The U.S. Department of Education has released additional operational guidance for institutions preparing to report 2025 calendar year Federal Work-Study (FWS) earnings to the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System. The new reporting functionality is scheduled to become available June 28, 2026, and the reported earnings will be used in calculating students’ 2027–28 Student Aid Index (SAI) under FAFSA Simplification.
Key Takeaways
Reporting Begins June 28, 2026
Schools will be able to begin submitting 2025 calendar year FWS earnings through the COD System using the Campus-Based XML Schema Version 1.0b or by entering records directly on the COD website.
Report Total Calendar Year Earnings
Institutions must report each student’s total gross Federal Work-Study earnings paid between January 1 and December 31, 2025, including both the federal and institutional share of wages. Earnings should:
- Be rounded to the nearest whole dollar
- Include cash and most non-cash compensation (such as tuition or room and board payments, with limited exceptions for federally approved Work Colleges)
- Be reported even if the student is no longer enrolled at the institution
- Multiple Schools Can Report the Same Student
If a student earned Federal Work-Study wages at more than one institution during the calendar year, each school reports its own earnings. Federal Student Aid will combine all reported earnings when calculating the student’s SAI, and schools will be able to view the combined totals in COD.
Required Data Elements
Each submission must include:
- Student last name
- Date of birth
- Social Security Number
- FAFSA Processing System (FPS) transaction number
- Total FWS earnings
- Calendar year
Additional optional fields are available in the Campus-Based XML Schema Version 1.0b and are documented in Volume 4 of the COD Technical Reference.
Choose a Reporting Method Carefully
Schools have two reporting options:
- Report separate calendar-year totals by award year, or
- Report one total amount for the entire calendar year without award-year detail.
Important: Once COD accepts records using one reporting method, schools cannot switch methods without first zeroing out all accepted records and resubmitting their data.
Complete Reporting Before the 2027–28 FAFSA Launch
FSA strongly recommends that institutions complete both submission and COD acceptance of 2025 FWS earnings before the 2027–28 FAFSA becomes available to help ensure accurate SAI calculations.
View the guidance here: