Freestyle Jazz
(totally adlibbed)
Most popular financial aid questions:
– What’s a Stanford loan?
– Can I get a copy of my reward letter?
– Do I have to do my FASFA every year?
– I have to do paperwork to get my money?!
– Can I get more financial aid to buy a car?
• Or laptop?
• Or to pay for my trip?
And I say HEY! What’s going on?
We are actually just as confusing as students.
Have you ever told a student…
– You need to go sign your EMPN?
– Have you done your loan entrance?
– Let’s see if we have your ISIR…
– It looks like you have a CFLAG.
– You’re ISIR is rejected.
– It’s because you’ve exceeded your COA...
– Do you have any means-tested benefits?
We Don’t Need No Education
Actually yes, you do and we have objectives!
• Today we will learn
– Definition of packaging
– Funds we typically package
– Estimated Financial Assistance & its affect
– Steps to package awards
– Packaging categories & sequence
– Packaging models
– Overawards
– Hands-on example
– Notifying students of their awards
So what IS packaging?
• Per the FSA Handbook*
– Packaging is the process of awarding aid without
exceeding the student’s financial need
– More simply: it’s how you decide what students
are awarded (in what combination)
*Source: 1011 FSA Handbook Volume 3, page 3-143
Funds we typically package
• Federal programs
– Pell, SEOG, Perkins, Federal Workstudy, Direct
Loans, PLUS Loans, Graduate PLUS Loans, TEACH,
Iraqi & Afghanistan Service Grant
• State programs
– TPEG, TEXAS Grant, TEG, BOT, CAL, Texas
Workstudy, Set-Aside Funds
• Institutional programs
Estimated Financial Assistance
• Estimated Financial Assistance (EFA) is taken
into consideration when packaging
• Examples include (but not limited to)
– Pell (first source of aid)
– Other federal, state, institutional grants
– Subsidized & Perkins loans
– Work study
* Indicates funds that can replace
– Unsubsidized loans*
all or part of the EFC as long as
the COA is not exceeded.
– PLUS loans*
– Private loans*
Other Examples of EFA
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ROTC living allowances
Scholarships (including athletic & ROTC)
Employer reimbursement of tuition & fees
Tuition and fee waivers
Fellowships and assistantships
Americorps Funds
Exceptions to EFA:
– Iraq & Afghanistan Service Grant
– Prepaid tuition plan
– Federal veteran benefits
Source: 1011 FSA Handbook Volume 3, page 3-145
Steps to Packaging
• Determine the student’s Cost of Attendance
(COA) budget & Expected Family Contribution
(EFC)
• Award Federal Pell Grant
• Calculate the student’s financial need
• Package campus-based, state, federal, and
institutional funds
• Package or refer students to other
supplemental sources of assistance
Packaging Steps: STEP 1
Determine the COA & EFC
A typical COA consists of*
EFC comes from…?
– Tuition & Fees
– Books & Supplies
– Room & Board
– Transportation
– Personal Expenses
* COA amounts are determined by the institution & could include PJ adjustments
Packaging Steps: STEP 2
Award Pell Grant
• Pell Grant awarded based on EFC
– Pro-rated based on enrollment status and EFC
range
Packaging Steps: STEP 3
Calculating student’s remaining need
Cost of Attendance
-- Expected Family Contribution
-- EFA
__________________________
Initial Need
-- PELL award (if any)
__________________________
Remaining Need to package other funds
Packaging Steps: STEP 3
Calculating students’ non-need eligibility
Cost of Attendance
-- PELL
-- EFA
-- Need-based aid awarded
________________________________
Room for non-need based aid
Packaging Steps: STEP 4
Package Campus-based, Federal, State, Institutional
• Package other aid programs listed above
according to your school’s packaging
philosophy/policy
– Keep in mind that each school is different!
Packaging Guidelines
• Responsibility for paying for college rests with
the student and their family
• Federal Pell Grant is the foundation of
undergraduate student aid packages
• Families can borrow from some aid programs
to replace all or a portion of their EFC
• Scholarships cannot be substituted for the EFC
• Must take expected financial assistance (EFA)
into account
Goals of an Administrator
• Provide as many students as possible with
resources to meet their financial need
• Distribute aid in an equitable manner
• Provide assistance that will be the most
beneficial to the student
• Manage financial aid funds
• Recruit and retain students
• Meet areas of national need
Sometimes these are competing goals!
Packaging Categories
• Schools can organize their packaging
categories based
– Enrollment status
– Classification
– Academic program or major field of study
– Application date
– Need Based vs. Non-Need Based
– Residency Criteria
• Packaging philosophy must be detailed in the
school’s policy and procedures
Packaging Sequence
What gets awarded 1st? 2nd?
• Schools designate the order in which it awards
funds from various programs
– Again, this can vary from school to school
– It can depend on the categories designated
– This should be noted in the policy and procedure
manual for your institution
Six Basic Packaging Models
Kinda like the Beatles for rock music… the foundation
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First-Come, First-Served
Gift Aid First
Self-Help Concept
Special Targeted Groups
Equity Concept
– Absolute Dollar Equity
– Fixed Percentage Equity
• Individualized Packaging
Don’t worry, you’ll get it!
First Come, First Served
We are the champions my friends…
• Financial aid awards based on the order in
which completed applications are received by
the aid office until funds are exhausted
• Benefits:
– Rewards students who get their stuff done early
• Drawbacks:
– May not have funds available for students that
need it most
Gift Aid
HELP! I need somebody. HELP!
• Gift aid is awarded first and self help aid is
awarded to meet any remaining need
• Benefits:
– Decreases likelihood of loan debt
• Drawbacks:
– Limited gift aid funding
Self Help
HELP! I need somebody. HELP!
• Self-help assistance is awarded after the
family contribution and before any
consideration for gift aid
• Benefits:
– Places same burden on all students
– Allows gift aid to those who do not have same
access to self-help
• Drawbacks:
– Increases likelihood of higher loan debt
Targeted Groups
Here we are now… entertain award us!
• Separate packaging criteria for specific groups
of students in addition to specific criteria
required by law or regulation
• Benefits:
– Easier to tie packaging philosophy to institutional
goals
• Drawbacks:
– Tougher to defend – watch the “bait and switch”
Equity Concept
Everybody get together try and love one another…
• Absolute Equity
– All students are funded up to an institutional
maximum fixed dollar amount with gift aid before
their remaining need is met with self-help.
• Fixed Percentage Equity
– An institutional maximum percentage level of NEED or
COST for all gift aid is used rather than a fixed dollar
amount.
• Benefits:
– Provides for an equitable distribution
• Drawbacks:
– Difficulty in managing overawards and maintaining
that equitable distribution
Individualized
I’m looking at the man in the mirror at the counter…
• Packaging based on the FAA’s evaluation of a
student’s individual costs, resources and
needs
• Benefits:
– Each financial aid packaged is customized
– Personal touch with each student
• Drawback:
– Time consuming
– High subjectivity
Which Should You Use?
Like your music preference…
• This depends on your institution
• Most institutions do not use one specific
model…
– A variation of one or more of these models is used
by institutions to fit in with that school’s
objectives
Things to Consider
Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm…
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Should we package PLUS loans?
Should we package private loans?
Should we package loans at all?
Which comes first, the loan or work study?
Which comes first, the grant or the loan?
There is no one answer!
Overawards
• Overawards occur when:
– Aid exceeds a student’s need or COA
• How does this happen?
– EFC changes (due to verification or updates)
– COA changes (possibly due to enrollment)
– Additional EFA comes in (late scholarship,
exemption payment)
• This is the student’s responsibility to report to us
• When overawards happen, we make
adjustments
Packaging Example: Self Help
Sally is attending Rock Star College (RSC). She is a
dependent senior. RSC employs a self-help packaging
model and awards work study prior to loans.
ROCK STAR COLLEGE
COA
$20,000
EFC
$500
Scholarship $2,500
Pell Grant $4,800
AWARD MAXIMUMS
Perkins
$1,500
Work Study
$3,000
Institutional Grant $3,000
Stafford
$5,500
Packaging Example: Self Help
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Cost of Attendance
EFC
Need
Scholarship (EFA)
Pell
Remaining Need
Work study
Perkins
Stafford Loan
Remaining need before grants
Institutional Grant
Unmet Need
Anything Else????
20,000
(500)
19,500
(2,500)
(4,800)
12,200
(3,000)
(1,500)
(5,500)
2,200
(2,200)
0
Remaining unsub eligibility?
Packaging Example: Self Help
• What if after you have packaged, you are
informed that the student is receiving another
$500 scholarship?
– Does this fit in the COA as is?
– Does it fit within the need?
• If not what would you reduce?
Notifying Students of Awards
• Institutions are required to inform students:
– Amount of award(s)
– Terms and conditions of award
– Manner and timing of payments
• Institutions have the option of confirmation or
notification
– Confirmation – Student formally accepts awards
– Notification – Student not required to accept
award, but must notify school if they do not want
aid
Notifying Students of Awards
• What if there aren’t enough funds?
– Caveat may be included on award notification
stating that the award is subject to the availability
of funds and may be revised if funds not available
or eligibility changes
Repeating the Chorus
Nah-nah-nah-nanananah! HEY JUDE!
• Today we learned
– Definition of packaging
– Funds we typically package
– Estimated Financial Assistance & its affect
– Steps to package awards
– Packaging categories and sequence
– Packaging models
– Overawards
– Hands-on example
– Notifying students of their awards
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Erika Cox
University of Texas at San Antonio
210-458-7295
erika.cox@utsa.edu
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