Federal Student Aid announced the availability of EDExpress for Windows 2020- 2021, Release 2.0. Release 2.0 adds Federal Pell Grant (Pell Grant), William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan), and Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant functionality for the 2020-2021 award cycle. This release also includes major enhancements to College Financing Plan functionality.
EDExpress 2020-2021, Release 2.0 adds three software modules:
- Pell Grant
- Direct Loan
- TEACH Grant
In addition, Global functionality applicable to all modules, such as Security setup, Document Tracking setup, and User Database setup and entry is added during any installation of EDExpress. EDExpress 2020-2021, Release 2.0 can be installed as an upgrade to Release 1.0, posted in September 2019. You must have Release 1.0 installed to run an upgrade or “custom” installation of Release 2.0.
The following product enhancements have been incorporated into EDExpress 2020-2021, Release 2.0. Some enhancements listed below were originally made available to users in Release 1.0.
General Changes:
- Updated Cycle References and Message Classes – Software labels, help topics, reports, and other functionality throughout EDExpress were updated to reference the 2020-2021 cycle. Message classes with cycle indicators are also updated for 2020-2021 in File Management (Tools,Setup,Global,File Management) and in various Import and Export dialog boxes throughout EDExpress.
- Updated EDExpress Icon and Splash Screen Color to Match 2020-2021 FAFSA – The EDExpress software’s Windows icon and splash screen have been color-coded orange to match the 2020-2021Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form.
College Financing Plan Updates
- Federal Student Aid implemented a new responsive-based format for the College Financing Plan for the 2020-2021 award year, which includes new data elements that provide a broader, more transparent view of the student’s potential financial costs and overall college investment. It includes new fields defining loan interest rates, differentiates between need-based and merit-based scholarships and grants, enables comparison of on-campus and off-campus living arrangement costs, and more clearly defines the distinction between loans and grants.
- School Setup Added for College Financing Plan – Added a new School setup dialog box specific to the College Financing Plan. Institutions must complete the new School setup for at least one OPE ID associated with your school or campus and assign it to a College Financing Plan Profile record before generating College Financing Plan documents for students.
- College Financing Plan Profiles Setup Modified – The College Financing Plan Profiles dialog box was redesigned to capture new and revised data elements associated with the responsive-based College Financing Plan template. Institutions can now define Housing and Meals costs by on-campus or off-campus residency.
- College Financing Plan Dialog Box Updated – The College Financing Plan dialog was updated to capture new and revised data elements associated with the responsive-based College Financing Plan template. Student and school information is captured at the top and top left of the dialog box. Separate sub-tabs of the dialog box now display EFC and cost of attendance (COA) data elements, as well as estimated award amounts.
COD Setup Enhancement
The following enhancement is applicable to COD Setup, which contains setup features and options specific to Pell, Direct Loan, and TEACH Grant modules:
- CIP Code Year Now Required in Program Profiles Setup, Defaults to 2020 – The CIP Code Year value is now required by the COD System for the 2020-2021 award year and forward for all Pell, Direct Loan, and TEACH Grant records in addition to the CIP Code.
Direct Loan Informed Borrowing Enhancements
Direct Loan borrowers can access Federal Student Aid’s studentaid.gov web site and review outstanding loan balance or the average loan balance if they have no balance at the school they plan to attend. This online process is available to student and parent borrowers and is optional for the 2020-2021 award year.
The following related enhancements are available in the Direct Loan module in Release 2.0:
Entry
- Informed Borrowing Fields Added to Origination Tab – A new sub-tab labeled “Inform Borr” was added to the Origination (Direct Loan) tab. The Inform Borr sub-tab displays three fields: Informed Borrowing Complete, Informed Borrowing Completion Date, and Informed Borrowing ID, related to Federal Student Aid’s new Annual Student Loan Acknowledgement process.
Import
- Informed Borrowing Fields Added to External Imports – The record layout for Loan Data-External Add import files was updated to enable institutions to add values for the new Informed Borrowing Complete, Informed Borrowing Completion Date, and Informed Borrowing ID fields, which are displayed on the new “Inform Borr” sub-tab of the Origination (Direct Loan) tab.
- Informed Borrowing Response Import Added – The COD Common Record Response import type in the Direct Loan module’s Import dialog box was expanded to include the new Informed Borrowing Response.
Federal Pell Grant Schedules
- EDExpress 2020-2021, Release 2.0 includes updates to the Global, Packaging, and Pell Grant modules to incorporate the 2020–21 Pell Grant Payment and Disbursement schedules announced in Dear Colleague Letter GEN-20-01, posted on January 31, 2020. EDExpress Pell Grant users will need to delay exporting origination and disbursement information created in Release 2.0 for processing until the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System is available for the 2020–21 Award Year.
More information and details are available in the EDExpress for Windows 2020-2021, Release 2.0 Cover Letter, released on April 24, 2020. The full download is also available through the April 24, 2020 Electronic Announcement.
Resources:
EDExpress 2020-2021 Release 1.0 Desk Reference (April 2020 Update)
EDExpress 2020-2021 Release 2.0 Desk Reference
Sources:
IFAP Announcement: Availability of EDExpress for Windows 2020-2021, Release 2.0
IFAP Announcement: EDExpress 2020-2021 Release 2.0 Software Full Download
IFAP Announcement: EDExpress 2020-2021 Release 2.0 Cover Letter