Student Financial Aid for public institutions reporting on a fall cohort

The following changes were implemented for the 2022-23 data collection period:

Degree/certificate-seeking and non-degree/certificate-seeking data items were added in Parts A and B to disaggregate financial aid award amounts reported in Part B by these student categories.

New FAQs were added to clarify concepts. Minor wording changes were made for clarification.

There is a new FAQ about reporting financial aid awards for students who attend in the summer.

Report data to accurately reflect the time period corresponding with the IPEDS survey component, even if such reporting is seemingly inconsistent with prior-year reporting. For example, if a summer term began later than usual due to Coronavirus Pandemic postponements, continue to report using the timeframes as defined in the IPEDS instructions. NCES expects that some data reported during the 2021-22 data collection year will vary from established prior trends due to the impacts of Coronavirus Pandemic. If an error edit is triggered even when submitting accurate data, please indicate in the corresponding context box or verbally to the Help Desk that the seemingly inconsistent data are accurate and reflect the effects of Coronavirus Pandemic.

Undergraduate Student Groups
You will be asked to report information for different groups of students.

Group 1: All undergraduate students
Group 2: Of Group 1, full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking students (FTFT)
Group 3: Of Group 2, FTFT students who paid the in-state/in-district tuition rate and were awarded any grant/scholarship aid from the federal government, state/local government, or the institution
Group 4: Of Group 2, FTFT students who paid the in-state/in-district tuition rate and were awarded any Title IV federal student aid

COA Revisions
Revisions to Cost of Attendance (COA) used to calculate the net price of attendance can be made in this component.
Consult the instructions and screens to make sure you are reporting the correct aid amounts for the correct groups of students.

College Affordability and Transparency Lists
Net price amounts calculated in SFA will be used to populate the U.S. Department of Education’s College Affordability and Transparency lists.

Interactive Edits and Error Messages
SFA contains interactive edits that will check for blank fields, invalid values, or values that fall outside expected ranges. Some error messages will require you to confirm or explain the values that you entered. Some error messages are fatal and will require you to contact the IPEDS Help Desk at (877) 225-2568 for resolution.

Context Boxes
You will find optional text boxes throughout SFA. Context boxes allow you to provide more information about the data you enter. Some of these context boxes may be made available to the public on College Navigator, so make sure that the information you enter can be understood easily by students, parents, and the general public.