What is a Keyword?
A Keyword is a text code of up to 10-characters that is used to help find or describe an item type (Example: FONGB). An item type is the IU-assigned text code for every award fund, student charge, and student refund in the IU Student Information System (IU-SIS) (Example: 900020002010). In IU-SIS, there are three “keyword” fields associated with every item type.
The first Keyword indicates the broad category of item type, such as financial aid or student refund. The second Keyword indicates the “BARS subcode” or “FAMS fund number” used for similar transactions before the implementation of IU-SIS. The third Keyword is assigned by IR for reporting purposes, with five positions indicating different attributes of the item types. Each keyword field is described in more detail below.
Why are Keywords important?
The first and second Keyword fields are used for operational purposes by the campus Bursar offices.
In contrast, Keyword3 is the primary tool in providing important financial aid reports to the State of Indiana, many external organizations, and IU administrators. IR uses Keyword3 for the following:
Providing state-mandated reports about financial aid to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, including the State of Indiana appropriations report for financial aid (Budget Report Schedule V – BRS V).
- Providing student financial aid data to IPEDS.
- Completing surveys used to describe and rate IU for the public, including S. News and World Report.
- Providing summary data to bond rating agencies.
- Providing information to IU administrators as they evaluate the use of IU funds for student financial aid, such as for need-based aid for students.
- Preparing IR standard financial aid reports for our website, such as in the IU Fact Book.
IU Financial Management Services (FMS) also uses Keyword3 for the following:
- Calculating figures for the “Scholarship Allowance” section of the annual IU financial reports, based on guidelines from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) and the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO).
- Preparing the “scholarship and fellowship expenses” figures in Parts C and E of the IPEDS Finance Reports.
Keyword3 is also an important compliance tool:
How were these Keyword values developed?
The Keyword1 values were developed by Student Financials to assist with their business processes. The Keyword3 values were developed for reporting purposes by representatives of University Reporting and Research (URR), the University Budget Office, Student Information and Fiscal Services (SIFS), Financial Management Services (FMS), and the Bloomington Office of Enrollment Services and OSFA, with input from the institutional reporting offices at Indianapolis (Bridgett Milner), IUSE (Mary Ann Baker), and IUB (Doug Anderson).
What are the possible Keyword values?
Keyword1
The first keyword field (Keyword1) indicates the type of charge or credit in Student Financials. Here are some of the categories that are generally considered financial aid “resources” for Title IV compliance:
- FINAID
- FA_TPC
- FEE_EXEMPT
- FEE_REMIT
- FEE_SCHOL
- NR_MILIT
- NR_REMIT
- SPEC_INSTI
- SPN_INTERN
- SPONHSG
- SPONSOR
- MSC_SCHOL
- DEPT_AWARD
Keyword3
Item types in the following categories have a reporting code in Keyword3:
- financial aid resources, as defined by Title IV guidelines
- current-year student charges
- students’ payments on their bursar accounts
- refunds to students besides short-term loans
This field is intended to be used for all reporting, and for the determination of mandatory student fellowship health insurance eligibility. Here is a key to the 5 positions in this field:
Keyword3 Values - Listed in Priority Order for Assignment |
First Position - Funding Source | | Second Position - Who Selects | | Third Position - Selection Criteria | | Fourth Position - IR Award Type | | Fifth Position - FMS Financial Reporting Category |
Y | Dual Entry--Not Used for Financial Aid Reporting | | Y | Dual Entry--Not Used for Financial Aid Reporting | | Y | Dual Entry--Not Used for Financial Aid Reporting | | Y | Dual Entry--Not Used for Financial Aid Reporting | | A | Loans other than short-term |
V | Federal--Veterans-Military Educ Benefits | | I | IU Foundation | | N | Need-based | | L | Loan | | B | Gift Aid Not Restricted to Fees |
F | Federal--Other | | X | Non-IU entity | | M | Merit-based | | A | IU Athletic Scholarship/ Fellowship/ Fee Remit | | F | Gift Aid Restricted to Fees |
S | State | | O | Office at IU - dept or Finaid Office | | B | Both Need- and Merit-based | | F | Grad Fellowship | | D | Payments from students |
M | Institutional--IU and IU Foundation Official Match | | 9 | Not Used for Financial Aid Reporting | | X | Neither Need- nor Merit-based | | W | Work study or AmeriCorps Educ Benefit | | E | Refunds to students - excludes short-term loans |
G | Institutional--IU General Fund | | | | | 9 | Not Used for Financial Aid Reporting | | S | Undergrad Scholarship | | G | Current-year Bursar Account Charges |
I | Institutional--IU Foundation Endowment | | | | | | | | R | Admin fee remission | | 9 | Not Used for FMS Reporting |
J | Institutional--Other IU Foundation | | | | | | | | G | Grant | | | |
E | Institutional--IU Endowment Treasurer | | | | | | | | 9 | Not Used for Financial Aid Reporting | | | |
O | Institutional--Other IU | | | | | | | | | | | | |
P | Private-External | | | | | | | | | | | | |
9 | Not Used for Financial Aid Reporting | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Example: The Keyword3 code of FONGB is associated with the Pell Grant item type 900020002010. This is a Federal (F), IU-selected (O), Need-based (N) Grant (G) that is processed as gift aid that is available to pay any IU expenses (B).
Keyword3 Q&A
- Are IU Foundation awards reported with a funding source of “private” or “IU-institutional?”
- Student awards that are funded from the IU Foundation are only coded with a Keyword3 first-position value of I or J – both are IU-institutional codes. In other words, “Private” awards exclude awards funded from any IU Foundation account.
- What does the funding source of “Federal-Other” include (Keyword3 1st position = F)?
- These include awards funded directly or indirectly (majority) from a federal agency. This includes awards linked to IU General Ledger accounts coded as “federal pass-through” by IU Research Administration/Contracts and Grants. However, it excludes both federal veterans benefits and federal military Tuition Assistance (TA) for active service men and women – these are coded with a Keyword3 first-position value of V.
- How do I distinguish between federal veterans benefits and federal military Tuition Assistance (TA)? They both have a Keyword3 code beginning with V.
- Federal military Tuition Assistance awards are only processed with item type 841500000000.
- Which item types are coded with a Keyword3 award type (4th position) of F for graduate fellowship?
- For the purposes of Keyword3 and the IU mandatory student fellowship insurance program, fellowships include any awards that are not restricted to paying tuition and fees, and that are awarded to graduate and professional students. This definition applies regardless of the funding source or the name of the award. The full definition used for Keyword3 fellowships is on the following website: http://www.indiana.edu/~cats/kb/D-F/graduate-student-fellowships5820.php
Where Can I View Keywords?
Data sources with Keywords in the IU Data Warehouse and the IUIE can fall into two broad groups:
- Student Financials (SF) tables include both financial aid and non-financial aid data. For item types and their Keywords, the SF tables are the most comprehensive data source. For student financial aid awards, Student Financials only includes amounts that are disbursed through IU-SIS.
- IU-SIS Financial Aid (FA) tables exclude both item types and awards that are processed only in SF. These cases include awards (e.g. fee remissions and external scholarships) that are aggregated under a place-holder in the FA tables. These cases also include students who did not file a FAFSA, and thus may have no record in the FA tables.
IU-SIS Navigation
To see the Keywords that are associated with a particular Item Type, consult the following IU-SIS page:
- Set Up SACR / Product Related / Student Financials / Item Types
IUIE Navigation
- To view item types and their three Keywords, follow one of these IUIE navigation paths:
- Student / Bursar / DataGroups / Accounting & GL / SF Item Types
- Student / Financial Aid / Awarding / General Award Info & Audits / Data Groups / Item Types
- To view student awards and their associated Keywords, follow one of these IUIE navigation paths:
- Student / Bursar / DataGroups / Accounting & GL / GL Accounting Line (choose one of the Student options)
- Student / Financial Aid / Awarding / General Award Info & Audits àData Groups / Stdnt Awards
- Student / Financial Aid / Awarding / General Award Info & Audits / Data Groups / Stdnt Award Proc View-Awards by Term
Technical Users
IU staff who use SQL may find the script below useful. It provides labels from the chart above for each keyword3 position in the report output. Also, it can be adapted to use any report object in the IU Data Warehouse that includes Keyword3.
For More Information
Contact our office using the Contact Us link on our website: https://iuia.iu.edu/index.html