Students whose ISIRs for a financial aid year are flagged with either a comment code 359 or 360 (Unusual Enrollment History) will be handled according to the procedure described below. (The ISIR is the document generated by a processed FAFSA.)
These codes are typically assigned when a student stays at an institution long enough to have possibly received a Title IV credit balance, then leaves before the end of the enrollment period, enrolls at another institution, and repeats this pattern.
Since this is a comment code that affects student eligibility for financial aid, students will be notified when they have an Unusual Enrollment History flag, and informed of how they may clear this flag.
Before being cleared to receive aid, students will have to submit the documentation that City Vision requests, following the procedure below.
Furthermore, as described in the procedure below, students may email financialaid@cityvision.edu to submit an appeal if you have been denied financial aid on the grounds of Unusual Enrollment History, after supplying the requested documentation.
Note: Beginning in the 2018-19 aid year, If a student whose ISIR indicates an unusual enrollment history is asked for cooperation in obtaining prior college transcripts and such transcripts are not received by City Vision within 14 calendar days, and/or if the student is asked to provide a written explanation of his or her unusual enrollment history and does not provide it within 14 calendar days, or if the requested documentation or information is provided on time but does not provide evidence that satisfactorily resolves the matter, the student will be declared ineligible for federal student aid at City Vision and will be expected to satisfy financial obligations at City Vision without federal student aid. Exceptions may be made to the 14 day deadline for receipt of students’ Unusual Enrollment History documentation if the student is affiliated with a partner organization that provides an advisor to the student. Furthermore, the section below provides details on the appeals process and on how federal student aid eligibility may be reinstated, if it had been denied due to Unusual Enrollment History.
For code 359 (#2 on UEH field):
1. The financial aid staff will check NSLDS to see whether the student received a federal grant (such as a Pell grant) or loan at this institution in the four previous aid years (such as 2013-2014,2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017 for students in the 2017-2018 aid year).
2. If so, FA staff will indicate this on the Unusual Enrollment History form and mark as “no additional action required.” FA staff will then attach the student’s unofficial City Vision transcript and NSLDS Pell and loan history as supporting documentation, and processing for federal student aid will be resumed.
a) Note that if City Vision has reason to believe that the student only attended previously for long enough to get aid and then disappeared, the instructions for Code 360 must be followed.
3. If not, the financial aid staff will follow the instructions for Code 360, below.
Code 360 (#3 on UEH field):
1. The financial aid staff will look at NSLDS and identify all institutions at which the student received a federal grant (such as a Pell grant) or loans in the four previous aid years (such as 2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017 for students in the 2017-2018 aid year).
2. The student will be required to request transcripts from any institutions where aid was received.
3. When financial aid was received at a previously attended school (including City Vision), and yet academic credit was not earned, the student will provide a written explanation as to why no credit was earned and what has changed that this reason will not prevent credit from being earned in the future. The student is expected to provide documentation, to the extent possible, to support the written explanation.
4. The financial aid staff will evaluate this documentation to determine whether the documentation provided supports the reasons described by the student and that the student did not enroll only to receive credit balance funds. Acceptable reasons may include personal illness, a family emergency, a change in where the student lives, and military obligations, or an academic complication, such as unexpected academic challenges, or the student having determined that the academic program in question did not meet their needs. Insofar as possible, the documentation should be from third parties, not only from the student him/herself.
5. If the student fails to provide compelling reasons and documentation for a failure to receive academic credit for a period for which they received Title IV funds, their eligibility will be terminated. This determination is final, unless a student submits a successful appeal to City Vision; the student may not appeal City Vision’s decision to the Department of Education. Decisions, and the reasons justifying them, will be fully documented in the student’s file for possible review.
6. If the student’s eligibility is terminated, he/she will be notified regarding how he/she may subsequently regain eligibility.
a) The student will be given an opportunity to question and appeal the decision by emailing an appeal to financialaid@cityvision.edu.
b) Since the basis for denial is lack of academic performance, successful completion of academic credit is a basis for renewing the student’s Title IV eligibility, assuming the student is in all other ways eligible for the aid in question. This may require compliance with an academic plan that was issued for the student, if one exists.
7. When a student regains eligibility after losing it due to Unusual Enrollment History, the student’s eligibility is retroactive to the beginning of the current period of enrollment, for Direct Loans, and for all other types of Title IV aid, retroactive to the beginning of the current payment period.
8. If a student’s continuing eligibility is approved, the student may be required to establish an academic plan similar to the type of plan used to resolve SAP appeals. The student will also be counselled about the Pell Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU) limitation and the impact of the student’s attendance pattern on future Pell Grant eligibility.
Note: If a student receives a UEH flag that includes an award year(s) that was resolved by the reviewing school for a previous award year, that school must determine if there was a change in the schools the student attended for that award year(s). If there were no changes to the schools the student attended, no further action is necessary.
However, if the student attended another school(s) that was not previously reviewed and received Pell Grant and/or Direct Loans at that school(s), the reviewing school must determine if the student earned academic credit at the additional school(s) under review. If the student did not earn academic credit at the additional school(s) under review, the student must provide documentation explaining why academic credit was not earned, according to federal policy.