The FSC (Federal School Codes) table is a standard list on the U.S. government's list of institutions and codes used for federal financial aid purposes. Terra Dotta applications use this list as the means of unique identification of institutions for purposes such as external applicants' self-identification of home institution.
The table is updated periodically by the U.S. government, and Terra Dotta makes amendments (additions and changes only) to the FSC data that we issue in our data scripts with each release.
Customers may identify schools not represented in the list and/or redundancies or confusing entries. Generally speaking, it is safe and appropriate to make manual changes to the data in the FSC table where necessary. Terra Dotta will not remove records from the FSC table, so that any additions can be retained, and legacy records kept intact, even when the government removes records.
The table (lkp_FSC_School_Codes in the Terra Dotta database) is simple and its fields self-explanatory. Any database operator will be able to understand the purpose of the fields simply by browsing the records. At the time of this writing, Terra Dotta software only makes use of the following columns:
- FSC_Code - char (6)
- FSC_Name - varchar (200)
- FSC_City - varchar (35)
- FSC_State - varchar (35)
- Country - varchar (35) (if non-U.S.)
When creating new records, it is important to use a code scheme that will not overlap the existing codes, nor conflict with the FSC code scheme, so that future additions to the standard data will not overlap with the ones you have added.
Currently, FSC only uses codes beginning with 0 (zero), E or G. To avoid code collisions, start your code sequence with a different lettered prefix.
FAQ
Q: Why are there non-U.S. Institutions in the FSC list, and why are there so few? Many countries and institutions are not represented.
A: While the FSC table is almost entirely comprised of US institutions, there is a small number of foreign institutions as well. For the ease of maintaining consistency with the government list, we have chosen not to remove those records. However, the absence of country listings can create confusion and difficulty in user self-identification.
We are examining a new approach to support listings for countries/non-U.S. institutions that are not listed in the FSC table. In the meantime, to avoid confusion, customers may choose to add a single record for a mock institution ('Non-U.S. Institution') with a Country set to 'Other' or 'Outside of U.S.' You may choose to remove all other non-U.S. institution records from the table, by deleting all records where Country is not null/blank, or 'Other'. (The text of those fields can be set according to preference.)
Example:
insert into lkp_FSC_School_Codes (FSC_Code, FSC_Name, FSC_City, COUNTRY)
values ('XXXXXX', '---', '---', '--- Other ---');
Q: Can other coding systems be used to replace the FSC table?
A: In principle it should be possible to replace the data in lkp_FSC_School_Codes with an entire set of institutions and codes using a different coding system, provided that the codes are 6 or fewer characters. However, this approach is untested and may not be supported if issues are encountered. To make such a change after records referencing FSC codes are in the database, any foreign-key constraints on lkp_FSC_School_Codes must first be removed and a script written to convert the referring records to the new coding system.
Q: Why are some of the entries named for an office on campus, such as Financial Aid?
A: The FSC records list street addresses and campus buildings/offices. Since the FSC was devised for financial aid purposes, many of the addresses are the direct mailing address of the financial aid or other related administrative office. Changing the names of FSC entries to remove specific office information is harmless and will have a cascading effect on the data displayed on all records using the data.
Q: We are a Terra Dotta Hosted or SaaS customer, can we request modifications to our FSC table?
A: Hosted and SaaS customers may request changes to FSC, up to once per month. Most requests can be accommodated. In some cases where a large volume of data changes is requested, there may be a professional services charge. In the case of SaaS, change requests must be evaluated in view of the entire SaaS user community, since all SaaS customers share the same FSC table. If a change could affect the existing data or practices of other customers, the request may be declined.
Q: The capitalization of FSC Names is odd. Only the first letter of any series of characters is capitalized. Example: SUNY COLLEGE-NEW PALTZ displays as Suny College-new Paltz. Can this be fixed?
A: The names in the FSC table are in all capitals. The software tries to reformat the names using a function called CapFirst, which doesn't take into consideration strings of capital initials or inner punctuation. The only correction for this behavior is custom programming code to change the CapFirst function.
Q: Can a user change their home institution after their profile is created?
A: No. In the case that an external applicant changes their school, they do not have the ability to change their user account's home institution. This has to be done by an administrator by going to the ' profile' tab of one of their applications and adjusting the home institution for the applicant under Applicant Information heading.