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February deadline for schools seeking waiver of campus funding underuse penalty
January 04, 2024
Those colleges and universities that didn't use all of their funding for campus-based programs have a few more weeks to apply of waiver of the underuse penalty.
In a January 3 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education said the deadline to request a waiver of the 2024-25 award year penalty of FWS and FSEOG for the underuse of 2022-23 award year funds is February 5, 2024.
According to the Department, a school can determine if it is subject to an underuse penalty by reviewing its most recent Fiscal Operations Report and Application to Participate (FISAP) or Campus-Based Tentative Funding Worksheet for 2024-25. The school may submit an underuse penalty waiver request if the school can explain that the underuse was due to circumstances beyond its control and why those circumstances are not expected to reoccur.
The Department will review the penalty waiver requests and justifications and will notify the school in an email to the school’s Financial Aid Administrator whether the request has been granted or denied.
If the waiver request is granted, the underuse penalty for that program will not be applied when final awards for 2024-25 are made. If the waiver request is denied, the underuse penalty for that program will be applied when final awards for 2024-25 are made.
Schools with questions regarding an underuse penalty waiver justification should contact the FSA Partner and School Relations Center at 1-800-848-0978 or via email at CODSupport@ed.gov.