Financial Aid Exceptions

The Financial Aid Exceptions form displays exceptions that are generated when the Automated Processes jobs are run.

Exceptions occur when transactions, such as batches or individual student disbursements, are cannot be processed successfully. When an exception occurs as part of an automated process, some form of manual intervention is necessary to resolve the exception and allow the transaction involved to be resubmitted for automatic processing.

The exception processing functionality provides an interface for the display of the exceptions to staff members or staff groups which have been assigned to receive the exceptions. The staff member may then resolve the exceptions by making changes to the transaction and the supporting information.

While processing exceptions, staff members may:

Resolve/Create adjustments (specific COD transactions only)
Resolve exceptions
Snooze exceptions (hide the exceptions for a period of time while awaiting more information)
Reject exceptions
Escalate exceptions (to their managers if they cannot resolve the issue)
Self Assign exceptions (to themselves if the exceptions are routed to the staff group in which they are a member)
Override exception logic for Hold Group validation for exceptions DISBBTCH0022 and ELIGBLTY0003 for selected fund sources and the group configured as a C Code Group and/or Verification Group

Exceptions that are resolved will then be resubmitted through Automated Processes.

Financial Aid Automation has a background process called Auto Clear which runs at specific intervals. This process can clear exceptions that were resolved by Job Management so that users will not see these exceptions as Open or Resolved in Exception Management. After performing a search on the Exception Management screen using Closed as the search criteria, any exceptions that have been auto cleared will be listed in the history of that Closed exception showing the user when the exception was closed and by which user.

Additionally, Auto Clear will also clear Eligibility exceptions that were created during the Pre-Payment and Batched for Payment processes when disbursements are paid (thereby bypassing the Eligibility Process). Auto Clear identifies and clears these Eligibility exceptions since the disbursements are paid and keeping these exceptions in Open status will be redundant.

Any disbursements with Open/Snoozed/Escalated statuses resulting from the Eligibility process that are manually batched or not in batches will not be posted by the Disbursement Posting job. Disbursements that are not in batches and have Open/Snoozed/Escalated exceptions will not be picked up by the Disbursement Posting Job when the Job is configured to “Include Disbursements that are not in Batches”.

Be aware that you can set any eligibility exceptions as Resolved and then batch these fund sources for payment as the Disbursement Posting job will not reference a status of Resolved to validate it. As this is a manual action, it ensures that releasing a disbursement even though the exception is not truly resolved is that user's responsibility. Note that the eligibility exception(s) will be auto cleared when the payment is made.

Note: In certain instances involving COD transactions, the staff member working the transaction may indicate to the system that a financial adjustment will resolve the exception. When this occurs, the system will make an adjustment to the financial amounts of the transaction as required, and then re-submit the transaction to the automated processes.

Prerequisites

You must have:

Common - Processes - View authorization

Financial Aid Automation - Processes - Financial Aid Exceptions authorization.

Access Method

Select the Financial Aid Exceptions tile.

Display and Review Exceptions

After clicking the Financial Aid Exceptions tile, the Financial Aid Exceptions form is displayed.

Exceptions generated over the previous 24 hour period are displayed in the grid by default. The total number of these exceptions is displayed in the tile on the left under Summary. You can review the following values for exceptions in the grid.

Academic Year Payment Period This column enables you to see which specific academic year payment period the exception is for without having to navigate to the student on the Award form.

Award Year The financial aid award year.

Aged Days How many days has this record been pulled as an exception since it was first created.

Campus The campus or campuses to which a person or item is assigned. It is filtered to display the campuses to which you have access. In some cases, it is also used to filter a list to only those items for the campus. In some lists, you can select more than one campus or select All. In lists that display columns, if the column contains more than one campus, you cannot sort or filter on that column.

Cycle How many job cycles have been run with this exception present.

Date Added The date when the item or person was added or the status change was entered.

Date Last Modified The date when the item was last modified.

Disbursement Amount Amount of the disbursement in dollars.

Disbursement Date The date the disbursement was paid.

Disbursement Term This column enables you to see which specific disbursement term the exception is for without having to navigate to the student on the Award form.

Exception The title of the specific exception.

Exception Age Days more than (From) Use these two fields to input a value for the number of days an exception has been in existence and a specific date to start the search.

Exception Code Specific system assigned code for the exception.

Exception Detail Click for basic details about the exception.

Exception Status The current system status of the exception.

Fund Type Code Specific classification code for the fund source.

History Notes Clicking the hyperlink enables you to review the history details for that specific exception.

Outstanding Amount Shows the outstanding amount for the record. Displayed by default.

Process The specific type of job process (COD Import, Disbursement Eligibility, SFAA Initial, etc...).

Process Code The system code for the Process.

Program The name of the program. Programs are configured by your institution.

Program Version The program version associated with the student or item.

Staff Group Group containing staff members in an institution. Typically, the groups are based on departments and job functions. Administrators can use staff groups to assign or revoke access privileges to all the members in the staff group.

Staff Member The specific staff member.

Start Date The first day that the item is effective or can be used.

Student The last and first name of the student. In some lists, the name of the student is highlighted. If it is highlighted, you can click the link and it will display the Student Profile or a page available from the profile (such as their Documents list in Contact Manager). To display the Student Profile, you must have Common - Student - View authorization. If the link takes you to a page available from the profile, you must have authorization for that page. For example, if it displays the Documents list, you must have Contact Manager - Student Document - View authorization.

Student Status Specifies the status of the prospect or student at your institution. Statuses vary by institution. They are configured by your institution. If you change the status for a student, a dialog is displayed so that you can confirm the change. If there are also tasks associated with the previous status, Anthology Student displays a dialog that you can use to select the tasks to keep and the tasks to close with the result of canceled.

Student ID The ID assigned to the student in the Anthology Student database. While your institution can assign student numbers in a format that they choose, this ID is associated with a student in the database. It is displayed at the end of the URL when you are working with a student in the Student Web App and can also be used to search and locate students.

Student Number If your institution assigns student numbers, the number your institution uses to identify the student. How the number is assigned is specified by your institution. For example, Anthology Student can be configured to assign the number or your institution can use some other method for assigning it.

Version Start Date (Transaction Adjustment) The start date of the program version for the campus that the student is enrolling in.

Note: Any exceptions displayed in the grid with a red padlock are currently locked, meaning the record is currently open with another user. A black padlock indicates you can open and work with the exception. If an exception has an Exception Detail Click for basic details about the exception., you can click that link for basic details about the exception. These display in a pop-up form. If the exception has a blue "i" icon, you can cursor over the icon and see the specific status and number of age days for that exception.

IMPORTANT: No matter which section of the form you are working in (Snooze, Reject, etc...), if you hover the cursor over an exception that is in a Pending status, you will see a pop-up message detailing why you cannot perform any other action on that exception other than Resolving it.

If you need to manually search for exceptions, click Advanced Search. Specify the following values in the Advanced Search pop-up form and click Search.

Award Years The financial aid award year.

Campuses The campus or campuses to which a person or item is assigned. It is filtered to display the campuses to which you have access. In some cases, it is also used to filter a list to only those items for the campus. In some lists, you can select more than one campus or select All. In lists that display columns, if the column contains more than one campus, you cannot sort or filter on that column.

Programs The type of enrollment in the program. (Flatmate, 1/2 time, 3/4 time, etc...)

Processes The type of process related to exceptions: COD, Refunds & Stipends, Disbursement Batches, etc...

Exception Status The current system status of the exception.

Start Date The date range for your exceptions search. To and From

Student Statuses Specifies the status of the prospect or student at your institution. Statuses vary by institution. They are configured by your institution. If you change the status for a student, a dialog is displayed so that you can confirm the change. If there are also tasks associated with the previous status, Anthology Student displays a dialog that you can use to select the tasks to keep and the tasks to close with the result of canceled.

Program Versions The program version associated with the student or item.

Exception Codes Specific system assigned code for the exception.

Fund Type Codes Specific classification code for the fund source.

Include Process Level Exceptions? Allows you to include process level exceptions, which are assigned against a function, rather than a specific student.

Version Start Date The start date of the program version. From and To

If you plan to use the same search criteria again, click Save Search. Your search parameters will be saved as a tile on the left side of the form.

For the saved search tiles, you can:

Open a previously saved search by right-clicking the specific tile and selecting Open Saved Search.
You can delete a saved search by right-clicking the specific tile and selecting Delete Saved Search.

Note: You can only have 12 saved search tiles active at a time. If you try and save a search and there are already 12 search tiles, the Override Tile pop-up appears with the following notification: "There are currently the maximum of 12 summary tiles configured. You can override an existing tile with your saved search criteria." Choose the search you wish to save over in the Saved Search to be overridden field and click Override.

Once the grid displays the exception records you need, you can:

Task	Action to Take
Review the student record for the student associated with an exception.	Click the student's name. The student record opens in a new browser tab.
Reassign a specific exception(s) to another staff member or staff group.	1. Select the exception(s) in the grid and click Reassign in the toolbar. 2. In the pop-up form that appears, confirm the number of exceptions selected to be reassigned and select either the Staff Group or Staff Member for reassignment from the drop-down list. Click Reassign.
Assign a specific(s) exception to yourself.	1. Select the exception in the grid and click Self Assign in the toolbar. 2. Enter a comment in the pop-up form that appears specifying the reason for the self assignment. This comment must be entered before the system will allow the exception to be self assigned. Then click Self Assign. Note: An exception may only be self assigned if the exception is assigned to the staff group to which you belong, or if the exception has a status of 'Open'. Exceptions in statuses other than 'Open' cannot be self assigned.
Undo a completed Override.	1. Select the exception in the grid and click Undo Override in the toolbar. 2. In the pop-up form that appears, confirm the number of overridden exceptions selected to be undone and enter your comments.
Open an exception record.	Click the Exception Code Specific system assigned code for the exception. to open the exception record. Note: For ELIGBLTY exceptions, Financial Aid Automation 10.4.0 and later dynamically displays the Set FA Entrance Interview Date field. When you specify a date value in this field and resolve the exception, the FA Entrance Interview Date will also be updated on the Award form.

When you select an exception, the following student details are displayed in the header at the top of the form:

Email The email address. (link to the user's default email provider)

Enrollment Status The enrollment status included in the student's Enrollment record. For example, Full Time.

Expected Graduation Date The expected graduation date for the student at your institution.

Graduation Date The date when the student graduated or is scheduled to graduate from the program version.

Last Date Attended The date the student last attended the institution.

Phone The phone number of the student, person, or agency.

Program Version The program version associated with the student or item.

Student Profile Link to the student's record.

Version Start Date The start date of the program version for the campus that the student is enrolling in.

Note: For any process level exception, only the campus name is displayed as the exception is not associated to any student or any financial aid record.

If you open an exception, the steps to resolve the exception are displayed along with the following details:

Phone The phone number of the student, person, or agency.

Email The email address.

Student Profile Link to the student's record.

Note History Displays every change made to the exception record.

You can choose any of the following radio buttons to work with the selected exception: