PowerFAIDS
The software solution to financial aid paperwork
Financial aid offices must track, organize, and process a great deal of data. What is the best way to automate tasks in this process? What software can empower your staff to make better, faster, smarter decisions?
PowerFAIDS is a powerful, flexible, and easy-to-use Windows-based program, developed by experts at the College Board, that can help you manage your financial aid office. It is designed to automate the entire financial aid process, from performing need-analysis calculations to transmitting loan applications to automatically running reports. More than 500 postsecondary institutions use PowerFAIDS in their financial aid departments.
PowerFAIDS can be customized to fit the needs of your office. It can be integrated not only with other College Board software and services but with other commonly used systems, including the Central Processing System (CPS) used by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Federal Student Aid.
What can you do with PowerFAIDS?
Create and update student records: PowerFAIDS gives you multiple ways to create and adjust student records, and can import student data from other campus information systems.
Track applications, generate letters, and communicate electronically: PowerFAIDS can check student records for any missing required documents (you define what documents are required in each case), update the application status online, generate customized missing-information letters, and much more. You can also send and track email directly from PowerFAIDS.
Calculate student budgets online: You can use PowerFAIDS to build student expense budgets based on parameters you define.
Generate and receive federal CPS data: PowerFAIDS lets you load, process, and adjust data in Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) from the CPS. You can also view National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) data using PowerFAIDS.
Perform need analysis: PowerFAIDS incorporates INAS need-analysis software to help you perform need-analysis calculations using both Federal Methodology (FM) and the College Board's Institutional Methodology (IM).
Manage funds: PowerFAIDS lets you create and track an unlimited number of financial aid funds, whose specifications are defined by you.
Package student aid awards: PowerFAIDS lets you package student aid awards according to your institutional financial aid policies. You can simulate outcomes and then adjust parameters as needed.
Process federal Pell Grants: PowerFAIDS will automate your Pell Grant calculating, reporting, and reconciliation, using whichever Pell Grant formula your institution uses. PowerFAIDS supports communication with the U.S. Department of Education's Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) system.
Disburse funds: PowerFAIDS can automatically schedule your awards for disbursement according to rules you set. It will even run federal eligibility checks before authorizing payments.
Transmit loan applications: You can use PowerFAIDS to create applications in the CommonLine format for any lender or servicer. It also provides an interface with U.S. Department of Education software for the Direct Loan program.
Create reports: PowerFAIDS can create standard or customized reports, and provides templates for major industry reports such as the FISAP (Fiscal Operations Report and Application to Participate) and the Common Data Set survey.
Access CSS/PROFILE and Institutional Documentation Service (IDOC) images
If your school uses the College Board's IDOC or CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE service, you can quickly and easily access data from each respective service using PowerFAIDS.
Give your students access with Net Partner
Add the PowerFAIDS Net Partner module (licensed separately) to your system to create an Internet portal through which students can access their financial aid information. Net Partner allows students to log on from anywhere to accept or decline awards, fill out an online application, see their financial aid information, download documents they need, and more.