Finding Text
Finding No. 2022-004 ? Reporting Discrepancies - Enrollment Repeat Finding: 2021-001 ALN and Program: 84.007; 84.033; 84.063; 84.268 ? Student Financial Assistance Cluster Award Amount: $46,751,524 Award Number: N/A Award Year: 7/1/2021-6/30/2022 Criteria: 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). Institutions must review, update and verify 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). Condition / Context: We selected a sample of 25 Pell and Direct Loan students from the institution's records that had a reduction or increase in attendance levels, graduated, withdrew, dropped out or enrolled but never attended during the audit period. We compared the data in the students' NSLDS Enrollment Detail to the students' academic files and other institutional records and verified that the institution is accurately reporting the significant Campus-Level and Program-Level enrollment data elements that ED considers high risk. Of the 25 sampled, 10 had discrepancies between the status documented in MATC's institutional records and the status reported on the NSLDS. Our sample was not statistically valid. Cause: In April 2021, the National Student Clearinghouse made a change to its reporting process, which resulted in errors in MATC's data uploads. MATC has begun the process of testing and correcting its process, but this was not completed as of June 30, 2022. MATC believes this update error has caused the continued discrepancies between MATC and the NSLDS. Questioned Costs: Unknown Effect: The administration of the Title IV programs depends heavily on the accuracy and timeliness of the enrollment information reported by institutions. Incorrect reporting of enrollment status could result in incorrect distribution of Title IV funds to institutions or individuals. Recommendation: We recommend MATC re-evaluate its review process for Title IV returns, and provide additional training for management and staff to ensure the calculations and compliance requirements are understood and that control processes are operating effectively to ensure proper returns. District Response: The Office of the Registrar has developed and implemented an action plan to ensure correct reporting through the National Clearinghouse and NSLDS. The process includes additional staff training, review and update of the submissions process and schedule and enlisting support from specific contacts at the Clearinghouse. These steps were completed by September 2022. Additional steps, including review of the reporting setup the SIS system with the IT department, discussing and resolving existing issues with the Clearinghouse, performing checks of individual current and prior year students to identify and correct additional gaps, incorporating a regular review of a sample of students for proper reporting and hiring additional staff for reporting enrollment ? all to be completed by December 2022. Beginning in 2023, staff will also create and submit an additional report to the Clearinghouse for each submission of graduates.