Finding Text
Finding Number: 2025-006 Federal Program: Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education (ED) Program Name: Student Financial Assistance Cluster AL: 84.063, 84.268 Federal Award Identification Numbers: N/A Federal Award Year: 2025 Specific Requirement: Under the Federal Pell Grant and Federal Direct Loan Programs, institutions must complete and return within 15 days the Enrollment Reporting roster file placed in their Student Aid Internet Gateway mailboxes sent by ED via National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS). Institutions must review, update and verify 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 website. Also, an institution must notify NSLDS within 30 days after the date that the institution discovers that a direct loan was made to or on behalf of a student who was enrolled or accepted for enrollment at the institution, and the student has ceased to be enrolled on at least a half-time basis or failed to enroll on at least a half-time basis for the period for which the loan was intended (PELL, 34 CFR section 690.83(b)(2), and Direct Loans, 34 CFR section 685.309). Condition Found: The University did not submit status changes for one student out of 25 students sampled within the required timeframe. Context: During our testing of 25 students, we identified one student tested whose enrollment status was either not timely reported, not updated to graduate from withdrawn, not reported with correct enrollment status, not reported with correct effective date, or a combination of the above to NSLDS due to the lack of a reconciliation between registrars reports and rosters reported to the NSLDS. Questioned Costs: None noted Cause and Effect: The University was aware of the requirement to submit student status changes timely. Due to lack of a reconciliation process within the University’s student financial services department, student status changes were missed. The effect of the noted conditions results in an inaccurate last date of attendance reported to NSLDS which is used to determine the date a student is to be placed into repayment status and begin making payments on student loans. Identification as a Repeat Finding, if Applicable: A repeat finding, see finding 2024-001 Recommendation: We recommend the University review the system generated report to verify all students are included in addition to implementing a quality control review process to be completed monthly to ensure all student changes are reviewed in a timely manner to help ensure compliance with the 60 day requirement. Views of a Responsible Official and Corrective Action Plan: Management agrees with the finding and the recommendation. See Corrective Action Plan attached.