Schools have to wait a little longer before they can process batch corrections, but the functionality may be on the horizon.
The Department of Education recently announced that over the next few weeks they will work with a group of institutions and their vendors to test batch corrections. After the beta testing is complete, the Department will make any necessary adjustments before they start processing batch corrections for all institutions.
The Department anticipates that the batch correction processing for 2024-25 and 2025-26 FAFSA information will be available for all institutions by the end of February. An Electronic Announcement will be released with the exact date.
Schools that submitted 2024-25 or 2025-26 batch records before the general release will need to resubmit any records that still need to be processed. The Department will clear the queue of all batch correction files that were transmitted, but not processed, to avoid any processing conflicts. This does not, however, include institutions who participate in the beta period.
A few reminders from the Department include:
- Make sure that records sent for correction after the general release date are not outdated. For example, if a school submitted a 2024-25 batch correction to be processed and then made the correction to the student’s record in the FAFSA Partner Portal, the record needs to be deleted from any future batch correction to avoid an incorrect transaction or creating a new transaction that overwrites previously corrected information.
- If a correction is made that results in additional required information, the additional information needs to be provided. For example, correcting High School Completion Status from blank to “HS Diploma” necessitates all remaining information about the high school to be provided.
- The professional judgment flag must be set when adjustments are made to a field that changes or overrides Federal Tax Information that has been pulled directly from the IRS.
