Comment Codes and C-Codes

The FAFSA Processing System (FPS) adds codes to the student’s transaction to provide information to the student and to the institution about the student’s processed Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The codes are either comment codes or C-Codes.

  • Comment codes:

    • These are 3-digit codes that may appear on the Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) or FAFSA Submission Summary, formerly known as the Student Aid Report (SAR).

    • Comment codes can provide a variety of information, such as warnings, reminders, or details (e.g., about Pell Grant Lifetime Eligibility Units, data match results, or application discrepancies), some of which may (but do not always) require attention.

    • Not all comment codes require resolution; many are informational or advisory for students and/or staff.

    • Comment codes are award year-specific.

  • C-Codes (also referred to as C-Flags or Correction Codes):

    • A C-code is a comment code that has a “C-flag” associated with it that requires resolution before the student’s financial aid can be processed.

    • C-Codes result from problems with one or more of the data matches on the ISIR.

    • C-Codes often relate to significant eligibility concerns, such as issues with citizenship, drug conviction, defaulted loans, or other critical data match failures.

    • A school resolution is required for C-Codes, and you often need to collect documentation or make corrections before federal aid can be disbursed.

Every C-Code is also associated with a comment code, but not all comment codes are C-Codes.

For details on the codes and the required actions, refer to Volume 7 of the latest FAFSA Specifications Guide at https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center.

Procedure to Clear C-Codes in Anthology Student

  1. Access the ISIR record for the student in a batch or individually.

    • If you are working with a batch of records, navigate to Processes > Financial Aid > Application Data Import, select File Type = ISIRs. Locate the student’s ISIR record and open the detailed view. Refer to Application Data Import.

    • If you are working with a single student record, navigate to Student Profile > Financial Aid > ISIRs Received. Refer to View ISIRs Received.

  2. Review the C-Codes

    Each C-Code is listed in the Comment Codes section of the ISIR. Use the Comment Codes Specification for the applicable award year to identify the meaning of the code and required actions. Refer to Volume 7 of the latest FAFSA Specifications Guide at https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center

  3. Determine the Required Action

    Identify what documentation or correction is needed based on the specific C-Code. For example, C-Code 018 may require citizenship verification.

    The details of the correction and verification processes vary based on school policy choices. The items below summarize the options and tools available in Anthology Student.

    • Contact Manager Tasks can assist in measuring a student’s progression towards completion of all necessary documentation and processes using consistent documentation of actions, with dates, times, and personnel notating the student’s interaction.

      For example:

      • One Contact Manager Task for the FA team per student, where all notes can be recorded

      • A series of Contact Manager Tasks that can be used to assign team members per student by department. Each department will record all notes only within their own Contact Manager Task.

      • Scheduled Tasks that trigger tasks based on a series of actions by staff members.

    • Contact Manager Emails can be used to notify the student of actions they need to execute. The email will include a link to online forms that can be downloaded, completed, and uploaded or faxed to the institution. The documents would then be automatically captured and uploaded to the Document Tracking feature.

      Anthology Student provides the ability to easily read from verification groups and/or comment codes to schedule required documents. In addition, the scheduled document can then trigger a Contact Manager Email Task that outlines the additional document(s) required using scheduled activities.

    • Document Tracking - Contact Manager can provide attached documents required by the institution to be returned to complete a process.

      Documents should have specific statuses that are meaningful. Potential statuses are the following:

      • Requested – Required: Initial document default when document is scheduled from a comment code or manually

      • Received – Review required: Status after a document has been received and is available for review by a financial aid officer. This is usually a status that means that the fax or mailed document has been collected but needs to be reviewed.

      • On File – Approved: Document was reviewed by an authorized reviewer and is accepted as approved.

      • On File – Rejected: Document was reviewed by an authorized reviewer and is accepted as approved.

      The statuses will allow an institution to be able to run the Document Tracking report and create a group that will then be assigned a Contact Manager Email Task that will be tailored to the particular status. For example, Requested-Required would be tailored to inform the student that they have missing documents with that status.

      For more details, refer to Tasks, Documents, and Document Assignments.

      Anthology Student captures all interactions between staff and students on the Current and Historical tabs in Student Profile > Contact Manager > Tasks. A record of task details can be found in Reports > Contact Manager > Task Detail.

    • The Portal Upload feature facilitates receiving documentation. An institution can also receive completed documents by providing a fax number where all documents will be received, or by taking advantage of an eFax account.

      For more details, refer to Task Templates and the Student Portal/Portal Administrator help.

    • Packaging Statuses in Anthology Student can be used to isolate stages of a student’s progression to measure staff effectiveness and likelihood of the cohort of students starting the term.

      The Packaging Status Promotion feature allows an institution to measure and evaluate students as they progress through a set of configured criteria available within financial aid for an academic year. It is intended to be utilized to create milestones for the FA office only.

      Anthology Student runs a job every two minutes during which it evaluates each student FA package touched since the last run and determines which packages to update automatically. The following actions can result in a financial aid package's status being automatically recalculated and updated:

      • User selects Save in the Financial Aid Academic Year form.
      • User changes the ISIR Verification Status and selects Save on the Financial Aid Packaging form.
      • User selects Save after adding or editing a Funding Source on the Financial Aid Packaging form.
      • User deletes a Funding Source on the Financial Aid Packaging form or Payment Schedule Setup form.
      • User selects Finish in the Approve Packaged Aid form.
      • User saves or deletes a Document Attachment in the Document Attachment form.
      • User selects Save in the Document List Details form.
      • User selects Save or selects Yes to Ready to Send in the Awards form.
      • User imports an ISIR file on the Application Data Import form.
      • User selects Save in the Document Tracking form.
      • User selects Save in the Attendance Recording form.
      • User adds an Award Year 2 in the drop-down list on the Financial Aid Academic Year form.

      The configured packaging statuses should align with a timetable to ensure that all departments are working in sync. Below is a simple example of potential packaging statuses:

      • Not Packaged – Nothing has been submitted.
      • Ready – ISIR received to create an award.
      • Awarded – Student has been awarded financial aid.
      • Verification – Awarded, ISIR received, and all documents completed, awaiting verification.
      • Packaged – Student is ready to pay fund sources as all of the processes for the academic year are completed.
      • Cash – Student is not going to receive any financial aid and is paying with cash or other resources.

      For more details, refer to Packaging Statuses and Packaging Status Promotion.

    • Student Groups can be used to organize students based on a common characteristic (e.g., a specific C-Codes or specific Verification Groups) and associate the group with student/staff members actions and/or Contact Manager Tasks.

      For more details, refer to Create and Manage Student Groups.

  4. Update Student Record

    Once C-Cide is resolved, go to Financial Aid > Student Profile > Verification > Comment Codes. Mark the code as Resolved or Cleared and attach supporting documentation if needed.

    Refer to Verify ISIRs and Correct ISIRs.

  5. Reprocess ISIR

    After clearing the C-Code, reprocess the ISIR to reflect the updated status and confirm the C-Code no longer appears.

    Refer to Application Data Export.

Best Practices

  • Document all actions taken to resolve C-Codes in the student’s record for audit purposes.

  • Ensure you have appropriate permissions to access and edit ISIR and financial aid records.

  • Be aware that procedures may vary slightly between different versions of Anthology Student.

 

This feature applies to U.S. compliance only.