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Release Notes: Item 2411-02

2025-2026 Regulatory Release (Source Code Changes)

This is the second of two release items that comprise the initial 2025-26 Regulatory release. This item contains code modifications for 2025-26 Federal processing, including: ADD Load processing and various associated calculations. Item 2411-01 contains the 2025-26 file changes. Due to the complexities and volume of changes for the previous year (2024-2025), there was minimal restructuring of the ISIR and associated processing for the new year.

Additional materials from the Department of Education (DoE) materials and/or WolffPack (WP) generated materials can be found on the 2025–26 FAFSA Specifications Guide (October 2024 Update #5) page.

Future:

As usual, we do not yet know the next year's Pell information, in partcular, the Pell Grant maximum award. Once we do, we will release an update to FINANCIER with the new Pell max and Pell minimum.

Batch Correction functionality is not due by the Dept until quarter 1 of 2025. We will deliver the batch corrections programs sometime in December. Until this functionality is available from the Dept, institutions will need to continue to use the FAFSA Partner Portal to submit inidividual corrections.

Modifications to address any further federal announcements will be issued as needed.

File change notes:

ISIR file:

The ISIR file length has remained 7,704 bytes (947 fields). The ISIR layout can be found (in PDF format) at the DoE link for Volume 4 of the Specifications Guide.

The 1 byte DHS Secondary Match Status was replace by 1 byte of filler. We did not end up removing the field from the files but this should not hurt anything.

As an alternative resource, WolffPack has created its own Google Sheet which cross-references the ISIR layout and various FINANCIER files/layouts. The Google Sheet: WP - Regs 2026 ISIR cross reference (November Final ISIR tab) lists the ISIR layout, while the (Cross reference tab) details ISIR field names (as defined on the WF25FEDL file) vs FINANCIER "file" field names. Finally, the (Last year vs This year tab) details fields used last year vs fields used this year.

Functional change notes:

ISIR restructuring

As mentioned above, there was minimal restructuring of the ISIR for the new year. The usual year specific values were adjusted as appropriate- most commonly on the Full FAFSA screens and the Compressed FAFSA screens. .

For this year, a negative SAI continues to be an option. Once again, a negative SAI is converted to 0 for packaging purposes. (SAI = SC + PC)

FINANCIER modifications, including some non-regs changes

We’ve made minor adjustments to the baseline version of FINANCIER to stay aligned with the HetGroup baseline. The below includes some of those, as well as some additional updates:

• WFPKPAKB - mod to report a blank SAI as "blank"
• WFAFC25P,WFAFC26P - Fixed a backout error that was happening on the addcompare screen
• WFLNSNPM - Fixed a display issue where the citizenship field on the loan snapshot screen was blue instead of the default color
• WFFLE25B,WFFLE26B - For the federal grant reporting, we will not write out a middle name tag if the middle name does not exist.
• Parent Contribution low value is now -1826 instead of -1500.
• Student Contribution from SAAI low value is now -1826 instead of -1500.
• 1 updated literal on the FTIM screen was changed from Tot Tax Pd to Inc Tax Pd.
• The Student Other circumstances field name was changed to be Student Homelessness. We changed the display but we did not change the field name in any files or programs.
• The FPS Correction reason had one value added, A for FTIM result update.

We’ve made minor adjustments to both the 2025 and 2026 code to display the presence of Federal rejects alongside the locations where an Expand pop-up appears to show reject details. This enhancement will allow users to NOT have to F9 if there are no rejects to view.

• FPS Communication
• Shows "(Exists)" if there are Federal rejects in the current CPS file data
• Shows "(None)" if there are Federal rejects in the current CPS file data
• ADD File Compare
• Shows "(Exists)" if there are Federal rejects in the current ADD file data (both ADD file and current CPS file rejects are viewable if you expand)
• Shows "(None)" if there are Federal rejects in the current ADD file data (both ADD file and current CPS file rejects are viewable if you expand)

WolffPack

FINANCIER File changes: (Note: These changes are detailed in the Release Notes: Item 2411-01)

New Files:

Year specific files:

WF-CPS-2526

WF-FEDERAL-2526

WF-ISIR-2526

WF-NSLDS-2526

WF-VERIFY-2526

Implementation Notes

The attached zip file contains:

• SYSOBJH file (sy241102.txt) with replacement modules for all members in this release.
  
  The SYSOBJH file contains 290 NATURAL objects; see the List of Affected Modules for a complete list. (Library name: FATEMP)

To implement the 2025-26 Regulatory release, complete the following steps:

1. Unload the SYSOBJH file in the attached zip file into a temporary library.
2. SYSMAIN the new and updated modules from your temporary library into your development library. When copying the updated versions of source modules, be sure to review your current 2024-25 modules and apply any institutional modifications to the appropriate 2025-26 version.
   The new modules are the year-specific components named W*25*. The updated modules are:
   
   (traditional year specific mods)
   • WFLOGONM (mods)
   • WFMAINFL (mods)
   • WFMENUBM (mods)
   • WFNANCLE (mods)
   • WWFXREFL (mods)
   
   (2024-2025 mods)
   • WFA25OVM (mods)
   • WFAFC25P (mods)
   • WFFLE25B (mods)
   • WFLNSNPM (mods)
   • WFPKPAKB (mods)

3. Roll your 2024-25 institutional calculations forward to 2025-26 and make any modifications necessary due to institutional requirements.
• Application Checklist
• Application Requirements
• Budget
• Disbursement Checklist
• Disbursement Requirements
• Loan Certification
• SAP calculation
4. Execute a CATALL against your development library to pick up all data area changes.
5. On the FAO Table maintenance screen (under the System menu), when all FAO-specific calculations are in place, for each valid FAO at your institution, modify the High Year field (WW-TABLES.WW-HI-YEAR) to contain the new aid year.
6. The JCL in the ADD Import job (WFADDIMJ) for 2025-26 has an ISIR record length of 7704 (Work File 1).
7. Load the Dictionary Import file (dc241102.txt) from the zip file into the FINANCIER Dictionary using the Dictionary Import program (WCDICIMB).
8. Manually update the Dictionary to include new year-specific values. (The Dictionary Import will not update the value set for a field that already has one, so these must be entered in the Dictionary manually.)

         WW-DICTIONARY:  WWDICTOD.WW-FILE
                         Add:      WFCPS26D      WF-CPS-2526
                                   WFFED26D      WF-FEDERAL-2526
                                   WFICO26D      WF-ICOMMENT-2526
                                   WFISR26D      WF-ISIR-2526
                                   WFMCA26D      WF-MCALCS-2526
                                   WFNSL26D      WF-NSLDS-2526
                                   WFVER26D      WF-VERIFY-2526
                                   WF26FEDD      WF-2526-FEDERAL(ADD)
   
         WW-SYSVARS:     WWSYSVRD.WF-AID-YEAR
                         Add:      2026          2025-2026 Aid Year
   
                         WWSYSVRD.WW-FISCAL-YEAR
                         Add:      2026          2025-26 Fiscal Year
   

9. Perform institutional testing. When testing is complete, you may move the released modules to your test and production environments.