Multiple Disbursement Policies

You can use the Multiple Disbursement Policies page to add and manage multiple disbursement policies, assign policies to campuses, and audit the configured policies.

You can use the Multiple Disbursements feature to schedule more than one disbursement per payment period (or term) in an automated fashion. The Multiple Disbursements feature automates the determination of disbursement dates, as opposed to using Disbursement Schedules (which is disabled when a client enables Multiple Disbursements), and still limits the process to a single disbursement per payment period or term. This significantly reduces the amount of annual maintenance of some configurations under Financial Aid and allows institutions to define the structure for their disbursement dates via a set of rules so that they automatically populate the dates desired. The exception is for the regulatory requirement when awarding a Direct Loan and using the configuration to specify a minimum number of disbursements per loan.

Since the Multiple Disbursements feature relies on the use of Term Association for term-based programs, you must ensure that Term Association is configured and maintained. The Multiple Disbursements feature does not support program versions offered via non-standard terms. A campus that offers programs via non-standard terms should not activate Multiple Disbursements. Options to support non-standard terms are under consideration for a future release.

Multiple Disbursement System Settings

Multiple Disbursements can be configured to automatically exclude weekends and/or holidays when determining disbursement dates, or use the state on the student's ISIR to determine the date of a disbursement (state laws may require disbursements to occur on specific dates or under specific conditions). While Financial Aid Automation (FAA) allows for the configuration of exclusions, this feature is not available outside of FAA without purchasing the Anthology Student license.

Having an active license is essential. If you do not have a license, you will be able to access some aspects of some features (via the user interface and Help), and you may learn what options you will gain with Anthology Student, but the screens will show clear reminders that feature activation requires the license.

Auto Recalculate Multiple Disbursements

With Multiple Disbursements, you can structure disbursement dates via a set of rules that then automatically populate the dates desired. Recalculate Multiple Disbursements can be configured to automatically reevaluate scheduled and canceled disbursement dates under specific conditions. Though Anthology Student has always allowed for the manual evaluation of disbursement dates, there has never been an option to facilitate an automatic reevaluation of more than one disbursement. This feature can be used, for example, if the Student Pace Evaluator were to be run for a student, and the Payment Period dates shift, there might be some cases where a disbursement date would also need to shift.

Prerequisites

You must have Financial Aid - Configuration - View authorization.

You must have Financial Aid - Configuration - Manage authorization.

You should be familiar with the Background for Multiple Disbursements.

To edit an item associated with more than one campus, you must have access to all the campuses. For example, if the item is configured to be available at three campuses and you only have access to two of the campuses, you can view the item but cannot edit it. When you add an item, you can only select campuses to which you have access.

Access Method

Select the Configuration tile > expand Financial Aid > select Multiple Disbursement Policies.

Filters

By default, the grid displays all records for the campuses you are authorized to work with. You can use the drop-down at the top of the page to display only records for a specific campus.

Procedure to Add or Edit Items

Policies Tab

You can use the Policies tab on the Multiple Disbursement Policies page to configure multiple disbursement policies for campuses.

Review the values of the records in the grid.
If you want to:
- Add a new list item, select the New button on the toolbar
- Add a new list item by copying and modifying an existing list item, select the row in the list and the Duplicate button on the toolbar
- Edit an existing list item, select the name in the list

Review, specify, or change the following values.

Active Specifies whether the associated record is active.

Campuses The campus or campuses to which this policy has been applied. This field is not editable.

Code The alphanumeric code assigned to the item by your institution. In most cases, codes must be unique.

Fund Source The source of this fund. If your institution is using fund source security, you must have permission to work with the fund source.

Fund Source Type Specify the type of fund sources.

Graduate Students Specify whether to apply the disbursement policy to graduate students. The options are Blank, No, and Yes. If you leave the field blank, the policy will apply to all degree levels.

Name The descriptive name of the item.

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

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

State If within the United States, the name of the state.

Term Based Program Versions Specify whether to apply the disbursement policy to term based program versions. The options are Blank, No, and Yes. If you leave the field blank, the policy will apply to all term based and non-term based program versions.

Title IV Fund Source Specify whether to apply the disbursement policy to Title IV fund sources. The options are Blank, No, and Yes. If you leave the field blank, the policy will apply to Title IV and non-Title IV fund sources.

In the Rules section, review, specify, or change the following values.

Backup Rule Indicates the backup rule associated with the payment period.

Backup Rule Days Specify the number of days associated with the backup rule. The value must range from 1 to 999.

Backup Rule Percentage Specify the percentage of the payment period associated with the backup rule. The value must range from 1 to 100.

Course Specify the number of days associated with the course which is mentioned in the rule.

Days Specify the number of days associated with the rule. The value must range from 1 to 999.

Disb. Num Indicates the maximum number of allowed disbursements based on the type of financial aid. If Standard Academic Year is enabled, the Rules count is enabled. The system increments the count with 1 and displays the value as Disbursement Number..

First Time Borrower Days Specify the number of days to add to the first loan disbursement date for First Time Borrowers.

Payment Period Specify the payment period associated with the enrollment. This field supports only numeric values. You can add up to 20 disbursements across all payment periods. Payment periods only apply to program versions configured with an academic year.

Percentage Specify the percentage of the payment period associated with the selected rule. The value must range from 1 to 100.

Rule Specify the rule for the payment period. The options are X Days After Payment Period Start Date, X Days After Y Course End Date, X % of Payment Period, X Days After Y Course Start Date, and X Days After Add/Drop Date.

Standard Academic Year Specify whether you want to enable a standard academic year.

Take the appropriate action in the Rules section. You must configure at least one multiple disbursement rule.

To add a new rule or edit an existing rule:

If you want to:
- Add a new record, select the Add button on the toolbar
- Edit an existing record, select the name in the grid

Review, specify, or change the following values.

Backup Rule Indicates the backup rule associated with the payment period.

Course Specify the number of days associated with the course which is mentioned in the rule.

Days Specify the number of days associated with the backup rule. The value must range from 1 to 999. (Backup Rule)

Days Specify the number of days associated with the rule. The value must range from 1 to 999. (Rule)

Disbursement Number Indicates the maximum number of allowed disbursements based on the type of financial aid. If Standard Academic Year is enabled, the Rules count is enabled. The system increments the count with 1 and displays the value as Disbursement Number.

First Time Borrower Days Specify the number of days to add to the first loan disbursement date for First Time Borrowers.

Percentage Specify the percentage of the payment period associated with the selected rule. The value must range from 1 to 100. (Backup Rule)

Percentage Specify the percentage of the payment period associated with the selected rule. The value must range from 1 to 100. (Rule)

Standard Academic Year Specify whether you want to enable a standard academic year.

Select the OK button. Anthology Student saves the changes.

To remove an existing list item:

Select the Remove button on the toolbar.

If you want to save and:
- Continue making changes, select the Save button
- Continue to add another item to the list, select the Save & New button
- Close, select the Save & Close button

Assign Policies Tab

You can use the Assign Policies tab on the Multiple Disbursement Policies page to assign policies for the campus being configured. You can also perform configuration tasks such as applying policies, placing the policies in a specific order, and deleting policies that can be driven by the institution's business rules about multiple disbursements.

Select a Campus.

Review, move, or delete the assigned policies in the following lists.

You can drag and drop policies from Available Policies to Applied Policies or select a policy from Available Policies and select the horizontal arrow Right arrow. to move the selected policy to Applied Policies.

Available Policies Indicates the multiple disbursement policies that are available to a campus.

Applied Policies Indicates the multiple disbursement policies that are applied to a campus. These policies are applied in order. The policy on the top has greater priority than the following policies.

Policies in the Applied Policies list are applied in order. Therefore, it is important for institutions that configure multiple policies that the most specific policies are at the top of the list. If a generic policy at the top is followed by a very specific policy, the policy at the top has higher priority than the policy that follows.

If you want to:
- Reorder a policy in the Applied Policies list, select the check box associated with the policy, and select the up or down arrow ()
- Delete a policy in the Applied Policies list, select the delete icon ()

Select Save to save the changes.

Audit Tab

You can use the Audit tab on the Multiple Disbursement Policies page to review the multiple disbursement policies and associations configured for campuses.

Select the Type Select the type of multiple disbursements. The options are Policies and Associations.

Review the values in the following list.

Code The alphanumeric code assigned to the item by your institution. In most cases, codes must be unique.

Name The descriptive name of the item.

Select the expand icon ( Expand icon. ) and review the following values.

Campus name 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.

Code The alphanumeric code assigned to the item by your institution. In most cases, codes must be unique.

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

Last Modified User The name of the staff member that last modified the item.

State If within the United States, the name of the state.

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

Type Indicates the nature of the change. For example, updated, deleted, or removed.

If you selected the Policies option in the Type field, select the nested expand icon ( Expand icon. ) to review the following values.