Creating Financial Aid Comments

Context

This article documents the process for creating a new 3C comment for financial aid purposes within PeopleSoft. We primarily use comments to maintain an informational record of a student's financial aid updates, which staff can view directly on the View Financial Aid Status screen. We also rely on a handful of specific comment codes to act as system triggers or holds for automated processing workflows.

Steps

1. Log into PeopleSoft and navigate via the navigation bar to Menu > Campus Community > Comments > Set Up Comments > Comment Category Table.
2. Select the Add a New Value button located in the top right-hand corner of the page.
3. Enter the initial parameters:

• Institution: UOD01 
• Comment Category: Enter a 6-character unique identifier for the new comment code.

4. Select Add to open the Comment Categories configuration page.

5. Update the Category Details:

• Effective Date: We typically use 01-01-1901.
• Status: Set to Active.
• Description: Enter in a title/description for the comment code.
• Short Description: Optional, typically we use an abbreviated version of the description.

6. Select the appropriate Administrative Function based on the scope of the comment:

• FINA: Used for comments specific to a full aid year.
• FINT: Used for comments applicable to a single term.
• AWRD: Used for comments associated with a specific financial aid award.
• Note: Other SFS related Administrative Functions (such as ISIR or LOAN) exist but I tend to find are used less often at UD.

7. Enter an optional comment in the comment box. This text serves as the default message assigned to a student when the comment code is added manually or via automation. It will be visible when viewing the student in the View Financial Aid Status in Campus Solutions.
8. Configure the Changes Allowed drop-down field.
9. Select Save in the bottom left-hand corner to finalize the comment category creation.
10. Now that we have created the comment, we need to adjust the security permissions to allow Financial Aid staff to view and add the new comment code. Navigate to Menu > Campus Community > Comments > Set Up Comments > Comment 3C Groups.
11. Search for the Comment Category code created in Step 3.

12. In the Update / Inquiry Group section, add your required 3C security groups. I tend to add the 4 groups below, but multiple other groups exist. Add each group by entering the code and clicking Add:

• SFOU: UDSFS Officers
• SFSI: UDSFS Staff
• SPSU: Processing Staff Access
• SPTU: Processing Students Access

13. Once all necessary security groups have been added, select Save in the bottom left-hand corner to grant permissions.