Federal Program Information: Federal Pell Grant Program (ALN 84.063), Federal Direct Student Loans (ALN 84.268)
Criteria or Specific Requirement: N. Special Tests and Provisions – Enrollment Reporting – Institutions are required to report enrollment information under the Pell grant and the Direct and Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) loan programs via the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) (OMB No. 1845-0035), although FFEL loans are no longer made or a part of the Student Financial Assistance Cluster, a student may have a FFEL loan from previous years that would require enrollment reporting for that student (Pell, 34 CFR 690.83(b)(2); FFEL, 34 CFR 682.610; Direct Loan, 34 CFR 685.309). The administration of the Title IV programs depends heavily on the accuracy and timeliness of the enrollment information reported by institutions. Institutions must review, update, and verify student enrollment statuses, program information, and effective dates that appear on the Enrollment Reporting Roster file or on the Enrollment Maintenance page of the NSLDS Professional Access (NSLDSFAP) website which the financial aid administrator can access for the auditor. The data on the institution’s Enrollment Reporting Roster, or Enrollment Maintenance page, is what NSLDS has as the most recently certified enrollment information. There are two categories of enrollment information, “Campus Level” and “Program Level,” both of which need to be reported accurately and have separate record types. The NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide provides the requirements and guidance for reporting enrollment details using the NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Process.
Campus Level: Institutions are responsible for accurately reporting certain significant data elements under the Campus- Level Record that the U.S. Department of Education considers high risk, including enrollment status, which is the student’s enrollment status as of the reporting date; full-time (F), threequarter time (Q), half-time (H), less than half-time (L), leave of absence (A), graduated (G), withdrawn (W), deceased (D), never attended (X) and record not found (Z).
Program Level: Institutions are responsible for accurately reporting certain significant data elements under the Program Level Record that the U.S. Department of Education considers high risk, including CIP Code – The Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) is a set of codes that define fields of study. CIP Codes are maintained by ED's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). They were most recently updated in 2020 and are usually updated every ten years.
Institutions are responsible for timely reporting, whether they report directly or via a third-party servicer. Institutions must complete and return within 15 days the Enrollment Reporting roster file placed in their Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) (OMB No. 1845-0002) mailboxes sent by ED via NSLDS. After the institution submits the Enrollment Reporting roster to NSLDS, NSLDS evaluates the Enrollment Reporting roster and provides the institution an Error/Acknowledgement file. If errors are identified, institutions have 10 days to correct the errors and resubmit to NSLDS.
Condition: Campus Level: Certain students’ enrollment status changes were reported outside of the required timeframe.
Additionally, error records were not corrected within the required timeframe.
Cause: Administrative oversight.
Effect or Potential Effect: The University was not in compliance with the enrollment reporting requirements.
Questioned Costs: None.
Context: For 1 of 25 campus level records tested, the University did not certify the students’ enrollment data within 60 days.
Population of errors identified in Error/Acknowledgement files included 3 errors that repeated and were thus not corrected within the 10-day timeframe.
Identification as a Repeat Finding: There was no similar finding identified during the prior year.
Recommendation: We recommend the University enhance its procedures over enrollment reporting to ensure students’ enrollment statuses are reported accurately and timely to NSLDS, and that all errors are corrected within the required timeframe.
Views of Responsible Officials: We manually reported a student as withdrawn on 2/17/2023. The status change came in as an error on the 3/16/2023 submission (the following month) and we manually updated the status and status start date for the student again. However, it looks like the student’s status reverted to Three-Quarter time on the final transmission on 5/1/2023. We will commit to closer monitoring of withdrawals submitted manually by our office on subsequent enrollment transmissions through the Clearinghouse.
Federal Program Information: Federal Pell Grant Program (ALN 84.063)
Criteria or Specific Requirement: L. Reporting – Common Origination and Disbursement System Reporting: Institutions submit Federal Direct Loan Program, Federal Pell Grant Program, and TEACH Grant origination records and disbursement records to the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) system. Origination records can be sent well in advance of any disbursements, as early as the institution chooses to submit them for any student the institution reasonably believes will be eligible for a payment. An institution follows up with a disbursement record for that student no earlier than (1) seven calendar days prior to the disbursement date under the Advance or Heightened Cash Monitoring 1 payment methods, or (2) the date of the disbursement under the Reimbursement or Heightened Cash Monitoring 2 Payment Method. The disbursement record reports the actual disbursement date and the amount of the disbursement. The U.S. Department of Education (the “ED”) processes origination and/or disbursement records and returns acknowledgments to the institution. The acknowledgments identify the processing status of each record: Rejected, Accepted with Corrections, or Accepted. Institutions must report student disbursement data within 15 calendar days after the institution makes a disbursement or becomes aware of the need to make an adjustment to previously reported student disbursement data or expected student disbursement data. Institutions may do this by reporting once every 15 calendar days, bi-weekly or weekly, or may set up their own system to ensure that changes are reported in a timely manner.
Condition: Certain student disbursements were not reported to COD within 15 calendar days as required.
Cause: Administrative oversight.
Effect or Potential Effect: The University was not in compliance with the COD reporting requirements.
Questioned Costs: None.
Context: For 1 of 25 Pell disbursement records tested, the disbursement was not reported to COD within 15 calendar days.
Identification as a Repeat Finding: There was no similar finding identified during the prior year.
Recommendation: We recommend the University enhance its procedures over disbursement record submissions to ensure timely and accurate reporting to COD.
Views of Responsible Officials: The student that was not reported within 15 calendar days as required had several outliers making it difficult to determine Pell amounts. The student had attended another university Summer 2022 and this particular university awarded the student’s Pell Grant off of the 22-23 award year. While this is an accepted practice, it can affect the student’s 22-23 Pell Grant eligibility if they transfer to another institution. This student did transfer to Methodist University (MU) Fall 2022 and attended Fall 2022, Spring 2023, and Summer 2023. The student still had Pell eligibility remaining to be awarded Pell Grant at MU for Summer 23, but there was a rounding issue (PowerFAIDS rounds up) and this caused a POP (Potential Pell Overpayment) situation with MU and the prior university. The adjustment was processed outside of the required timeframe with COD; however, the award amounts were appropriately addressed and corrected. This is a unique situation and happens rarely. The Office of Financial Aid will review more carefully when awarding Pell Grant for rounding issues.
Federal Program Information: Federal Pell Grant Program (ALN 84.063), Federal Direct Student Loans (ALN 84.268)
Criteria or Specific Requirement: N. Special Tests and Provisions – Enrollment Reporting – Institutions are required to report enrollment information under the Pell grant and the Direct and Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) loan programs via the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) (OMB No. 1845-0035), although FFEL loans are no longer made or a part of the Student Financial Assistance Cluster, a student may have a FFEL loan from previous years that would require enrollment reporting for that student (Pell, 34 CFR 690.83(b)(2); FFEL, 34 CFR 682.610; Direct Loan, 34 CFR 685.309). The administration of the Title IV programs depends heavily on the accuracy and timeliness of the enrollment information reported by institutions. Institutions must review, update, and verify student enrollment statuses, program information, and effective dates that appear on the Enrollment Reporting Roster file or on the Enrollment Maintenance page of the NSLDS Professional Access (NSLDSFAP) website which the financial aid administrator can access for the auditor. The data on the institution’s Enrollment Reporting Roster, or Enrollment Maintenance page, is what NSLDS has as the most recently certified enrollment information. There are two categories of enrollment information, “Campus Level” and “Program Level,” both of which need to be reported accurately and have separate record types. The NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide provides the requirements and guidance for reporting enrollment details using the NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Process.
Campus Level: Institutions are responsible for accurately reporting certain significant data elements under the Campus- Level Record that the U.S. Department of Education considers high risk, including enrollment status, which is the student’s enrollment status as of the reporting date; full-time (F), threequarter time (Q), half-time (H), less than half-time (L), leave of absence (A), graduated (G), withdrawn (W), deceased (D), never attended (X) and record not found (Z).
Program Level: Institutions are responsible for accurately reporting certain significant data elements under the Program Level Record that the U.S. Department of Education considers high risk, including CIP Code – The Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) is a set of codes that define fields of study. CIP Codes are maintained by ED's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). They were most recently updated in 2020 and are usually updated every ten years.
Institutions are responsible for timely reporting, whether they report directly or via a third-party servicer. Institutions must complete and return within 15 days the Enrollment Reporting roster file placed in their Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) (OMB No. 1845-0002) mailboxes sent by ED via NSLDS. After the institution submits the Enrollment Reporting roster to NSLDS, NSLDS evaluates the Enrollment Reporting roster and provides the institution an Error/Acknowledgement file. If errors are identified, institutions have 10 days to correct the errors and resubmit to NSLDS.
Condition: Campus Level: Certain students’ enrollment status changes were reported outside of the required timeframe.
Additionally, error records were not corrected within the required timeframe.
Cause: Administrative oversight.
Effect or Potential Effect: The University was not in compliance with the enrollment reporting requirements.
Questioned Costs: None.
Context: For 1 of 25 campus level records tested, the University did not certify the students’ enrollment data within 60 days.
Population of errors identified in Error/Acknowledgement files included 3 errors that repeated and were thus not corrected within the 10-day timeframe.
Identification as a Repeat Finding: There was no similar finding identified during the prior year.
Recommendation: We recommend the University enhance its procedures over enrollment reporting to ensure students’ enrollment statuses are reported accurately and timely to NSLDS, and that all errors are corrected within the required timeframe.
Views of Responsible Officials: We manually reported a student as withdrawn on 2/17/2023. The status change came in as an error on the 3/16/2023 submission (the following month) and we manually updated the status and status start date for the student again. However, it looks like the student’s status reverted to Three-Quarter time on the final transmission on 5/1/2023. We will commit to closer monitoring of withdrawals submitted manually by our office on subsequent enrollment transmissions through the Clearinghouse.
Federal Program Information: Federal Pell Grant Program (ALN 84.063), Federal Direct Student Loans (ALN 84.268)
Criteria or Specific Requirement: N. Special Tests and Provisions – Enrollment Reporting – Institutions are required to report enrollment information under the Pell grant and the Direct and Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) loan programs via the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) (OMB No. 1845-0035), although FFEL loans are no longer made or a part of the Student Financial Assistance Cluster, a student may have a FFEL loan from previous years that would require enrollment reporting for that student (Pell, 34 CFR 690.83(b)(2); FFEL, 34 CFR 682.610; Direct Loan, 34 CFR 685.309). The administration of the Title IV programs depends heavily on the accuracy and timeliness of the enrollment information reported by institutions. Institutions must review, update, and verify student enrollment statuses, program information, and effective dates that appear on the Enrollment Reporting Roster file or on the Enrollment Maintenance page of the NSLDS Professional Access (NSLDSFAP) website which the financial aid administrator can access for the auditor. The data on the institution’s Enrollment Reporting Roster, or Enrollment Maintenance page, is what NSLDS has as the most recently certified enrollment information. There are two categories of enrollment information, “Campus Level” and “Program Level,” both of which need to be reported accurately and have separate record types. The NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide provides the requirements and guidance for reporting enrollment details using the NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Process.
Campus Level: Institutions are responsible for accurately reporting certain significant data elements under the Campus- Level Record that the U.S. Department of Education considers high risk, including enrollment status, which is the student’s enrollment status as of the reporting date; full-time (F), threequarter time (Q), half-time (H), less than half-time (L), leave of absence (A), graduated (G), withdrawn (W), deceased (D), never attended (X) and record not found (Z).
Program Level: Institutions are responsible for accurately reporting certain significant data elements under the Program Level Record that the U.S. Department of Education considers high risk, including CIP Code – The Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) is a set of codes that define fields of study. CIP Codes are maintained by ED's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). They were most recently updated in 2020 and are usually updated every ten years.
Institutions are responsible for timely reporting, whether they report directly or via a third-party servicer. Institutions must complete and return within 15 days the Enrollment Reporting roster file placed in their Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) (OMB No. 1845-0002) mailboxes sent by ED via NSLDS. After the institution submits the Enrollment Reporting roster to NSLDS, NSLDS evaluates the Enrollment Reporting roster and provides the institution an Error/Acknowledgement file. If errors are identified, institutions have 10 days to correct the errors and resubmit to NSLDS.
Condition: Campus Level: Certain students’ enrollment status changes were reported outside of the required timeframe.
Additionally, error records were not corrected within the required timeframe.
Cause: Administrative oversight.
Effect or Potential Effect: The University was not in compliance with the enrollment reporting requirements.
Questioned Costs: None.
Context: For 1 of 25 campus level records tested, the University did not certify the students’ enrollment data within 60 days.
Population of errors identified in Error/Acknowledgement files included 3 errors that repeated and were thus not corrected within the 10-day timeframe.
Identification as a Repeat Finding: There was no similar finding identified during the prior year.
Recommendation: We recommend the University enhance its procedures over enrollment reporting to ensure students’ enrollment statuses are reported accurately and timely to NSLDS, and that all errors are corrected within the required timeframe.
Views of Responsible Officials: We manually reported a student as withdrawn on 2/17/2023. The status change came in as an error on the 3/16/2023 submission (the following month) and we manually updated the status and status start date for the student again. However, it looks like the student’s status reverted to Three-Quarter time on the final transmission on 5/1/2023. We will commit to closer monitoring of withdrawals submitted manually by our office on subsequent enrollment transmissions through the Clearinghouse.
Federal Program Information: Federal Pell Grant Program (ALN 84.063)
Criteria or Specific Requirement: L. Reporting – Common Origination and Disbursement System Reporting: Institutions submit Federal Direct Loan Program, Federal Pell Grant Program, and TEACH Grant origination records and disbursement records to the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) system. Origination records can be sent well in advance of any disbursements, as early as the institution chooses to submit them for any student the institution reasonably believes will be eligible for a payment. An institution follows up with a disbursement record for that student no earlier than (1) seven calendar days prior to the disbursement date under the Advance or Heightened Cash Monitoring 1 payment methods, or (2) the date of the disbursement under the Reimbursement or Heightened Cash Monitoring 2 Payment Method. The disbursement record reports the actual disbursement date and the amount of the disbursement. The U.S. Department of Education (the “ED”) processes origination and/or disbursement records and returns acknowledgments to the institution. The acknowledgments identify the processing status of each record: Rejected, Accepted with Corrections, or Accepted. Institutions must report student disbursement data within 15 calendar days after the institution makes a disbursement or becomes aware of the need to make an adjustment to previously reported student disbursement data or expected student disbursement data. Institutions may do this by reporting once every 15 calendar days, bi-weekly or weekly, or may set up their own system to ensure that changes are reported in a timely manner.
Condition: Certain student disbursements were not reported to COD within 15 calendar days as required.
Cause: Administrative oversight.
Effect or Potential Effect: The University was not in compliance with the COD reporting requirements.
Questioned Costs: None.
Context: For 1 of 25 Pell disbursement records tested, the disbursement was not reported to COD within 15 calendar days.
Identification as a Repeat Finding: There was no similar finding identified during the prior year.
Recommendation: We recommend the University enhance its procedures over disbursement record submissions to ensure timely and accurate reporting to COD.
Views of Responsible Officials: The student that was not reported within 15 calendar days as required had several outliers making it difficult to determine Pell amounts. The student had attended another university Summer 2022 and this particular university awarded the student’s Pell Grant off of the 22-23 award year. While this is an accepted practice, it can affect the student’s 22-23 Pell Grant eligibility if they transfer to another institution. This student did transfer to Methodist University (MU) Fall 2022 and attended Fall 2022, Spring 2023, and Summer 2023. The student still had Pell eligibility remaining to be awarded Pell Grant at MU for Summer 23, but there was a rounding issue (PowerFAIDS rounds up) and this caused a POP (Potential Pell Overpayment) situation with MU and the prior university. The adjustment was processed outside of the required timeframe with COD; however, the award amounts were appropriately addressed and corrected. This is a unique situation and happens rarely. The Office of Financial Aid will review more carefully when awarding Pell Grant for rounding issues.
Federal Program Information: Federal Pell Grant Program (ALN 84.063), Federal Direct Student Loans (ALN 84.268)
Criteria or Specific Requirement: N. Special Tests and Provisions – Enrollment Reporting – Institutions are required to report enrollment information under the Pell grant and the Direct and Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) loan programs via the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) (OMB No. 1845-0035), although FFEL loans are no longer made or a part of the Student Financial Assistance Cluster, a student may have a FFEL loan from previous years that would require enrollment reporting for that student (Pell, 34 CFR 690.83(b)(2); FFEL, 34 CFR 682.610; Direct Loan, 34 CFR 685.309). The administration of the Title IV programs depends heavily on the accuracy and timeliness of the enrollment information reported by institutions. Institutions must review, update, and verify student enrollment statuses, program information, and effective dates that appear on the Enrollment Reporting Roster file or on the Enrollment Maintenance page of the NSLDS Professional Access (NSLDSFAP) website which the financial aid administrator can access for the auditor. The data on the institution’s Enrollment Reporting Roster, or Enrollment Maintenance page, is what NSLDS has as the most recently certified enrollment information. There are two categories of enrollment information, “Campus Level” and “Program Level,” both of which need to be reported accurately and have separate record types. The NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide provides the requirements and guidance for reporting enrollment details using the NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Process.
Campus Level: Institutions are responsible for accurately reporting certain significant data elements under the Campus- Level Record that the U.S. Department of Education considers high risk, including enrollment status, which is the student’s enrollment status as of the reporting date; full-time (F), threequarter time (Q), half-time (H), less than half-time (L), leave of absence (A), graduated (G), withdrawn (W), deceased (D), never attended (X) and record not found (Z).
Program Level: Institutions are responsible for accurately reporting certain significant data elements under the Program Level Record that the U.S. Department of Education considers high risk, including CIP Code – The Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) is a set of codes that define fields of study. CIP Codes are maintained by ED's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). They were most recently updated in 2020 and are usually updated every ten years.
Institutions are responsible for timely reporting, whether they report directly or via a third-party servicer. Institutions must complete and return within 15 days the Enrollment Reporting roster file placed in their Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) (OMB No. 1845-0002) mailboxes sent by ED via NSLDS. After the institution submits the Enrollment Reporting roster to NSLDS, NSLDS evaluates the Enrollment Reporting roster and provides the institution an Error/Acknowledgement file. If errors are identified, institutions have 10 days to correct the errors and resubmit to NSLDS.
Condition: Campus Level: Certain students’ enrollment status changes were reported outside of the required timeframe.
Additionally, error records were not corrected within the required timeframe.
Cause: Administrative oversight.
Effect or Potential Effect: The University was not in compliance with the enrollment reporting requirements.
Questioned Costs: None.
Context: For 1 of 25 campus level records tested, the University did not certify the students’ enrollment data within 60 days.
Population of errors identified in Error/Acknowledgement files included 3 errors that repeated and were thus not corrected within the 10-day timeframe.
Identification as a Repeat Finding: There was no similar finding identified during the prior year.
Recommendation: We recommend the University enhance its procedures over enrollment reporting to ensure students’ enrollment statuses are reported accurately and timely to NSLDS, and that all errors are corrected within the required timeframe.
Views of Responsible Officials: We manually reported a student as withdrawn on 2/17/2023. The status change came in as an error on the 3/16/2023 submission (the following month) and we manually updated the status and status start date for the student again. However, it looks like the student’s status reverted to Three-Quarter time on the final transmission on 5/1/2023. We will commit to closer monitoring of withdrawals submitted manually by our office on subsequent enrollment transmissions through the Clearinghouse.