Financial Aid Software Services

The vendor required to provide financial aid software services for include:
•    The system must be able to run two application cycles at one time. 
•    Agency must have the ability to set the closing date for the application year. 
•    Agency requires access to update the application when data element descriptions or instructions change. 
•    The contractor must have a process in place to address any bug and technical fixes within a reasonable agreed upon time frame. 
•    State records retention policies where all student data meeting the required retention period shall be dispositioned on a minimum annual schedule by agency staff or upon request by agency staff. 
•    Students and parents must be able to sign the application electronically. 
•    Accommodation for alternate signing for incarcerated students, as an example, may be necessary. 
•    Provide training for agency staff. 
- The electronic application must include: 
•    School selection interface - the system must include a mechanism that allows students to select one or more institutions and ensures that each selected institution receives the student’s completed application. 
•    Ability to provide end user application editing, which is the ability for the student or parent to edit and resubmit the application.  
•    Ability for financial aid administrators to make corrections by allowing them access to edit a student’s application and resubmit. 
•    Ability to produce a unique transaction number for each new or resubmitted application. 
•    Daily data file – will be created which includes electronic data file containing all the student applications received each day in a format that agency can read into its database and transmit to the schools selected by each student. 
•    Student id number – a unique nine-digit identification number will be assigned to each applicant. 
•    A seed number should be created for new applicants. 
•    The application must be available in english and Spanish, ideally with additional multiple language translation options. 
•    The ability to permanently delete applications as needed. 
•    The application must have fraud prevention measures in place such as verifying and identifying multiple applications that contain the same SSN, fake ids, etc. 
•    A mechanism to mark applications as fraudulent. 
•    The ability for students to update their account and profile information (registered name or email address linked to the account). 
•    The application must be developed using a responsive design methodology, ensuring seamless functionality across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.