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Last Updated: 2025-03-14
Setup Considerations: Actual Enrollment Usage Start Date

Setup Considerations: Actual Enrollment Usage Start Date

You can use this topic to help make decisions when planning your configuration and use of the Actual Enrollment Usage Start Date (AEUSD) for an academic period. This topic explains:
  • Why to set it up.
  • Downstream impacts and how it fits into the rest of Workday.
  • Questions and limitations to consider before implementation.
Refer to detailed task instructions for full configuration details.

What It Is

The Actual Enrollment Usage Start Date (AEUSD) is a critical date control in Workday for standard academic periods. Based on this date control, Workday determines when to stop using a student’s projected load status and begin using their actual load status for financial aid processing, which affects cost of attendance (COA), packaging, disbursement, and other downstream processes.

Business Benefits

When using AEUSD, you can:
  • Correctly calculate a student’s projected load status and their actual enrollment load status.
  • Drive load status values for processing financial aid, which enables Workday to use projected enrollment up to the actual enrollment start date.
  • Ensure accurate financial aid processing for COA, merit packaging, need packaging, and disbursement.

Use Case

In the example outlined below, Workday automatically adjusts a student's financial aid package on the AEUSD to account for their change in load status.
Prerequisites:
  • Set the AEUSD for January 16.
  • Set up reactions for need and merit packaging.
  • Enable a
    Reaction Reason
     of
    Auto
     and a
    Manual Review Date Control
     of
    Actual Enrollment Usage Start
     for the Academic Period (POS) Load Status reaction reason.
Date
Event
January 1
A financial aid administrator runs the
Run Student Financial Services Processes by Student
 report to create the initial packaging instance for a student enrolled full time.
January 9
The student changes their load status to
Half-time
.
January 16
When the AEUSD is reached at 12:00 A.M.:
  • The
    Actual Enrollment
     field value changes from
    No
     to
    Yes
     on the student’s attendance plan.
  • Workday’s Reaction Framework engages and repackages the student with a revised financial aid package due to the change in their load status.

Questions to Consider

Question
Considerations
What AEUSD do you want to use?
  • After add/drop
     – Award packages remain based on projected enrollment and stable until actual enrollment is more firmly established. After the add/drop period ends, Workday reevaluates students’ COA and packages based on actual enrollment. Institutions with traditional programs may benefit from this approach.
    • To accomplish this, set your institution’s AEUSD to 12:00 AM on the day after the last day of the add/drop period.
  • Before disbursement
     – Consider when your disbursement dates occur in relation to the AEUSD. If you want funds to disburse based on actual enrollment, you need to utilize Workday’s disbursement proration or ensure that Workday runs repackaging on actual enrollment prior to the disbursement date. Institutions with traditional programs can benefit from this approach.
    • To accomplish this, set your institution’s AEUSD to 12:00 AM on the first day of disbursement for the academic period. This ensures that Workday reevaluates students’ COA and packages based on actual enrollment just before disbursement occurs in the same nightly job orchestration run.
  • Before billing
     – In Workday, Student Financials uses the student’s packaged amounts as the anticipated financial aid for billing purposes. This means that when the student’s package is based on projected full-time enrollment, their anticipated aid reflects this and isn’t based on their actual enrollment at the time or on any disbursement proration rules. Institutions with fluctuating enrollment patterns in their populations, such as community colleges, can benefit from basing anticipated aid on actual enrollment.
    • To accomplish this, set your institution’s AEUSD to 12:00 AM on the day of billing. This ensures that Workday reevaluates students’ COA and packages based on actual enrollment just before billing occurs.

Recommendations

  • Always configure the AEUSD for standard academic periods (fall, spring, and summer). While Workday allows you to configure this date control for nonstandard periods or modules, we don’t apply the AEUSD to those periods. When you don’t configure this date control for a standard academic period, Workday defaults the AEUSD to use the standard start date of the standard academic period.
  • Initially package students before the AEUSD manually or through the Student Nightly Job Orchestration to ensure that the Reaction Framework can detect any load status changes and repackage affected students on the AEUSD.
  • For future academic periods where the final AEUSD is unknown, enter a tentative date, then adjust it closer to the AEUSD.

Requirements

For successful AEUSD processing in the Reaction Framework, you must use the Academic Period (POS) Load Status Reaction Reason in these reaction policies:
  • COA
  • Merit Packaging
  • Need Packaging

Limitations

  • AEUSD functionality impacts only matriculated students; it doesn’t affect applicants because they can’t register for courses. This means that Workday doesn’t remove applicant financial aid packages based on non-enrollment after the AEUSD.
  • Workday processes the AEUSD date control only for standard academic periods and not for nonstandard periods or modules.
  • On and after the AEUSD, you can't make changes to the AEUSD of an academic period with existing records. Verify that the date you set is correct in advance of it.

Tenant Setup

No impact.

Security

No impact.

Business Processes

No impact.

Reporting

No impact.

Integrations

No impact.

Connections and Touchpoints

Workday offers a Touchpoints Kit with resources to help you understand configuration relationships in your tenant. Learn more about the Workday Touchpoints Kit on Workday Community.