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<TITLE>Additional Spring 2009 OTAG Awards</TITLE>
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<P><FONT FACE="Arial">As announced at the OASFAA conference last week, we are extending the FAFSA receipt cutoff for Spring 2009 OTAG awards from 6/20/08 to<B> 7/15/08</B>. The EFC cutoff remains 1700.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial">Pre-populated Award Claim Forms, based on this new awarding criteria, have been created for all institutions and placed on O-SAFE for downloading. Reports will remain on O-SAFE for 5 days before being automatically deleted. </FONT><B> <FONT FACE="Arial">Attention ECU, NSU, SEOSU & OSU: </FONT></B> <FONT FACE="Arial">Text files have been placed on the FTP server. While participation in this additional awarding process is at each institution's discretion, pre-populated reports have been provided for all institutions.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial">As of today approximately $400,000 is available for these additional awards. OTAG will process Award Claim Forms on a first come, first served basis. O-SAFE and the FTP server both enter a time and date stamp when a report is successfully uploaded, and we will process Award Claim Forms in the order in which they are received until the funds have been expended.</FONT></P>
<P><B><FONT FACE="Arial">IMPORTANT: </FONT></B> <FONT FACE="Arial">Folks, we are very serious and sincere in requesting that ALL institutions ensure that these final OTAG Award Claim Forms include only students whose eligibility has been thoroughly verified before the claim is submitted to OTAG for payment.</FONT><B></B></P>
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<LI><FONT FACE="Arial">We understand there may be a sense of urgency to get your institution's claim form "in line" to ensure your students can benefit from these final awards. However, we require everyone's cooperation in thoughtfully and carefully claiming OTAG funds only for students who can actually receive the funds (i.e. packaging issues resolved, Title IV compliance achieved, attendance, enrollment status (FT or PT), and satisfactory progress checked -- ALL eligibility criteria met).</FONT><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"> </FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT FACE="Arial">It is NOT appropriate to request funds for a student who "might" be eligible with the expectation that funds could be returned to OTAG for cancellation in the event the student is found to be ineligible. Doing so could prevent eligible students at other institutions from receiving awards and also put us at risk of failing to meet our LEAP/SLEAP matching requirements.</FONT></LI>
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<P><FONT FACE="Arial">We thank you for your understanding and your cooperation. Please contact our office if you have questions concerning this final Spring 2009 OTAG awarding process. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=6 FACE="Script MT Bold">Shiela Joyner</FONT>
<BR><FONT FACE="Arial">Director, Oklahoma Tuition Aid Grant Program</FONT>
<BR><FONT FACE="Arial">Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education</FONT>
<BR><FONT FACE="Arial">PO Box 108850</FONT>
<BR><FONT FACE="Arial">Oklahoma City, OK 73101-8850</FONT>
<BR><FONT FACE="Arial">Internet: sjoyner@otag.org</FONT>
<BR><FONT FACE="Arial">Voice: 405.225.9378 or Toll Free 877.662.6231</FONT>
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