Importing Financial Aid Data to Colleague
AS OF FEBRUARY 2, 2026, the XPFI process to import the data from Financial Aid's PowerFAIDS system to Colleague has been automated to run every weekday starting at 3:00 a.m. in the Colleague Process Handler. In the unlikely event that the process does not run or a special run needs to be done to pull aid over immediately, the below process should be followed to pull the files in to Colleague:
An import process exists to write finance aid data into Colleague's data structure so Financial Assistance does not have to manually enter the data. There is an automated process to select award records from the Financial Aid application that are not on Colleague. After the process creates 4 files it will move them to Colleague's FA.RECEIVE.DIR folder using the naming convention:
- NON_DL_ODD - Non Direct Lending awards for odd numbered award years where the award year corresponds to the academic year
- NON_DL_EVEN - Non Direct Lending awards for even numbered award years where the award year corresponds to the academic year
- DL_ODD - Direct Lending awards for odd numbered award years where the award year corresponds to the academic year
- DL_EVEN - Direct Lending awards for even numbered award years where the award year corresponds to the academic year
Note: This naming convention was changed in 2026 when we automated the process. The previous files had a date and time appended. The above file names are always the same daily and when each file is moved to the archive in the PowerFAIDS-to-Colleague network share Arc folder, the date is appended to those files so we do have a daily record of what went over on a given day.
In Colleague, go to the XPFI screen and fill in the prompts as follows:
- Incoming File = whichever file name above you want to import
- Exclude Award Categories = WS (so we don't import Work Study)
Save/Update out of the screen and then choose how you want the error report to be produced on the next screen:
- Output Device = H will have the error report display to the screen when the import finishes (or P to send to a printer)
Save/Update out of the screen and then on the final screen enter the following:
- Execute in Background Mode? = N (so that it runs immediately)
Save/Update out of the screen and then the import process will begin.
If an Error Report appears, you'll need to review it to see if there are any data issues that need to be corrected in the Financial Aid application before the next import.
After reviewing it on the screen you can choose to close out the window (click on the white X in the red box in the left side of the tool bar), send (print) to a local printer, or save (export) to a file. Click on the icon in the tool bar shown below to send to printer or save to file.
If you choose EXPORT TO FILE, a SAVE REPORT AS window will pop up and you can pick which network folder you save the report in as well as the file name.
If you choose SEND TO LOCAL PRINTER, a PRINTER SETUP window will pop up and indicate what your default printer is. You can send the report to there or pick another printer. Click OK after making your choices and the report will print.
When it finishes saving the report to file or printing it for you, you will be brought back to the REPORT BROWSER window. Click on the white X in the red box in the left side of the tool bar to close out the window.
Note 1: Make sure you run the process a second time for all 4 files to be processed using the above steps again.
Note 2: There will always be 4 files regardless of whether there is data to import or not, if there is nothing to pull over, you will see an empty file in the archive directory. If you know of a specific person whose data is different between PowerFAIDS and Colleague and it is not a timing issue (meaning it didn't miss the interface run time), then contact your Level 2 support person to look into this.
Note for IT: When Colleague is finished with the file it will move a copy of the file to the S03.PROCESSED.PFAID folder on the Colleague app server.