Modular Awarding

Beth Rinderknecht & Mindi Bucklin

What is a Modular Program?

• A program that has a course or courses in the program that do not span the entire length of the payment period or period of enrollment.

Academic Calendars

• Standard Term• Non-standard Term• Non-Term– Clock-hour– Credit-hour

Volume 3, Chapter 1, pages 3-4 – 3-5

Standard Term

• Semesters– 15 to 17 weeks

• Trimesters– 15 to 17 weeks

• Quarters– 10 to 12 weeks

• Terms are the payment period for all Title IV programs– Summer may be an exception

Non-Term

• If a program measures in clock-hours, it is always treated as a non-term program

Characteristics:• Courses that do not begin and end within a set period of

time• Courses that overlap terms• Self-paced and independent student courses that

overlap terms• Sequential courses that do not begin and end within a

term

Non-Term

• Payment periods are determined by the student completing ½ of the hours AND ½ of the weeks of instruction in the program’s defined academic year for Title IV.

Non-Standard Term

• Non-standard terms have terms• Terms that do not fit the definition of standard

terms• May be shorter or longer than standard terms• May or may not be substantially equal to each

other (substantially equal means no more than 2 weeks difference in length)

Non-Standard Term

• The length of the term is not necessarily associated with the type of credit-hours awarded.– Examples:• A non-standard term may be 14-17 weeks in length but

award quarter credits• A non-standard term may be 10-12 weeks in length but

award semester credits

Non-Standard Term

• The non-standard term is the payment period• An exception occurs in the Direct Loan

program when the non-standard terms are not substantially equal in length– In this case the payment period would work

exactly like non-term programs, but only for Direct Loans

Pell Formulas

• Standard Term – primarily use Formula 1– 12 hours is always full time

• Non-Standard Term – must use Formula 3– Enrollment status is determined by the formula

• Non-term – must use Formula 4– All awards are taken from the full-time pell

payment schedule

Direct Loan – Standard Term

• Normally use a scheduled academic year (SAY)• Can use BBAY 1• BBAY 2 must be used for credit-hour programs

that do NOT have a scheduled academic year but are using standard terms

Direct Loan – Non-Standard Term

• Credit-hour programs not offered in SAY, but have non-standard SE9W terms must use BBAY 2

• Programs with non-standard terms that are not SE9W must use BBAY 3

Direct Loan – Non-term

• Must use BBAY 3• Student becomes eligible for new annual loan

limit only after successfully completing the clock or credit hours AND weeks of instructional time in the BBAY 3

Volume 3, Chapter 5, page 3-98

Standard Term

• All courses begin and end on the first and last day of the term respectively– Courses cannot overlap from one term to the next

• Payment period is always the term for all Title IV programs

• May originate single term loans without SE9W considerations

• Summer can be treated as a standard term

Standard Term Examples

• Semester based, academic year is 30 weeks, consisting of two 15 week semesters, made up of three five week modules

• Intercession must be linked to a semester– January term can be linked to either fall or spring– May term typically linked to spring

Standard Term Examples

• Semester based, academic year is 32 weeks, consisting of two 16 week semesters, made up of two 8 week modules

• Quarter based, academic year is 36 weeks, consisting of three 12 week quarters, made up of three 4 week modules or two 6 week modules

Standard Term Examples

• Payment period is the entire semester, regardless of the student’s enrollment in classes over the entire semester, modules or both.

• Pell Grant – enrollment status includes all credits the student is enrolled in for the semester

Standard Term Examples

• Pell Grant Considerations:– Pell grant recalculation policy may affect

enrollment flexibilities:• Census Date affects the ability to increase pell

award– Census date is September 10th. At this point the

student is enrolled in 9 credits and is paid pell as a ¾ time student. –On September 12th the student adds 3 credits for a

later module. Pell enrollment status may NOT be changed to add the additional credits.

Standard Term Examples

• Single Census Date:– Student must begin every class used to determine

enrollment status• Student enrolls in modules 1, 2 and 3 for a total of 9

credits• After the census date of September 10th, the student

notifies us they will finish module 1, but not take modules 2 and 3. • Pell must be recalculated to less than half time status

because they did not begin attendance in all courses

Standard Term Examples

• Multiple Census dates:– Must recalculate Pell up to the census date for the last

class the student begins – includes both increases and decreases in enrollment

– Example: last class begins on April 28th for the spring semester.• Student enrolls for all 3 modules in the semester for 9 credits,

pell is paid as ¾ time. • Student completes module 1, begins module 2 and drops it

mid-way through the course, but will retain enrollment for module 3.

• Must recalculate pell to ½ time status because they did not complete module 2

Standard Term Examples

• Direct Loan Considerations:– Shortest period for which a loan may be originated

is the term– Loan eligibility for a term only loan is the COA –

EFC – EFA up to the applicable annual loan limit NOT ½ or some other portion of annual loan limit

– Census Date: is NOT applicable to DL, only Pell and TEACH Grant.

Standard Term Examples

• Direct Loan Considerations:– Enrollment Status• Recalculations are not required. • Enrollment status is checked at the time of

disbursement.

Non-standard Terms

• Three types1. Non-standard terms that are substantially equal

and at least 9 weeks (SE9W)• Substantially equal means no term is more than two

weeks longer than any other term in the program

2. Non-standard terms that are substantially equal (SE)

3. Non-standard terms that are not substantially equal (NSE)

Non-standard Terms – SE9W

• Pell– Must use Formula 3 & terms are payment periods

• Direct Loan– Can use as a 1 term loan period– SAY or BBAY 1 if the program has scheduled AY– If no scheduled AY, must use BBAY 2– Terms are the payment periods– Student completes AY based on calendar time, not

successful completion

Non-standard Terms - SE

• Pell– Must use Formula 3 & terms are payment periods

• Direct Loan– Cannot use as a 1 term loan period– Must use BBAY 3– Terms are the payment periods– Student completes AY when they have successfully

completed hours AND weeks in the Title IV AY definition

Non-standard Terms - NSE

• Pell– Must use Formula 3 & terms are payment periods

• Direct Loan– Cannot use as a 1 term loan period– Must use BBAY 3– Terms are NOT the payment periods

• Student receives 2nd DL disbursement after successful completion of ½ the weeks and credits in loan period

– Student completes AY when they have successfully completed hours AND weeks in the Title IV AY definition

Compliance Issues

• Standard term but classes begin before the established start of the standard term and/or finish after the established end of the standard term.– Example: School publishes one calendar, but has

both modular and traditional programs. The modular program begins 4 days prior to the traditional. In this case, school would need to have separate published calendars for the 2 different programs in order to follow standard term rules.

Compliance Issues

• Standard term but the terms overlap with each other– Result is non-term because the overlapping terms

create a non-term environment• Example: Final module in Fall semester ends on January

15th, but spring semester begins on January 13th.• Example: January intercession ends on January 28th, but

spring semester begins on January 23rd.

Compliance Issues

• Standard term with an intercession between two standards terms that the school chooses to treat as a free standing payment period– Result is the intercession is a non-standard term

due to its length– Result is the entire program of study should be

treated as a non-standard term programFix to this: link the intercession to either fall or

spring semester and treat the entire combined term as one payment period

Compliance Issues

• R2T4– Determining when the student should be

considered a withdrawal or if you only need to recalculate aid based on a change in enrollment

– Written confirmation of future enrollment for courses in the same payment period

– Make sure the student’s enrollment status is correctly reported to the clearinghouse

Compliance Issues

• Pell Grant recalculation policy and census date– If your census date is the start of the last module

for the semester make sure you are taking into consideration all pell grant changes – increases and decreases. This allows students to start at any module within the semester

– If your census date is within 7-10 days after the semester starts (single census date), students may not add courses and receive pell for those additional courses.

Questions?

• Beth Rinderknecht– Director of Financial Aid, Mount Mercy University– brinderknecht@mtmercy.edu

• Mindi Bucklin– Assistant Director of Financial Aid, Mount Mercy

University– mbucklin@mtmercy.edu