The U.S. Department of Education has announced the Summer 2025 Campus-Based School Testing initiative for institutions reporting Federal Work-Study (FWS) wages using the Campus-Based Common Record XML Schema Version 1.0b. This testing period runs from May 21 through September 30, 2025, and aims to help schools, third-party servicers, and software providers validate their systems with the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System before submitting actual production data.
Testing Phases
The testing process is divided into two phases:
- Phase 1: Common Record Manual Verification (May 21 – Sept. 1, 2025): Organizations submit sample Campus-Based Common Record files for manual review to ensure they are properly structured according to schema rules.
- Phase 2: Structured Application Testing (July 14 – Sept. 30, 2025): Participants send and receive test data batches using provided Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) files to verify end-to-end processing with the COD System. Completion of Phase 1 is required before beginning Phase 2.
Participation Details
- Schools using in-house systems are encouraged to test directly with the COD System.
Software providers and third-party servicers will conduct their own testing on behalf of client schools. - Federal Student Aid will test the EDExpress software prior to its release.
- To participate, organizations must submit the “Campus-Based School Testing Sign-Up Document” by August 1, 2025. The form is available on the COD website or in Volume 4 of the 2025–26 COD Technical Reference. After submission, allow 7–10 business days for setup in the COD test environment
For more details, refer to the full announcement here: (CB-25-09) Summer 2025 Campus-Based School Testing to Report Federal Work-Study Wage