Responsibilities of Colleges and Departments

Federal regulations require the coordination of federal financial aid awards with all resources, including external (private) scholarships and grants, fellowships, waivers (including the out of state tuition waiver), stipends, and other educational benefits for students receiving federal financial aid. External Awards is the UAccess Student function that departments use to award scholarships (awards processed by departments are referred to as "external awards"). Scholarships should preferably be awarded at least two weeks before the start of the semester. Awards are usually loaded for the whole academic year and disbursements are divided into two payments (one for fall and one for spring).

The Role of the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid (OSFA)

OSFA is responsible for awarding federal, state, and institutional financial aid (grants, work-study, and loans) and coordinates all aid awarded to students per applicable policies and regulations. This includes all external awards processed by departments. OSFA has established procedures which ensure compliance with awarding and student resource coordination requirements.

An overaward status means that the total financial aid from all sources exceeds the student's Cost of Attendance (COA), which is the estimated cost for tuition, fees, books, housing, utilities, food, and other miscellaneous expenses. The award(s) cannot be disbursed until OSFA reviews the student's account. An overaward can sometimes be resolved by adjusting the student's budget or by reducing unaccepted loans. If an over award cannot be resolved, a student might have to repay aid for which they are no longer eligible.

Financial aid Eligibility: Determining Need

Financial need is the difference between COA and the Student Aid Index (SAI). SAI is a measure calculated using the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) - a form prepared annually by students to determine their eligibility for student financial aid.

International students: Please see the International Students section below.

Types of Financial Aid

A student's Financial Aid Package is the total amount of aid that a student receives and will generally consist of several sources of aid:

• Stipends/Scholarships/Grants – awards made to the student that do not need to be repaid
• Federal Work-Study – need based program that provides part-time jobs for undergraduate and graduate students, allowing them to earn money to help pay education expenses
• Graduate/Teaching Assistantships are managed by Graduate College

To review other types of aid students might be eligible for, please refer to Types of Aid on OSFA website.

Users who will be entering and/or approving these awards will need to complete the UAccess Student: Financial Aid External Awards for Departments training available through UAccess Learning.

A quick reference guide has been created to assist with award entry for the Enter External Awards page. Users can re-enroll in the UAccess Learning course to view the full training material as needed.

Who can approve awards?

Officers listed on the account in UAccess Financials as well as KFST, KFS, and FAEX delegates can approve external awards for the item types linked to a given account. Completion of UAccess Student: Financial Aid External Awards for Departments is required.

How can I obtain a list of Item Types that a user is an approver for?

Log in to UAccess Student as Administrative Staff and navigate to Navigator > Reporting Tools > Query > Query Viewer

UA_EXT_AWD_APPROVER_SECURITY - This report shows all item types a given user can approve external award transaction for, or all approvers for a given item type

How do I add an approver?

1. Log into UAccess Financials and click "Chart of Accounts" from the left-hand menu and then click on "Account Delegate" from the options that appear.
2. Enter “UA” as the chart code and the KFS account number and click "Search".
   1. If the account already has account delegates set up, select “copy” from the available actions in the far left column, and complete the request. For Document Type Name enter FAEX, for the account delegate principal name enter the net ID of the delegate you are adding. Save and Submit.
   2. If the account has no delegates established, click the “create new” button in the upper right hand corner and complete the request:
      1. Description: Add Account Delegate
      2. Explanation: Add new account delegate to approve external awards
      3. Chart Code: UA
      4. Account number: #######
      5. Document Type: FAEX
      6. Account Delegate Principal Name: Net ID of person needing access
      7. Save and Submit

Note: It will take 24 hours for the new delegate to gain access to approve awards in UAccess Student External Awards.

What do the different statuses of an award mean?

Unapproved: Needs review by authorized staff

Do Not Load: Used to cancel an unapproved award

Approved: Award has been approved and will be processed by OSFA

Denied: The award has been denied. Please make sure to annotate the reason in the comments box on the details screen.

Suspend: Item type fiscal budget has been met. To request an increase, if applicable, email the request to OSFA

Error: Description of the error message appears as a link on the award entry screen and can also be viewed in “Manage External Awards”

Processed: Award now appears on the student's aid screen. This does not indicate that the award has disbursed to the student’s bursar account.

In Process Abend: The transaction failed to process successfully, contact OSFA

Reported: Student has reported an award via Self-Service

How do I increase or decrease an external award?

To increase an external award, select “add” as the entry type on the ‘Enter External Awards’ page and enter only the amount you are adding. For example, if you previously awarded a student $500 on an item type and now want to award the student an additional $500 on the same item type, $500 would be the amount entered for total award.

To decrease an external award that has or has not disbursed, select “replace” as the entry type on the ‘Enter External Awards’ page. For example, if you awarded a student $1000 for the fall and $1000 for the spring and now want to reduce the spring amount of the award to $500, use the "replace" function on the award entry page and enter the full academic year amount ($1500). An award entered using the “replace” function overrides the existing award for the same item type.

How do I cancel an external award?

Navigate to the status of the transaction by logging in as Administrative Staff to UAccess Student: Navigator >Financial Aid >UA External Awards > Manage External Awards.

If an award has not been “Processed”, change the status of the award from “Unapproved” to “Do Not Load.” Only the approver can change its status from “Approved” to “Do Not Load.”

If an award has been “Processed”, go to the ‘Enter External Awards’ page and enter the item type and student ID number, then select “cancel” as the entry type.

Why is an external award not processed?

There could be several reasons why an External Award is not processed.

You can check the award status in UAccess Student: Navigator > Financial Aid > UA External Awards > Manage External Awards.

Please check the award status prior to contacting OSFA.

Why was the student’s registration stipend or tuition scholarship reduced?

Registration stipends or tuition scholarships are reduced because either:

• The student’s tuition was reduced, or
• The student received more than one award paying the tuition charges.

Registration stipends and tuition scholarships apply only to tuition charges and are not refundable, therefore the student’s award package was reduced accordingly.

What queries through UAccess provide additional information on processed awards?

To see all processed awards by account/item type/student/college/plan: log in to UAccess Analytics > Student > Student Fin Aid & Fin Details > Student Awards. Be sure to review the prompts to make sure you filter for the awards/students you want to see.

To see why an award has not disbursed to student’s account: log in to UAccess Student as Administrative Staff and navigate to Navigator > Reporting Tools > Query > Query Viewer.

UA_DEPT_AWD_DISB_FAIL - This report can be run by student, item type, or KFS account

Can I award a student that has already graduated or no longer attends the University of Arizona?

Students who are no longer attending or have graduated are no longer active in the system. It is not possible to award the student through the “Enter External Awards” page. If you need to award a student that is no longer active in our system email OSFA to make the award and copy the account approver. In your request include:

1. Student Name
2. Student ID
3. Item type number
4. Award Amount
5. Award Term
6. Reason why the student is being awarded for a prior term

When will an award that has been processed disburse to the Bursar Account?

In the beginning of each term, ACH and check disbursements begin approximately one week before the first day of classes.

Disbursements are dependent on the student meeting all the requirements of the award and will occur within three business days after being added to the Financial Aid package. There are several reasons that could cause a delay in the awarding process. For example: not meeting SAP, unit requirements, no SSN, Lawful Presence not verified, etc.

To find out why a particular award is not disbursing to the student’s Bursar account, log in to UAccess Student as Administrative Staff and navigate to Navigator > Reporting Tools > Query > Query Viewer, search for UA_DEPT_AWD_DISB_FAIL (this report lists reasons an award has not disbursed and can be run by student, item type, or KFS account).

How do I request a new item type for a KFS Account?

The SF Department View role is needed to request/change an item type. Users can request the role using the UAccess provisioning tool under UAccess Student Campus Users>Student Financials>Role-SF Department View.

• Requesting a new Financial Aid item type for a KFS Account
• Requesting an additional Financial Aid Item Type to pay for insurance
• Requesting a change to an item type budget

How many item types are set up per account?

Stipends are generally set up with two item types: cash stipend and registration stipend. When needed, an additional item type can be set up to pay insurance charges.

Scholarships are set up with one item type that indicates the donor's specifications.

Why are there two stipend item types mapped to my KFS account?

One is a Cash stipend, and the other a Registration stipend. The Cash stipend’s sixth digit is “6.” The Registration stipend has “Reg” in its description and the sixth digit is “7.”

Example: 082406000001 Dept Stipend 000001
082407000001 Dept Stp 000001-Reg

What will registration stipend pay?

• Main campus resident tuition
• Main campus non-resident tuition
• Fees

Is it possible to specify which charges should be paid with a cash award?

No. A cash award will pay any outstanding charges and the remainder will be refunded to the student.

Is it possible to specify the name of the Item Type?

Stipend item types are named in accordance with the name of the department/college that owns the account.

Scholarship item types are named in accordance with the name of the scholarship account.

What do all those numbers represent in a Financial Aid Item Type?

All Financial Aid Item Types start with “0” and have 12 digits.

The second digit “8” means it is a departmental Item Type.

The next three digits represents the Department Code (this is not the same as org code).

The sixth digit indicates the type of award:

• 1-Scholarship
• 2-Tuition Scholarship
• 3-Grant
• 6-Cash Stipend
• 7-Registration Stipend
• 8-Insurance Stipend
• 9-Placeholder

The last six digits identify the item type within the department.

I need to process an award but am not able to view item types. Why?

You may not have been granted access to External Awards. Users who will be entering and/or approving awards will need to complete the UAccess Student: Financial Aid External Awards for Departments training available through UAccess Learning.

How do I check to see if there is an existing item type for an account?

Log in to UAccess Student as Administrative Staff and navigate to Navigator > Reporting Tools > Query > Query Viewer
UA_DEPT_EXT_AWD_ITEMTYPE_BY_GL - Enter the seven digit KFS account number to get a list of item types associated with the account.

If an item type is not available for the account you wish to make an award from, Request a Financial Aid Item Type.

Why doesn’t my item type budget match my KFS budget?

Fiscal item type budgets in UAccess Student are not linked to available balances in UAccess Financials. To update an item type fiscal budget, please submit a request for a change to an item type budget.

Does the student have to have a valid Social Security Number (SSN) or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) in order to receive a scholarship or a stipend?

Non-Resident Alien students who receive a non-cash scholarship (which covers tuition and registration fees only) are not required to obtain an ITIN.

Tax Compliance office will determine if a cash award or payment is taxable. If it is not taxable, the award will be applied to the student’s account. If the award is taxable, Tax Compliance will create a GLACIER account for the student. A hold is placed on the account until taxes can be withheld. For further information, contact Global Initiatives.

How do international students demonstrate need?

International students must complete the University of Arizona's Financial Need Calculation for International Students Form. This is only needed if student has been awarded a need-based award.

Additional information regarding the form can be found Financial Aid Calculation for International Students document. 

How do domestic students demonstrate need?

Domestic students need to complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to demonstrate need.

Where can I find the ABOR policy about need-based financial aid awarding?

The Policy Manual is available on ABOR website, policy 4-321: Financial Aid Regulations.

Where can I view student’s financial aid and financial need?

To assist departments in making awarding decisions for need-based aid, a report was created in Analytics >Student >Student Fin Aid & Fin Details >Determining Student Need. This report allows you to review a list of students based on the parameters set for the report.

To review a single student in UAccess Student, log in as Administrative Staff and navigate to Financial Aid > View Financial Aid Status > Need Summary link at the bottom of the page.