The Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant data submission (closeout) deadline for the 2025–26 award year is the last processing day of the award year: Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.
- The Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System must receive and accept all G5 data no later than 8 a.m. Eastern time (ET).
- Schools must request drawdowns, drawdown adjustments, and any refunds of cash before 3 p.m. ET.
- FSA must receive and accept all school data by 9 p.m. ET for the data to be included in the school’s final ending cash balance for the year.
FSA encourages schools to complete all final reconciliation activities well before the final deadline and report all disbursement data according to regulatory requirements.
To be considered successfully closed out, the school must reconcile to an ending cash balance (net drawdowns – total net booked disbursements) of $0 and total net unbooked disbursements of $0, as reflected on the monthly TEACH Grant School Account Statement (SAS) and the school’s internal records. To help schools achieve a successful closeout, FSA will notify schools via an email to their financial aid administrator and president of the current ending cash balance and provide general information regarding the closeout process. Schools using a third-party servicer are still responsible for ensuring the servicer finishes processing, reconciling, and completing closeout on time.
Schools can officially confirm closeout of the 2025–26 award year via the “School Balance Confirmation” page on the COD website. After the closeout deadline, schools will be billed for remaining balances owed to the U.S. Department of Education (ED). More information about closeout procedures is in the COD FAQs on the COD website and in Volume 4, Chapter 5 of the Federal Student Aid Handbook.
Closeout Timing
A school should be able to reach a zero ending cash balance and confirm closeout within a month or two of their final scheduled disbursements for a given program and year. Schools should not wait until the data submission deadline to be fully reconciled to a zero-ending cash balance. As a reminder, all cash management, disbursement and disbursement adjustment reporting, and monthly reconciliation regulatory requirements supersede the closeout deadline.
Schools should not delay closeout activities based on transactions that may occur later. Delays should only occur if a school has identified specific additional transactions that need to be reported or corrected immediately, such as eligible late disbursements or downward disbursement adjustments due to changes in student enrollment or eligibility. Schools should report these changes in a timely manner, per regulatory requirements, and then complete final reconciliation and closeout.
Post-Closeout Procedures
Following closeout, ED will send a program year closeout letter that schools should include in their final closeout documentation. Schools can also view a copy of the letter on the “School Correspondence” page on the COD website. The COD website will reject award or disbursement changes per published edits. ED will reduce the school’s current funding level to the greater of net drawdowns or net accepted and posted disbursements. After issuing a final SAS, ED will no longer send SAS and other reports for this award year and program.
Reopen or Extended Processing
Schools that need to make changes due to new awards, new disbursements, or upward disbursement adjustments after closeout can request their records be reopened through the “Request Reopen/Extended Processing” page on the COD website. Schools that need to make changes due to downward adjustments to disbursements, refunds of cash, adjustments in G5, or nonfinancial corrections after closeout can submit the relevant records to be reopened, or ED will reopen them as needed. In all cases, schools will need to complete the closeout process again.
Helpful Tips
A key factor to easy reconciliation and closeout is closely monitoring the process. We encourage schools to do the following:
- Complete monthly internal and external reconciliation, resolve any discrepancies, and document any outstanding timing issues
- Ensure all drawdowns and refunds of cash are accounted for and applied to the correct program year
- Ensure all batches are sent to and accepted by the COD System, all disbursements and adjustments are accurately reflected on the COD System, and all responses are imported into the school’s system
- Resolve all outstanding rejected records
- Return all refunds of cash to ED
- Request any remaining funds owed to the school based on actual disbursements accepted by the COD System
SOURCE: (GRANTS-26-03) TEACH Grant Closeout Information for 2025–26 Award Year