Finding Text
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education
Federal Program Name: Student Financial Assistance Cluster
Assistance Listing Number: 84.063 Federal Pell Grant Program, and 84.268 Federal Direct Student
Loans
Pass-Through Agency: N/A
Pass-Through Number(s): N/A
Award Period: July 1, 2023 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 the National Student Loan
Data System (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 as well as program enrollment effective date. Changes to a students' 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 days.
Condition: During our testing, we noted that 9 out of 40 students where the published program length
per the program enrollment in NSLDS was incorrectly reported. We noted that 5 out of 40 students
were not reported by the College within 60 days of their status change. We also noted that 1 student
was never reported to NSLDS and 1 student whose campus enrollment was note updated to show a
graduated status.
Questioned costs: None
Context: A control system to prevent and detect errors in the reporting process was not created to
ensure that all reporting compliance was filed timely.
Cause: The College's processes and controls did not ensure that the student status changes were properly and timely reported to NSLDS.
Effect: The College did not comply with Department of Education (ED) regulations by reporting student
enrollment status changes timely.
Repeat Finding: No
Recommendation: We recommend the College reevaluate its procedures and review policies
surrounding reporting status changes to NSLDS to put a process in place to ensure the student status
changes are being reported timely.
Views of responsible officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding. The College utilizes a
third-party, National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) to report to NSLDS. The College will report to NSC
earlier to provide additional time to review and verify that accurate data was transferred from NSC to
NSLDS.