[Oasfaa] OTAG Awards

[Joyner, Shiela]

Good Morning,

Today we are proceeding to move the OTAG award cutoff date to May 15
(previous cutoff was May 4).  Award Rosters will be forwarded to schools
later today.  In making this decision we are trusting that by now only in
unusual circumstances have you not reported "packaged" status to OTAG for
your earlier applicants and that any additional reporting will be limited,
leaving it reasonable to assume that available funds can now be awarded to
later applicants.  You should know that after this awards process, if you
were to report a large volume of eligible applicants with "packaged" status,
there may not be available funding necessary to offer them awards.  This has
proved to be an unusual year, and being able to move the cutoff date to this
extent is quite an unexpected event.

We are aware that this late in the semester, some packaging problems will
result.  Therefore, we are releasing Award Rosters to schools ONE WEEK in
advance of releasing award notices to students.  If you identify students
who cannot receive their OTAG awards due to overaward situations that cannot
be resolved by adjusting other aid at this point, you can notify the OTAG
office no later than close of business on Wednesday, November 14; the awards
will be withdrawn and the students will not be notified of their award.  

Please do not use the Award Roster to identify students who are not enrolled
or if there are changes in full-time or part-time status -- the Confirmation
Report is the appropriate place to report these situations.  At this time we
are offering only an opportunity to cancel an award due to overaward to
prevent our releasing an award notification to the student only to have the
award withdrawn due to overaward.

We will add a Confirmation Report cycle for all schools on November 15 to
accommodate these new awards.

We appreciate your assistance in delivering OTAG funds to your students.  If
you have questions concerning these late awards, please contact the OTAG
office.

***********************
Shiela Joyner, Director
Oklahoma Tuition Aid Grant Program
Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education
P. O.  Box 3020
Oklahoma City, OK 73101-3020
Internet:  sjoyner at otag.org
Voice: (405) 225-9456    Toll Free (877) 662-6231
Fax: (405) 225-9392