Audit 395391

2025-003 U.S. Department of Education Student Financial Aid Cluster (FAL # 84.268, 84.063) Special Test: Enrollment Reporting Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance Criteria: The National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) is the national database of information about loans and grants awarded to students. Institutions are required to report enrollment information under the Pell grant and the Direct and FFEL loan programs via the NSLDS (OMB No. 1845-0035), although FFEL loans are no longer made or a part of the SFA 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; Perkins 34 CFR 674.19(f)). 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 certify 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. Institutions are also responsible for accurately reporting all Campus-Level Record data elements including OPEID number, enrollment effective data, enrollment status, and certification date. Institutions are responsible for accurately reporting all Program-Level record data including CIP year, credential level, published program length measurement, published program length, program begin date, program enrollment status, and program enrollment effective date. Condition: Some discrepancies were noted between the District and NSLDS. Further one student had an instance where the data provided was provided later than the required timelines established. Questioned Costs: None Effect: Untimely and inaccurate reporting of student enrollment status does not allow the Department of Education to properly track and monitor students, including initiation of the loan repayment process. Cause: Internal controls do not appear to be in place to accurately and timely identify the relevant dates for reporting to NSLDS. Repeat finding From Prior Year: No Context: Out of the 31 sample of students tested, 4 students had at least one exception. These include:  New status was not reported to NSLDS within the 60 day requirement for 1 student tested.  Student’s program length per NSLDS and Student records to not agree for 1 student tested.  Students program end date does not agree to NSLDS reporting for 2 students tested. Non-statistical sampling was used. Recommendation: We recommend that management update their control processes to ensure that the proper status date changes are being reported to NSLDS. Views of Responsible Officials: We agree with the finding.