General Correspondence

This memo serves as notification to public institutions of higher education that the student selection process of the FY 2021 Good Neighbor Program has been completed.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) has completed the selection process for the 2020-21 Good Neighbor Program (GNP). A list of selected recipients was emailed to program officers on May 22, 2020. Each institution is responsible for notifying all students who submitted a GNP application whether they were selected or not.

Financial Aid Services announces the release of a new resource for institutions: Foster Care Exemption Fact Sheet. The fact sheet was developed to help public institutions assist foster youth currently or formerly under the conservatorship of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) and those adopted from DFPS.
In January of this year, six exemption program guidelines were released, and each of these documents was recently updated to align the selective service section with the FY 2021 grant, loan, and work-study program guidelines.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) announces the annual release of the 2020-2021 (FY 2021) program guidelines. The enclosed guidelines are also posted on the Student Financial Aid Programs (SFAP) webpage under Program Resources.
Each year, updates to the guidelines are made to align with any changes to the Texas Education Code (TEC) and the Texas Administrative Code (TAC) and to improve guidance to assist institutions with the administration of state financial aid programs.

This memo announces that CAL allocations are now available for institutions to certify eligible recipients for the 2020-2021 (FY 2021) academic year. 

This memo provides new guidance on confirming whether a male student is registered for Selective Service, which is effective immediately.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is now accepting files for the 2019-20 (FY 2020) FAD Reporting Cycle One. Enclosed is the announcement that was released on Dec. 20, 2019, which includes the 2019-20 FAD Manual, new deadline dates and updates to various data elements in the manual. Institutions are encouraged to review these items carefully to determine if there are any impacts to file processing.

This memo announces the B-On-Time (BOT) Loan Program certification deadline for the 2019-20 academic year.

The Texas B-On-Time loan program will officially end at the conclusion of FY 2020. Institutions that have allocated funds remaining for FY 2020 have until Feb. 20, 2020 to certify eligible BOT loan applications. Please review any prior BOT recipients to determine whether any remaining students are eligible to receive funding for the current year.

This document alerts financial aid administrators  of the newly published Financial Aid Database  (FAD) Instruction Manual for 2019-20. A link to the instruction manual is included in this memo.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) invites all Regional Education Service Centers or other entities that offer Alternative Educator Certification Program the opportunity to participate in the state loan program to receive CAL funds.

The 2020-21 (FY 2021) Good Neighbor Program (GNP) recommendation form is now available through the CBPASS portal. To help institutions with the submission process, enclosed are the instructions that include the data requirements needed for each eligible applicant being recommended through CBPass. In addition, the enclosed program guidelines were created to assist institutions with navigating the eligibility and awarding process.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) is required on an annual basis to invite all eligible institutions to participate in certain state financial aid programs in order to be included in the allocation calculation process. The applicable programs found in the Texas Administrative Code (TAC) include:

• Educational Aide Exemption (EAE)  
• Tuition Equalization Grant (TEG)  
• Texas College Work-Study (TCWS)  
• Work-Study Student Mentorship (WSMP)