Finding Text
FINDING 2026-001 Federal Program Information: Federal Pell Grant Program (Assistance Listing #84.063), Federal Direct Loan Program (Assistance Listing #84.268) Criteria or Specific Requirement: N. Special Tests and Provisions – Enrollment Reporting: Federal regulation 34 CFR 685.309 states that the institution shall accurately report a change in a student’s enrollment status directly to the lender or guarantee agency within 30 days if a student has graduated, withdrawn, or ceased to be enrolled (or failed to enroll) at least half-time and the school does not submit its next Roster File to NSLDS within 60 days. Condition: The University did not report students’ status changes accurately and within the required timeframe. Cause: Significant turnover of staff in the Registrar’s Office. Effect or Possible Effect: The University was not in compliance with required federal guidelines. Questioned Costs: None. Context: For 14 of 40 campus-level records tested, the University did not timely report the student’s change in enrollment status. For 2 of 40 program-level records tested, the University did not accurately report all key data elements. Identification of Repeat Finding: This is a repeat of prior year finding 2025-001. Recommendation: The University should implement procedures to ensure that student status changes are reported in a timely manner. Views of Responsible Officials: As of mid-June 2026, the Registrar’s Office is fully staffed. Multiple staff within the office have now been trained to complete the enrollment and degree reporting process for the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS). One additional high-level information technology personnel has also been trained to complete the reporting processes. As part of this training, staff has participated in enrollment reporting webinars offered through the National Student Clearinghouse and in conjunction with NSLDS. This training will be an on-going process so that staff can stay abreast of any necessary reporting updates. Also, multiple staff members in the Registrar’s Office and several administrators are now included in the communications from the National Student Clearinghouse that provide reminders of due dates for enrollment and degree reporting to ensure that reporting happens in the appropriate time. To ensure that staff know the specific time periods for enrollment and degree reporting, information has been added to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for “National Student Clearinghouse Reporting.” This document, which provides all instructions for enrollment and degree reporting, is housed in a shared file that is accessible to all staff in the Registrar’s Office and the high-level information technology personnel. This collection of personnel are those with access to complete the enrollment and degree reporting. Finally, we have added a report “NSC Error Report – Program Data” to check for enrollment program and status errors. This report will be run prior to every reporting submission to check for errors and to fix any errors prior to the file submission.