Financial Aid Setup Overview

Before Financial Aid can be packaged for students, it is necessary to complete a few setup tasks. These tasks are listed below in the recommended order of completion. Each task has detailed step-by-step instructions on the following pages.

Populate Financial Aid tables in the CAMS Manager module:

TransDoc reference table - Each award should be a separate TransDoc that includes the award name and description, account and opposing account numbers, etc. Scholarships, Grants, and Refunds must have the 1098T flag checked as appropriate for accurate 1098T reporting.
FINAID DIRECT COSTS glossary table – Budget names (identifiers) used to assign the appropriate cost items (cost of attendance) to students.
FINBUDGETLABELS glossary table – Cost Items such as Tuition and Fees, Books and Supplies, Room and Board, etc. which are used to determine cost of attendance.
FINAID STATUS glossary table – Used to identify the award status, such as pending, funded, etc. This status may be used to control transfer of awards to billing when funds become available for disbursement.
FINAWARDCATEGORY glossary table – Used to categorize award types such as Federal, State, Grant, Scholarship, etc.
Direct Loan Tables – Listed below are tables required to have certain values present in order to integrate with Common Origination & Disbursement (COD).
- College Level reference table – COD Student Level Code
- Country Codes glossary table – ISO Code
- State Codes glossary table – ISO Code
Other Financial Aid tables as needed. Listed above are the tables required, however, other data can be tracked as well.

Enter Awards and Award Parameters - Populate the Award Reference table in Financial Aid >Setup >Award Reference. The Award Name is selected based on the available TransDocs previously created in the CAMS Manager >Lookup Table Options >Table Maintenance >TransDoc Reference table.
Define the Academic Year in Financial Aid >Setup >Yearly Setup >Acad Year. Academic Years are the foundation for the financial aid calendar and are typically defined once annually.
Define Financial Aid Years associated with a specific Academic Year in Financial Aid >Setup >Yearly Setup >FA Year. Define as many Financial Aid Years necessary for the appropriate enrollment increments.
Define Yearly Limits per Award per Package Term. During Priority Packaging and applying awards via Financial Aid >Maintenance >Award as part of a package, CAMS will not exceed the award limit defined for the Package Term.
Define Term Limits per Award per Term. When applying awards using Financial Aid >Quick Awards, or not as part of a package in Financial Aid >Maintenance >Award, CAMS will not exceed the award limit defined for the Term.
Define the Distribution Calendar for each financial aid year in Financial Aid >Setup >Yearly Setup >FA Year. When using Financial Aid >Packaging >Single Student Packaging, CAMS will split an award according to the Distribution Calendar for that financial aid year.
Identify Budgets and define Cost Item Amounts for a particular financial aid year in Financial Aid >Setup >Yearly Setup >Budget Costs. These must be set up so that a Total Cost of Attendance and Remaining Need can be determined for students.
Import ISIR Comments from www.fsadownload.ed.gov per Academic and Financial Aid Year. This displays the information associated with Comment Codes present during the ISIR Direct import.