Upload F/A Awards Non-PowerFaids

About Upload F/A Awards Non-PowerFaids

For institutions using the Campus Café financial aid module this function is intended to upload institutional scholarships. It is not designed to upload federal financial aid. Awards uploaded through this method are not factored into cost of attendance. Uploaded awards are are limited to one disbursement per award per semester.

For institutions not using the Campus Café financial aid module, this function may, depending on the institution's business processes, facilitate the placement of financial aid awards contained in a spreadsheet on student records. 

Federal financial aid uploaded through this method will not generate COD documents, and will not be able to use the Campus Cafe's financial aid origination/disbursement processes.

For institutions using a third-party financial aid servicer, the institution should consult with Campus Café support prior to using this function.

Prerequisites

  • Campus Cafe financial aid award codes must be configured and each code must be tried to a transaction code.

  • A default “0” F/A Link Token; other codes and years and other fields do not need to be set, just one record with a “0” token is all that is needed.

  • If no “0” token is added, then F/A Uploads will treat every upload as a new award disbursement to the billing batch and will not take prior disbursed amounts into consideration for subsequent debit/credit adjustments.

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Configure Process (Non-PowerFaids)

  1. Navigate to Admin > Custom Control

  2. Locate ProgramId UPLOADPATH Sequence 1, Parameter 1

  3. Next to UPLOADPATH click the pencil

  4. In Parameter Value 1 enter C:\CampusCafe\resources\faupload.xlsx  (you can set this to another name or .csv file format if needed; but you must make sure that when using the upload process you match this format)

  5. Click Save & Back

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  6. Locate ProgramId FA_REMOVE Sequence 1, Parameter 1

  7. Next to FA_REMOVE click the pencil

  8. In Parameter Value 1 Campus Cafe recommends entering N. (If set to Y, the system will assume that all financial aid awards appear in every file upload and the system will delete previously uploaded awards not appearing on the most recently uploaded file.)

  9. Click Save & Back

  10. Locate ProgramId USEFADISB Sequence 1, Parameter 1. 

  11. Next to USEFADISB click the pencil

  12. In Parameter Value 1 enter Y to create a financial aid award and scheduled disbursement. (Only one disbursement will be created.) Enter N to create the award only.

  13. Click Save & Back

  14. Refresh the cache by navigating to Admin > Refresh Data Cache > reload data

Prepare the File (Source is Non-PowerFaids)

The same student cannot have multiple awards of the same award type for the same semester. Only one award will be processed. Remaining awards will be skipped without notice.
Also, Fields are CASE SENSITIVE, The usual default case is CAPITALS.

  1. Using Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets or another spreadsheet software, create a a spreadsheet that must contain the following columns in order: award_status, sched_amt, disb_amt, net_amount, isDL, id_number, token, award_type, award_year, award_semester, social_sec_number, scheduled_date
    .

  2. Save the file in .xlsx as default; A comma separated value (.csv) format is only supported if you set the Custom Control Configuration is set to use a .csv file. A sample template is attached to this article.

  • award status: The state of the award. C = Canceled; D = Declined; P = Pending; V = Verified

  • sched_amt: The total dollar value of the award encompassing all individual disbursement(s) (do not include a dollar sign or a comma)

  • disb_amt: The gross dollar value of the individual disbursement disbursed to the student and to be applied to the student's ledger (do not include a dollar sign or a comma). If the award contains multiple disbursements, list each disbursement as a separate row. The sched_amt representing the overall award total would be the same for each row.

  • net_amount: The net (after loan origination fees) dollar value of the individual disbursement disbursed to the student and to be applied to the student's ledger (do not include a dollar sign or a comma). If the award contains multiple disbursements, list each disbursement as a separate row. The sched_amt representing the overall award total would be the same for each row.

  • isDL: Whether the award represents a federal direct loan. Y = Yes; N = No If to N, the process puts the net award amount as the gross award amount regardless of what is on the spreadsheet.

  • id_number: The Campus Cafe ID number of the student.

  • token: This is set to 0 for all disbursements for Non-PowerFaids schools

  • award_type: The Campus Cafe award code

  • award_year: A four digit number representing the federal financial aid year

  • award_semester: The Campus Cafe numerical code representing the semester to apply the award

  • social_sec_number: The student's social security number (this field must be filled in)

If a student has a SSN leading in a Zero, remove the zero from the spreadsheet; if the student does not have a SSN on file then use the student's ID number with no leading zeros. Example: 097374743 would be input as 97374743, after removing the zero. This can be done by highlighting the SSN column, and changing its format to "Number" and it should automatically get rid of the leading zero.

  • scheduled_date: The scheduled date for the disbursement in a flat format (e.g. 20210511 would be used for 05/11/2021)

Upload the File

Permission #379 is required to access this function

  1. Navigate to Financials > Upload F/A Awards

  2. In the drop down choose the maximum semester to process from the spreadsheet. Awards with this semester and below will be processed. Awards with semesters of higher numbers will be skipped.

  3. Click Browse

  4. Choose the file you saved earlier

  5. Click Upload

  6. A message will appear saying the number of rows to process

  7. Click Continue

  8. Wait until the Job still running turns to Job completed successfully! The process will continue to run if you navigate away from the page but the completed message will not appear so you will not be able to confirm if the process has completed successfully.

  9. Awards are added directly to student records; disbursements are sent to bill batch for posting; a link appears to download a file containing information on data that could not be processed because of an invalid SSN, semester code or transaction code.

Using Base Report to Disburse Aid that has been created by the Upload Process

Using the Base Report "FinAid Awards Upload", listed under the Financial Aid base report folder, you can export an upload file that is in the correct format to disburse.

  1. Generate a listing of students from the Student Finder and use the Action Items to Export the ID numbers to the SSRS Reports. This will be the listing of students that will pull into the report in the correct format.

  2. Use the Parameters at the top of the report page to select the ISIR Award Year, Semester, and Award Codes, then export the report. It is recommended to use the .csv export to download the file.

  3. Set the Disb_Amt and Net_Amounts to the correct disbursement Gross and Net amounts for the awards needed disbursed.

  4. Delete all columns including and after the "delete" column. These columns are for reference use only.

  5.  Save the file to the exact file format that is set up under the Custom Control Settings; please review "Configure Process Section" for the default file naming and file type; .xlsx is what is recommended above.

  6. Upload the file in Café Web through Upload F/A Awards Page, and select the semester you are disbursing on.