# What Happens During a Banner Financial Aid Year Rollover?

Source: https://www.itcadence.com/blog/what-happens-in-banner-financial-aid-year-rollover
Category: Banner Finance & HR | Published: 2026-09-18 | Updated: 2026-09-18 | Publisher: ITCadence

Each aid year, Banner Financial Aid rules and setup are rolled forward. What gets copied, what needs review, and how to plan a clean rollover.

**Short answer:** Banner Financial Aid is organised by aid year, so before packaging for a new year can begin, the institution rolls forward the previous aid year's setup: budgets, packaging rules, fund definitions, requirements tracking, satisfactory academic progress rules and similar configuration. Staff then review and update the new year for regulatory and policy changes, load new applicant data, and test packaging before awarding students.

## Overview

The aid year rollover is **copy, then review, then test**. The copy is quick; the review is where the real work is.

## What usually rolls forward

| Area | Examples |
|---|---|
| Aid year controls | Institution options and aid-year settings |
| Budgets | Cost-of-attendance components and budget groups |
| Funds | Fund definitions, award limits and disbursement rules |
| Packaging | Packaging groups and rules |
| Requirements tracking | Required documents and messages |
| Satisfactory academic progress | SAP rules and codes |

## What needs review every year

- **Regulatory updates** delivered by Ellucian for the new aid year.
- **Cost of attendance** amounts and budget components.
- **Fund allocations** and award limits.
- **Communications** such as letters and Self-Service messages.

## A practical rollover plan

1. Apply the year's regulatory releases in a test environment.
2. Roll forward the aid year setup in test and review every area above.
3. Load sample applicant records and run need analysis and packaging.
4. Compare results with expected awards for a sample of students.
5. Repeat in production with the same checklist.

> **Important:** Run a small packaging test in production before batch packaging the full population.

## Frequently asked questions

### Does rollover copy student awards?

Rollover is mainly about rules and setup. Student-level data for the new aid year comes from new applications and processing.

### When should the rollover happen?

Early enough to test packaging before the institution starts sending award offers, typically several months before the aid year begins.