PowerFAIDS Enhances CommonLine Support for High-Balance Alternative Loans
As the industry-leading financial aid software system from College Board, PowerFAIDS has enhanced its CommonLine alternative loan support so schools can send and receive records for loans of $100,000 or more with no manual intervention or file manipulation required.
Alternative loans above that threshold require an additional data record under CommonLine standards — historically a manual step that forced financial aid offices to edit files by hand before uploading them to their loan servicer's software. That extra work introduced risk of error and slowed down certification for students relying on larger loans to cover the full cost of their education, a scenario especially common at law, medical, and other professional and graduate programs.
The entire enhancement happens behind the scenes. Financial aid staff don't need to know what an @2 record is, identify which loans qualify, or change how they generate or upload files — PowerFAIDS handles all of it automatically as part of the existing CommonLine workflow. The only thing schools may notice is one less manual step they no longer have to think about.
In a post One Big Beautiful Bill environment, credit education has become an even more important part of financial aid counseling. This PowerFAIDS enhancement allows us to pair that student-centered education with greater automation, reducing manual work for our team while supporting a borrowing strategy designed around the student.
- Vice President of Student Financial Services, PowerFAIDS Institution
This enhancement is especially valuable for PowerFAIDS' professional schools, where higher loan amounts may be the norm rather than the exception — and it's one of several upcoming improvements aimed at reducing manual work across the loan certification process. Schools interested in seeing it in action can schedule a demo.
About PowerFAIDS
PowerFAIDS is celebrating a record year of new client contracts in 2026. This comprehensive financial aid management solution from College Board has supported hundreds of financial aid offices for more than four decades. Serving institutions of all sizes—from community colleges to major research universities, public and private alike—PowerFAIDS helps institutions deliver aid efficiently.
Developed by financial aid professionals, it streamlines every stage of the process with intuitive tools, automation, and secure data management, empowering schools to serve students with accuracy and care. For more information or to schedule a demo, visit powerfaids.collegeboard.org.