On August 1, the Fiscal Operations Report for 2020-2021 and Application to Participate for 2022-2023 (FISAP) will be available to complete on COD and will be due on October 1. For the newbies out there, FISAP is how you report your Title IV expenditures in the previous award year in order to apply for campus-based funding for the future. If you have allocations of Federal College Work-Study and/or Federal SEOG, filing your FISAP accurately and on time is a critical responsibility of the institution – like most requirements that impact Title IV eligibility, the financial aid office can’t do this alone.
After all the changes over the last two academic years, if you’re a FISAP veteran, this year’s process will feel like an old friend as it is largely unchanged. However, you may find that changes at your institution and in the world at large will make your reporting quite different than in prior years. Here’s some general information about who needs to file and how to do so under certain circumstances:
- Institutions that have not previously participated in the campus-based programs but wish to apply must first complete an application to participate and be assigned OPEID. Eligibility to participate does not need to be established prior to filing FISAP, but no funds will be allocated until it is.
- Institutions that have multiple programs and/or campuses can file one combined FISAP provided they share the same six-digit OPEID (the OPEID without the branch code). In cases where the different programs/campuses have unique six-digit OPEIDs but are under the same administrative control, there are two options: file a separate FISAP for each or file a single FISAP answering the questions for each OPEID individually. The former is preferred by the Department of Education.
- If your institution recently merged with another or absorbed others and is considered the ‘standing institution,’ report consolidated information for all institutions in Part II even if the merger was not completed during the reporting year. The merged/absorbed institutions should fill all zeros in Part II in this case. Any of the institutions involved receiving campus-based funds in the award year should complete sections III through VI independently.
- Institutions must complete the Perkins Loan section even when in the process of liquidating their portfolios.
Here are some changes related to the CARES Act that may make your reporting look much different from prior years:
- Institutions were allowed to transfer 100% of their Federal College Work-Study allocation to Federal SEOG.
- No institutional match was required for either program.
- In the case of a ‘qualifying emergency,’ institutions were allowed to use any part of their Federal SEOG allocation to fund emergency grants and may have expended Federal College Work-Study funds for students unable to continue working. The amounts should be reported in Part IV-F and Part V-K, respectively.
- The Federal College Work-Study community service requirement was automatically waived for all institutions – no application is necessary.
You can find a PDF copy of FISAP and the full instructions at https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/library/fisap-form-and-instructions/2021-06-01/final-2022-23-fisap-form-instructions-and-desk-reference. Still feeling unprepared? See our blog 10 Steps to a (Nearly) Painless FISAP.