Description: Tags: 0601introduction
Description: Tags: 0601introduction
Purpose
The primary purpose of The Blue Book is to provide guidance to school business
office personnel who handle fiscal recordkeeping, accounting, and reporting
functions for federal Title IV student financial aid programs authorized by the
Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA). In addition, it provides a
technical resource of Title IV management responsibilities that are shared
between various administrative offices in a school. It also provides general
information about Title IV programs, policies, and procedures that are useful to
all institutional personnel who administer and manage Title IV programs.
This edition of The Blue Book places special emphasis on the benefits and
challenges of managing Title IV programs electronically. The goals of any
electronic-management system are to maintain accurate, well-organized records;
submit required reports in an accurate and timely manner; comply with federal
laws and regulations; and provide quality service to students.
Regardless of how a school uses this book, remember that it is only a guide, and
it does not replace federal laws, regulations, or generally accepted accounting
principles (GAAP). School personnel are still responsible for familiarizing
themselves with all relevant primary source documents.
Margin References
The Blue Book uses three icons in the margin notes to direct readers to other
resources for the material being discussed in the text.
The New icon is for newly available Web sites and published
resources, as well as new program guidelines.
Other Resources
A companion publication to The Blue Book is ED’s Student Financial Aid Handbook
(Handbook), which is a primary resource for financial aid administrators. The
Reference: Handbook is mentioned frequently throughout The Blue Book. The Handbook
• For information on these consists of nine volumes published individually and successively by ED each year
and other pertinent and distributed to school financial aid offices. Fiscal office personnel should
printed materials, see know where to locate their school’s copy of the Handbook, and they might want
Appendix C of this book.
to copy pertinent sections for their own use or print them from
*The SFA Handbook
is available for ED’s Web site.*
download on ED’s
Information for Another ED publication vital to the work of a fiscal officer is the
Financial Aid U.S. Department of Education Payee Guide for the Grant Administration and Payment
Professionals (IFAP)
Web site at
System (GAPS) [GAPS Payee Guide]. It provides information on systems
http://ifap.ed.gov. operations and procedures for federal funds paid to schools through GAPS.
Participating schools The GAPS Payee Guide helps schools fulfill their responsibilities in expediting
are also sent paper payments, completing forms and reports, and controlling federal cash received
copies of sections of
the Handbook as they through GAPS. It also serves as a guide to ED’s new ePayments Web site.
are published.
Effective Date
This edition of The Blue Book is written on the basis of laws, regulations, policies,
and procedures published by April 1, 2000 and in effect for the 2001-02 award
year. Schools should be aware, however, these laws, regulations, policies, and
procedures are subject to change. It is a school’s responsibility to keep abreast of
such changes so it remains in compliance with current rules. Regular updates
and changes in policy guidance are posted on a daily basis on ED’s IFAP Web
site.
♦ the purposes for which The Blue Book is being used (for example,
reference, self-study, training new staff);
♦ whether you feel this publication is among those that ED’s Office of
Student Financial Assistance (OSFA) should update on a regular basis.