politics: Comparative, or
AP US Government and Politics: United States.
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
TOPS Cumulative GPA
Act 733
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For students graduating in 2018 and later
(applies to students in high school now)
Approved Honors, Talented and Articulated Courses for College Credit will be calculated
on a 5.00 scale.
Courses must be approved by both BESE and BOR.
No Honors Courses have been approved.
Approved Talented Courses:
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Talented Music I, II, III, IV
Talented Visual Arts I
Talented Visual Arts II
Talented Visual Arts III
Talented Visual Arts IV
Talented Theater I, II, III, IV
No Articulated Courses for College Credit have been approved.
– These will be selected from courses taught at the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the
Arts
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
TOPS Tech Core
Acts 733 & 737
Effective for students graduating in 2014 and later
• Allows the Tech award using the Academic Core for 2018 grads
• Makes LASFAC responsible for defining “skill or occupational training”
• New Definition of “skill or occupational training”
– any training leading to an Industry-Based Certification, a Certificate of Applied Science or a
Certificate of Technical Sciences approved by the Workforce Investment Council offered by a
provider recognized by the Louisiana Workforce Commission
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Repeals requirement to earn Chemistry or Applied Chemistry
Requires 2 units of science courses
Adds Chemistry and Applied Chemistry to the list of science courses
Adds Drafting to the list of substitutes for Fine Arts Survey
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
TOPS Tech Early Start
Act 737
For students in high school in 2014-15 and later
Area Changed
Authority for
defining/approving
eligible credentials for
TTES:
What is funded:
Through June 18, 2014
Board of Regents
Effective June 19, 2014
Workforce Investment Council
Pursuit of an eligible credential.
Technical or applied course leading to an approved
credential.
Eligible credentials must Industry-based occupational or vocational credential Industry-Based Certification, a Certificate of Applied
be:
that:
Science, or a Certificate of Technical Sciences that meets
the following requirements:
1.
Is identified by the Occupation Forecasting
1.
Is identified by the Occupation Forecasting Conference
Conference as a credential for an occupation
as a credential for an occupation in top demand in
in top demand in Louisiana.
Louisiana.
2.
3.
Eligible postsecondary
institutions:
Is recognized by the State Industry-Based
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Certification Council.
Is approved by the State Board of Elementary
and Secondary Education and by the Board of
Supervisors of Community and Technical
Colleges.
Louisiana public
Is recognized by the State Industry-Based Certification
Leadership Council.
N/A
Louisiana public postsecondary institutions
Louisiana nonpublic postsecondary institutions
Up to 5 training providers recognized by the Workforce
Commission and approved by BESE.
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
Personally Identifiable Information or PII
Act 837
• Provides policies and procedures for the collection, receipt,
use, protection and destruction of personally identifiable
information
• These procedures include requirements for consent from a
parent or guardian for the public schools to collect and
disclose certain personally identifiable information related to
grades 8 – 12 students to LOSFA to make it possible for the
agency to determine eligibility for financial aid programs,
including TOPS
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
Personally Identifiable Information or PII
Act 837
• Act 837 of the 2014 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature requires the
governing authority of each school to provide a form to the parent or legal
guardian of each student enrolled in grades eight through twelve which
explains that the parent has the right to determine whether their child’s
Personally Identifiable Information (PII) can be released to LOSFA and to the
postsecondary education institution(s) to which their child applies. The form
must be provided every year, and at least one parent or legal guardian must
sign that they either grant consent or deny consent.
• PII includes the student’s full name, social security number, and transcript
data. This information will be used by LOSFA to provide a TOPS Tracker to
allow students and parents to track a student’s progress toward TOPS
eligibility and to determine a student’s eligibility for a TOPS Award and other
student financial aid. This information will also be used by postsecondary
institutions to determine whether a student is eligible for admission.
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
What Is LOSFA Doing to Comply?
• Encrypting the students’ social security
number (SSN) in all of our files
• Eliminating the display of SSN number on our
Award System’s screens and reports
• Only transmitting SSNs in an encrypted format
• Promoting the use of the LOSFA ID to identify
a student
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
Impact to the Post-Secondary Institutions:
• Options for Transferring Data:
– Manual Entry into the Award System
• Award Systems screens modified to enter LOSFA ID at
entry – with the ability to “Find Students” using name,
address, etc. for verification
• Payment Requests and Grade Import screens will
continue to utilize the SSN for data entry only if LOSFA
ID is unknown. Once SSN is entered, it will not be
displayed on the screen
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
Impact to the Post-Secondary Institutions:
• Options for Transferring Data (continued):
– Uploads/Downloads via Award System
• New file layouts – which will remove the SSN and include the
LOSFA ID, and other pertinent data – will be created and shared via
bulletins
• During a transitional period LOSFA will continue to accept the
existing file format for uploads only (which includes SSN)
• Data downloaded from the Award System will no longer include
SSNs
– Encryption (Preferred Method of Transmission)
• LOSFA will continue to use the existing file formats (which includes
SSN) if encryption keys are exchanged between the Postsecondary institution and LOSFA
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
Changes to the Louisiana Award System
• Removed SSN from Student Information, Academic, and
Payment screens
– Removed SSN from filters
– Added LOSFA ID to filters
• Changed all Reports available from the system
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HTML version
PDF version
Excel version
Download version
• Made changes to the Student screen for Exception Requests
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
TOPS Bulletin T2014-3
File Format Changes in the Louisiana Award System
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
Issues with File Formats
• Received files using encryption processing but sent via the
Louisiana Award System Upload Files
• Encrypting the file using their PGP key versus LOSFA’s PGP key
• Encrypting correctly with incorrect file formats
• Receiving files with incorrect file naming convention
• TOPS Tech Early Start (TTES)
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New process for many schools
Column headings are included in the uploaded file
File extension is not correct – should be .prn
Experiencing issues with incorrect SSNs being submitted
• Thanks for your patience and support during this change in
process
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
TOPS Bulletin T2014-4
Guidance on Submission of Payment Requests and Grades
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
TOPS Bulletin T2014-5
Exception Request Form
Note: Instructions for completing the Exception Request Form are included in Bulletin T2014-5.
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
TOPS Bulletin S2014-2
Go Grant
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
Go Grant Billing and Reminders
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Billing deadline for Fall Semester is November 1st
Corrections must be submitted by November 16th
Check error reports
Call Special Programs – Erica Hughes at 225-219-7707 or email
at Erica.Hughes@la.gov for any Go Grant questions
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
Tips for a
Successful Audit
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
Tips for a Successful Audit
LOSFA PROGRAM REVIEWS
LASFAA Fall Conference – 2014
Avoiding Audit Findings
TOPS
Louisiana Go Grant Program
Are grade changes being reported to LOSFA?
Are dual enrollment and summer grades
being reported to LOSFA?
Are “W” and “P” grades submitted correctly?
Is the recipient FT through the 14th class day?
Does billing match grade report (Academic versus
Tech)?
Is the student a Louisiana resident?
Did the student receive a Pell Grant?
Is the Go Grant Packaging Policy in place?
Does it include all required elements?
Did the school take all Gift Aid into account?
Is the 60% threshold calculated correctly?
Did the school follow its Go Grant Policy?
Common Findings
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA)
Q&As
Today’s Presenters:
• Deborah Paul, Scholarship & Grant Division Director
• Alice T. Brown, Information Technology Division Director
• Kelvin Deloch, Audit Division Manager
LOSFA’s Vision is to be Louisiana’s First Choice for College Access