Application and Eligibility Determination System (AEDS)
Investment ID: 018-000003116
Overview
Program Title
Application and Eligibility Determination System (AEDS)
Description
The AEDS investment provides the Central Processing System (CPS) which calculates eligibility for federal aid when students/parents apply through the FAFSA form (electronic or paper format), or with help from their school's financial aid office through FAA Access or EDExpress. AEDS provides a CPS technical help desk, an Image Data Capture center, and Print/Mail Operations for associated documents. Two new IT initiatives have been consolidated into the AEDS investment. AED will implement a modernized system for processing FAFSA data and determining student eligibility and incorporate legislative changes based on the FUTURE Act and FAFSA Simplification. FAFSA Simplification will introduce significant changes to the student aid eligibility determination, disbursement, and verification process; by replacing the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) with the Student Aid Index (SAI) and by modifying questions on the FAFSA form.
Type of Program
Major IT Investments
Multi-Agency Category
Not Applicable
Associated Websites
https://accfaaaccess.ed.gov, https://debug.fafsa.ed.gov, https://faaaccess.ed.gov, https://fafsa.ed.gov, https://fafsa.gov, https://fafsademo.test.ed.gov, https://acc.fafsacm.ed.gov/, https://accfaaaccesscm.ed.gov/, https://acc.fafsa.ed.gov/, https://acc.fafsademo.ed.gov/webdemo.htm, https://acc1faaaccess.ed.gov/, https://acc1.fafsa.ed.gov
Investment Detail
The Application and Eligibility Determination System (AEDS) contract includes the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) which is the application for federal student aid assistance. The FAFSA is a legislative mandate and must be available to the public. The qualitative return on investment is that more students are able to attend college because of federal student aid. Overall college attendance would likely drop without access to federal loans and grants. The impact would be felt by schools who depend on FAFSA processing to determine aid packages, even if federal loans and grants are not part of the actual package.