Finding Text
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education
Federal Program Name: Student Financial Assistance Cluster
Assistance Listing Number: 84.007 – Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants
84.033 – Federal Work Study Program
84.038 – Federal Perkins Loans
84.063 – Federal Pell Grant Program
84.268 – Federal Direct Student Loans
84.379 – Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education Grants
Federal Award Identification Number and Year: N/A
Pass-Through Agency: N/A
Pass-Through Number(s): N/A
Award Period: July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024
Type of Finding:
• Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance
• Other Matters
Criteria or Specific Requirement: The Code of Federal Regulations, 34 CFR 685.309(b), states schools must have some arrangement to report student enrollment data to NSLDS through an enrollment roster file. The school is required to report changes in the student’s enrollment status, the effective date of the status, and an anticipated completion date. Also, the Code of Federal Regulations, 34 CFR 682.610, states that institutions must report accurately the enrollment status of all students regardless if they receive aid from the institution or not. Changes to said status are required to be reported within 30 days of becoming aware of the status change, or with the next scheduled transmission of statuses if the scheduled transmission is within 60 day. 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.
Condition: During our testing we noted the following errors in NSLDS recording.
1.) 24 out of 60 students had effective dates per the institutions record that did not match the effective date in NSLDS.
2.) 6 out of the 60 students had had instances greater than 60 days where their records were not updated.
3.) 2 out of the 60 students had "No Record Found" per NSLDS screenshots due to errors made by the institution with reporting to NSC. Errors were not corrected.
Questioned Costs: None
Context: The enrollment roster file contained dates that were incorrect for the Enrollment and Program Level effective dates. In the cases of this error the enrollment information should have been the date per institution's records for the Campus and Program Level. There were also instances where the information on the Enrollment and Program level were inconsistent with the University's records. Finally, Updates to NSLDS were not completed in a timely manner and some were not updated at all.
Cause: The University has had significant turnover and updates were missed.
Effect: The NSLDS system is not updated with the student information which can cause a student to not properly enter the repayment period.
Repeat Finding: Yes
Auditors’ Recommendation: We recommend the University review its reporting procedures to ensure the students’ statuses are accurately and timely reported to NSLDS as required by regulations.
Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.