Concept: Loan Sequencing

Loan sequencing enables you to identify different instances of federal direct loan awards in a student’s financial aid package without having to create and configure multiple award items to represent each one. New instances of loans typically appear when a student’s loan eligibility changes. Example: A student accepts an initial subsidized loan award with a sequence number of 1. Later, their cost of attendance increases, making them eligible for a higher loan amount. To offer the student the extra amount they have become eligible for, Workday creates a new sequence 2 on the same subsidized loan award item.

You can view a loan’s sequence number on the

Sequence

column of a student’s

Total Financial Assistance

report. Workday assigns sequence numbers automatically.

Why Does Workday Sequence Loans?

Loan sequencing enables you to:

Award direct loans up to annual limits while maintaining regulatory compliance. (Regulations state that direct loan disbursements must be made in substantially equal amounts, and that no single disbursement can exceed half the loan.)

Accommodate uneven loan amounts when a student’s financial aid need or cost of attendance differs across academic periods, impacting their financial aid eligibility.

Respond to award eligibility changes in a way that will be accepted when reporting to Common Origination and Disbursement (COD).

How Does Workday Sequence Loans?

Workday sequences direct loans based on their academic year. The initial subsidized loan award in an award year receives a sequence number of 1. A second award of subsidized loan in the same award year receives a sequence number of 2, and so on. Sequence numbers reset each academic year.

Loans share a sequence number when:

The awards are all for the same student award item.

The awards have the same amount offered or are all zero.

The financial aid period records that the awards belong to are for the same award year.

The financial aid period records that the awards belong to are for contiguous academic periods.

Workday takes these factors into consideration when creating (or not creating) new sequences of loans:

The periods run through packaging.

Whether the loans have been originated or disbursed.

Whether the award is locked.

The maximum accepted amount or maximum partially accepted amount.

Examples

Scenario	Change	Result
Student 1 fully accepts the offered amount of subsidized and unsubsidized loans for the award year.	The student loses their unsubsidized loan eligibility and faces a decrease in subsidized loan eligibility, due to the award amount of another award increasing	No new loan sequence. The subsidized loan amount decreases on the same sequence. The unsubsidized loan sequence is removed from the student’s package.
Student 1 now has a decreased subsidized loan amount and no unsubsidized loan.	The student regains their initial subsidized and unsubsidized loan eligibility due to another award item amount decreasing.	The subsidized loan amount increases to the previously max accepted amount. Workday adds the unsubsidized loan back to the package. No new loan sequences are created.
Student 2 fully accepts the offered amount of subsidized loan for the award year.	The student’s subsidized loan eligibility increases due to an increase in cost of attendance.	Workday creates a new subsidized loan sequence for the amount they’re newly eligible for, in an Offered status. If the student accepts the extra amount, the total value becomes the new maximum accepted amount. Workday uses this to determine whether or not to create new sequences of the award in the future.
Student 2 decides to no longer attend the Spring semester.	The student is run through packaging for the fall and spring.	Awards for the Spring academic period are removed. Any additional eligibility moves to the Fall academic period, in a new loan sequence with an Offered status. The existing Accepted loan sequence for fall remains the same.
Student 3 has accepted only $5000 per period of the $10,000 unsubsidized loan offered to them per period for fall and spring.	The student is run through packaging again for fall and spring.	Workday creates a new sequence for the remaining amount they’re eligible for, in a Declined status. If the student’s eligibility increases, Workday automatically declines any extra amounts because the student has only stated they only want $5000 per period.
Student 3’s cost of attendance for spring decreases to $3,000.	The student is run through packaging again for fall and spring.	Because the student has accepted $10,000 for the year, Workday: Decreases the award amount of the spring award to $3000. Awards the remaining accepted $7000 across 2 sequences of the fall award. Adds a third sequence of the fall award with the remaining amount the student is eligible for in a Declined status.
Student 3’s cost of attendance for spring returns to the original amount.	The student is run through packaging again for fall and spring.	Workday reverts the awards back to their original state, deleting unnecessary sequences.